McCormick Puts its range to the test at NAMPO Cape 2026

NAMPO Cape 2026 opened its gates at Bredasdorp Park from 9 to 12 September, drawing more than 500 exhibitors across 600 stands and 32 hectares of showground under the theme "Together We Grow." Among them, McCormick — brought to South African farmers by ARGO Tractors South Africa — put on a strong showing, with a deep maroon flagship tractor parked front and centre of its stand, flanked by the brand's own marquee and a run of red teardrop flags.

The standout on the ground was a big four-wheel-drive row-crop tractor from McCormick's X7 range, the brand's premium open-field series and the workhorse most South African grain and broadacre farmers will recognise it by. Built around FPT's NEF 6.7-litre six-cylinder engine, the X7 line spans roughly 165 to 225 horsepower and is available with either a Power Shift gearbox or McCormick's VT-Drive continuously variable transmission — a ZF-built CVT that runs Automatic, Manual and dedicated PTO modes and gives operators stepless speed control from creeper crawl right up to transport speed. A closed-centre, load-sensing hydraulic system feeding up to 32.5 gallons a minute, an electronically controlled rear hitch rated at over 20,000 lbs of lift, and up to six remote valves on the higher-spec models round out a tractor built for heavy tillage, planting and high-draft implement work — exactly the kind of grain and row-crop country the Overberg is known for.

Alongside it, the stand carried examples from McCormick's G-Max range, the brand's mid-power utility series and a natural step down from the X7 for mixed and smaller commercial operations. G-Max models run from about 117 to 157 horsepower off the same FPT NEF 6.7-litre six-cylinder block, tuned here for fuel efficiency — McCormick quotes up to 10% better consumption than earlier models — backed by a generous 260-litre fuel tank for long days in the field. Buyers get a choice of a straightforward six-speed mechanical gearbox or the T-Tronic electronic transmission, with the range-topping XtraShift option offering 54 forward and 18 reverse speeds, extendable to 108/36 with a creeper unit fitted. The redesigned four-post cab, with its air-suspension seat, telescopic steering column, climate control and opening roof hatch, was very much on display for visitors climbing up for a look — comfort features that matter on a show ground that, by the final day, had turned into exactly the kind of testing terrain a G-Max is built to handle.

That final-day terrain was no accident of framing. NAMPO Cape opened under classic Overberg coastal fog before a cut-off low pushed in from the Atlantic, bringing cloudy, cold conditions, isolated showers and fresh to strong south-easterly winds to the Bredasdorp area by Saturday 12 September — the leading edge of a system that went on to bring heavier rain and thundershowers to the wider Western Cape into the following week. Between the mud underfoot and the big red X7 sitting confidently through it, McCormick's stand made its point without saying a word: this is machinery built for real Cape farming conditions, not just showground gravel.

For ARGO Tractors South Africa, the Bredasdorp showing gave Overberg producers a chance to see McCormick's full range side by side — from the mid-power, fuel-efficient G-Max through to the X7's full-size, high-output grain country capability — backed by Maschio and Gaspardo implements and Topcon precision-ag technology on the same stand.