New research facility for Kubota in Hauts-de-France

Setting up of Kubota’s European R&D center

After the 2013 decision to create an agricultural tractor assembly plant in Bierne, near Dunkirk, Kubota has again chosen the Hauts-de-France region. The Japanese company has announced a European R&D center with an international focus in Crépy-en-Valois. This investment is expected to eventually create a hundred high-skill jobs (technicians, engineers, and PhDs). The 30-hectare site will accommodate multiple buildings, with a total surface area of 10,000-12,000 m², and a test track. Farmland near the center will also be made available to allow its users to test equipment and prototypes. This site will be one of the largest private R&D centers built in France in recent years. “We want to create a benchmark R&D center integrating all of the latest technologies in terms of design and testing (…) We want to develop state-of-the-art technology so that our future models will perfectly meet the needs of European farmers, while maintaining the fundamental character of the company’s products, which has made it successful so far (…). We want to continue developing agricultural equipment tailored to local needs in terms of the type of crops, conditions, and work processes,” explained Kubota Corporation’s spokesperson.

Advantages of the site chosen by Kubota

For its project, the company was drawn to a French field of nearly 30 hectares located in Crépy-en-Valois in the southern part of Oise. Its reasons for choosing Hauts-de-France include:

• Its close proximity to Ile-de-France and Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport
• An attractive, well-suited land and real estate offering
• The ability to test equipment and prototypes on adjacent farmland

Detected by Business France, this business setup project has been monitored by Nord France Invest since 2016. The mobilization of local players (Hauts-de-France Region, Communauté de Communes of Pays-de-Valois, Oise Departmental Council, and government services) made it possible to have an extremely effective responsiveness, which played an important role in this key decision. Learn more about Kubota’s first investment in Hauts-de-France.