Walking into Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd., visitors are greeted by a striking display: several green tractors line the exhibition hall, their massive frames and shoulder-height tires creating a powerful visual impact. A large-horsepower tractor CVT powertrain rests on a display stand, its thick pipelines neatly arranged, exuding a sense of rugged engineering strength. Inside the production facility, rows of large intelligent equipment are neatly positioned, robotic arms operate in orderly fashion, and the entire manufacturing process runs smoothly amid the roar of machinery. "As a leading enterprise in the domestic agricultural machinery sector, we have already broken through key core technologies such as large-horsepower CVT (continuously variable transmission) and ECVT (electronic continuously variable transmission), continuously advancing the localization of high-end intelligent agricultural machinery equipment," said a representative from Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture.
For a long time, foreign brands have held a relatively high share of China's high-end large-horsepower tractor market, with ECVT electronically controlled continuously variable transmission regarded as a critical technological gateway for large-horsepower agricultural machinery. High technical barriers exist in areas such as mechanical transmission efficiency, hydraulic system stability, and hybrid energy management algorithms. As domestic agriculture transitions toward intelligent and green development, the practical demand for localizing high-end intelligent agricultural machinery continues to rise.
"We are persistently increasing our R&D investment and conducting collaborative research involving industry, academia, and research institutions, achieving a range of concrete results in tractors, harvesting machinery, and smart agriculture software and hardware," the Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture representative noted. The company has accumulated over 2 billion yuan in R&D investment over the past three years, with total R&D spending exceeding 3 billion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It has collaborated with more than 50 universities and research institutions on technological breakthroughs and established a global R&D network coordinating efforts across China, Europe, and Japan, accelerating the leap of domestically produced agricultural machinery toward high-end, intelligent, and green development.
In May 2026, at the Xinjiang International Agricultural Machinery Expo, Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture launched the E4104 8H model, a 410-horsepower hybrid tractor. According to reports, this model is equipped with an ECVT electronically controlled continuously variable transmission system, with the core technology of the entire machine independently developed by the company, making it a representative product among domestic high-end hybrid tractors. In the field of intelligent agricultural machinery, Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture has completed the product rollout of 240/340-horsepower CVT tractors and 18kg/s large-feed-rate harvesting machinery, while also providing products such as large self-propelled sprayers, 400-ton continuous grain dryers, and large square balers. To address special operating environments in China, including hilly and mountainous areas, orchards, and grasslands, the company has developed specialized machinery such as silage harvesters and four-wheel-steering tractors, filling equipment gaps in certain niche scenarios.
In the smart agriculture segment, Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture has built its own cloud service platform and a BeiDou-based unmanned driving system for agricultural machinery, exploring the application of agricultural AI large models. By integrating IoT data from soil, weather, crops, and machinery operations, the platform provides planting decision-making references for large-scale farming entities. As of the end of 2025, the company had launched more than 80 smart farm projects across over 20 provinces, with the platform serving more than 38,000 cumulative users and covering over 8 million mu of operational farmland.
On the manufacturing front, the large-horsepower tractor intelligent factory that Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture put into operation in 2025 has an annual production capacity of 100,000 units of 100-horsepower-and-above power-shift and CVT tractors, producing one complete machine approximately every four minutes based on production tempo. In 2026, construction began on a new large harvesting machinery factory, with these two first-class intelligent plants set to serve as the primary carriers for the company's scaled production.
Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture's overseas business has achieved rapid growth. Data shows that overseas revenue rose from 1.257 billion yuan in 2023 to 2.384 billion yuan in 2025, a two-year increase of 89.6%, with products sold to more than 120 countries and regions worldwide. In June of this year, the company once again submitted listing materials to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to leverage the capital market to further expand its international布局. Its business has also expanded from pure equipment manufacturing to comprehensive smart agriculture solutions covering the entire chain of plowing, seeding, management, harvesting, and storage.
Industry insiders point out that the series of technological and industrialization achievements realized by Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture reflects tangible progress in the localization of China's high-end agricultural machinery. At the same time, it should be recognized that hybrid large-horsepower agricultural machinery and comprehensive smart agriculture solutions are still in the market expansion phase. Real-world field validation of equipment performance, the sustainability of business models, and competitive pressure in international markets remain practical challenges that the company must continue to address. From technological breakthroughs to full participation in global competition, domestically produced agricultural equipment still has a long path of market refinement ahead.