Who Makes John Deere Engines?

In 1837, an enterprising blacksmith from Illinois laid the foundation for a company that still exists 188 years later. Today, John Deere, named after its founder, has expanded from its agricultural machinery origins to include construction, forestry, and commercial sectors. 

Well regarded for its products' durability, power, and reliability, the company is also known for continuously developing its equipment line. Manufacturing a wide range of machinery, the company builds its own engines, but in some of its products, John Deere uses other companies' engines.

John Deere has several engine manufacturing facilities worldwide, including its French plant in Orleans-Saran, which produces its Powertech diesel engines. The Tiajin, China plant, which builds different tractor models and engines, and its Rosario, Argentina, facility, which also makes tractors and engines. 

It also operates a plant in India, where the Pune facility builds 5000 series tractors and engines. In the United States, its main facility is the Waterloo, Iowa, factory, which has produced engines since 1918. The company also operates in Torreon, Mexico, a plant with an IT engineering hub, which also builds different capacity engines. 

John Deere has partnered with other manufacturers for engine requirements. Yanmar, a Japanese company, supplies engines for four different tractor series. Kohler has long been building engines for John Deere, including its K-series engines. 

Kawasaki has also partnered with John Deere, using its engines for the Z-series mowers, and Briggs and Stratton also supplies its engine in John Deere mowers. For its bigger machinery, John Deere collaborates with German-Swiss company Liebherr for its harvester lineup. Lastly, John Deere also uses Honda engines for some of its generators.

John Deere makes a large percentage of its lawnmowers and tractors in America, and its engines have a strong following due to its exceptional capability to perform under demanding conditions. Starting its foray into engine manufacturing in 1918, when it acquired the Waterloo Engine Company, John Deere was able to develop its own diesel engine 31 years later for use in its Model R tractor. In the succeeding decades, John Deere continued to advance its diesel-based powerplant designs, with noteworthy examples including the Tier 1 engine from 1996 up to the latest, the Tier 5, launched in 2022.

John Deere engines are also used for several marine applications, where it powers private and commercial marine vessels. Currently, the marine engine lineup consists of three segments, the auxiliary and power generation variant, the industrial marine engine, and the propulsion variant. Another important use of John Deere engines is for power generation, and the company offers a selection of models, starting from small 3,600 watt portables, up to larger 10,000 watt units.

John Deere currently has 25 brands under its portfolio, including construction equipment conglomerate Wirtgen, and agri-industry companies A&I, Mazzotti, PLA, and Hagie. While the company has outsourced some of its engine production, John Deere itself has produced over 6 million engines, and continues its tradition of innovation with its plans for electric tractors and its selection of products that aren't tractors. 

Finally, in addition to its planned electric tractors, the company is also working on battery and charging systems for the construction and mining industry, helping pave the way for more eco-friendly and sustainable John Deere-branded machinery for the coming years.