The company’s expanded product range will have its worldwide commercial launch in the United States when the gates swing open at next week’s Farm Progress Show.

Meanwhile, anxious engineering personnel have been closely monitoring each of the pre-production machines which also have been trialled in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

All this is heartening news for Case IH’s multi-million dollar header investment programme that sees an uprated and expanded six-model Axial-Flow 88 series and 20 series line ups.

For the record, the Axial-Flow 5088 replaces Case IH’s model 2577 (and older 2377) while the 6088 replaces the company’s 2588 (and older 2388) to make the 7088 model its new flagship.

Meanwhile, the Axial-Flow 7120 replaces the 7010 with the 8120 taking over from the 8010 model, leaving the 9120 to carry the new range-topping mantle.

Legendary Case IH harvest brand manager, Geoff Rendell, says the company always likes its equipment to undergo “a full test programme” before they are officially released onto the market.

“In Australia we’ve run the 7088 in different crops like wheat and sorghum,” he said.

“For this harvest we’ll have a set of marketing combines which will be placed strategically around Australia to train the dealers and, later in the year, to bring customers in - to see them in action,” Mr Rendell added.

Case IH now says it is now able to offer headers that range in capacity from 198kW to 392kW (265hp to 523hp), making for the largest range of self-propelled combine harvesters available from one company - not only in Australia but also overseas.

Technically these headers are being billed as ‘new-from-the-ground-up’ since they utilise a new chassis, front and rear axles, plus new styling that is replicated from the 5088 right up to the powerful 9120.