The first sample series of six units was produced in June 1949 and one of them was sent for testing to the State Agricultural Machinery Research Institute (Vakola). Several improvements were made after the feedback.[1]
The sales representation was granted to Suomen Maanviljelijäin Kauppa Oy (SMK), which also sold McCormick tractors. In June 1950 Takra was on display in Tampere fair at SMK stand, where it got a lot of visibility – the number of visitors during the fair was 115 000. After this Takra was shown in Savo fair in Varkaus.[1]
Serial production was started in 1950 and the company reported producing over 100 units. However, due to strikes in metal industry, just 30 tractors were produced by the following February. This led to doubts on Takra's production capabilities, and the company management tried to convince the public by telling that the production capacity will be increased as soon as the war reparations will be paid off. Eventually, the price of Takra tractors had climbed higher than estimated and it was clearly more expensive than its foreign competitors.[1]
The production volume in 1951 was reportedly 100 tractors, the following year's production is estimated to be 200. The only bottleneck at this stage were the raw material constraints. The company also designed and produced agricultural machinery compatible with Takras. At the same time there was a critical shortage of tractors in Finland; the estimated gap was 10 000–15 000 tractors and the domestic production was hardly worth mentioning. Therefore, the government was under pressure to remove the import restrictions. At the end of 1951 the tractor importing was released for a few months, during which a lot of tractors of various makes were quickly transported into the country.[1]
Construction of a new Takra factory was started in spring 1953 and the production was moved into the new facilities at late winter 1954. By then the production rate had reached already one tractor per day and in the new facilities it went up to eight tractors per week. It seemed realistic to increase the annual volume up to level of 500–600 tractors; a larger number was estimated reachable by help of subcontractors. The production costs were hoped to be decreased as and when the volumes increased.[1]
However, the artificially overvalued rate of the Finnish mark and price dumping of the foreign tractors created problems. For example, Fordson Major cost about 500 000 marks in Sweden whereas the price in Finland was just 390 000 marks. The new Takra factory did not stay operative very long, until the company owner, Väinö Paunu, decided to discontinue the production. The factory was sold to the city of Tampere.[1]
Officially the Takra tractor production totalled 880 pieces.[1][2] According to the documents of the authorities the number was about hundred units smaller. The last Takras were sold from SMK's stock in 1955.[1]
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