Claas Balers Turn 30
Claas built its first variable chamber round baler - the Variant 100 - in 1996, so 2026 marks 30 years and the fifth generation of the Variant name, recently complemented by the new Cerex Series introduced in 2025.
Back then Claas, in the 400 series -- in particular the top of the range 480 – mounted its APS pre-separation system ahead of a 600mm diameter threshing drum and introduced the Roto-Plus forced separation system, which differed from a conventional straw walker layout in using rotors inside threshing grates; this led to the arrival of a new harvesting category called APS-Hybrid.
The roomy, quiet and comfortable Vista cabin had an on-board setting and monitoring system called Cebis, and the Laser Pilot, which made a breeze of steering at night or in dusty conditions.
The Lexion has been popular, hitting a 10,000 milestone in just six years; the Lexion 480 had 415hp on tap and could harvest 40 tonnes an hour all day long.
In 2003 came the 500 series with more harvesting capacity and refined technical systems, and by 2005 the 600 series had arrived, pushing output to 70 tonnes per hour.
Of course customers wanted more, so in 2010 the 700 series appeared, able to carry headers up to 12.3m wide, travel at 40km/h on the road where local regulations allowed and equipped with high end software to document and record the harvesting process.
The latest Lexion 780, launched in 2013, sets the benchmark for harvesting performance, its grain tank holding 13,500L. It sports the Cemos automatic driver assistance system, by which the driver sets defaults for engine load, grain losses and returns loading, then the machine calculates and adjusts for maximum output within the set parameters.
The latest machines can also be specified with 4D cleaning systems for working on hillsides, and an automatic crop flow system. These and the original concepts gained the machine the coveted Machine of The Year 2016 at the giant Agritechnica show.
For readers who revel in numbers, the Harsewinkel factory recently produced the 50,000th Lexion; it has 50,000 individual parts and carries 4km of electrical wiring and 215m of hydraulic hose.
