JG DESIGN + ITL: THE NEXT GEN OF SOLIS TRACTORS

Which creative person doesn’t know that, the first time after starting your own business, in the first few weeks the thoughts: what do my first orders look like?

After more than eleven years as one of the responsible product and automotive designers at MAGNA, it was time for me in 2016, when I decided to start a new professional way with Johannes Geisler Design to give shape to my visions and ideas for movement and transportation.

The first orders came mostly from national customers and widely spread in the field of sculpture and product design. And then came the inquiry from India, which turned out to be the greatest opportunity to date: ITL, the leading tractor manufacturer on the subcontinent, was preparing for its global expansion and was looking for a designer who would give the agricultural machinery a visionary design language that wasn’t not only in motherland India, but also internationally. That was the beginning of a wonderful partnership between Geisler Design and SOLIS tractors. It continues to this day and is already geared towards many more years to come.

I have to start by saying that I had already successfully completed international orders during my time as an employee at MAGNA for many OEM `s and had thus acquired a good reputation. On the one hand, I was able to convince the Indian clients with my technical and creative skills. On the other hand, my understanding of the problem of the Indian company, my personal commitment and the acceptance of the entrepreneurial and cultural differences were decisive for the project award. Everything happens at eye level. ITL is a family business, the management negotiates directly with you and sets the highest standards.

After my first presentations for the redesign of the small and robust SOLIS 20, it was decided: ITL exclusively commissioned Geisler Design to design the entire Sonalika and Solis product range from scratch and to herald a new era.

What could be more exciting for a young designer from Austria than being jointly responsible for international expansion? And that within the framework of a transcontinental and digital cooperation. In the beginning, of course, that meant for me that I was on site a lot myself and had to set up my equipment in such a way that it worked mobile, no matter where. After a certain period of getting used to, I was able to work very well independently, but also in a high-tech manner with the appropriate programs in North India.

Success was not long in coming. Design, engineering and consistent management turned a local Indian tractor brand into an internationally competitive product. The first SOLIS tractors I designed were presented and exhibited at the largest agricultural trade fair, the Agritechnica Hannover 2017.

In 2018, the compact product line Solis 20, Solis 26 and Solis 50, which I redesigned, and further facelifts of the products Solis 50, Solis 75 and 90 and 110 came onto the international market. In 2019, the newly designed St4 line Solis 20, Solis 50 and Solis 90 was rolled out in Asia, Africa and South America.  In 2022, on the EIMA in Bologna and SIMA in Paris the Solis S90 Shuttle, Solis S50 Shuttle and S26 Shuttle have been presented, before going into production 2023.

The tractors are now sold in over 100 countries worldwide and are yearly shown at the greatest and biggest agricultural exhibitions EIMA in Bologna as well as in SIMA in Paris as well as on the Agritechnica 2023 in Hannover.

New further lines, models and revisions are currently in the design phase and will be produced after the development process in the coming years. Tractors for the global as well as for the Indian market have to be designed and differentiated – for Johannes a visionary partnership under the design motto: “the next generation of Solis and Sonalika Tractors”.