Ask the Editors: Who Makes John Deere ATVs?

Short lived but not forgotten.

Actually, while the components that comprise all of John Deere’s off-road vehicle are globally sourced (meaning they are a hodgepodge of pieces of bits from manufacturers all over the world), the design and assembly has been all JD itself, here in the United States.

In the past, Gators have been built in Deere’s Williamsburg, VA and Welland, ON plants. From 2011 onward all of the Gators are built in their Horicon, WI location. While The Gator design and development work is primarily done in two US locations: Cary, NC and again at the Horicon, WI plant.

Where the confusion may lie is that there was a brief period in the early to mid-2000s where JD dabbled in the four-wheeler segment instead of the utility (UTV) market, of which they had been a part of from 1987 onward.

Rather than design, manufacture and distribute a new machine from scratch, they came to a temporary agreement with BRP to offer BRP/Can-Am Traxter or Quest models in John Deere branding, a short-lived vehicle that would be known as the John Deere Buck. Introduced in 2004 as a 2005 model, the Buck came in either a 500cc or 650cc Rotax engine configuration. It existed from 2005 – 2006.

Indeed your gut feeling was correct on this one though the deal between the two companies eventually terminated and JD felt its best interests were to continue serving the UTV/ side-by-side segment of the off-road spectrum.

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