Kubota's All-New BX90 Series: The First Full Redesign of the BX Platform in 26 Years

For 26 years, Kubota's BX Series has been the sub-compact tractor a huge share of American property owners and small contractors cut their teeth on. On September 28, 2026, Kubota finally retired that quarter-century-old platform and replaced it wholesale with the all-new BX90 Series — five models built around a genuinely redesigned loader, deck, and control layout, not just a fresh coat of paint on the same bones.

If you run a small landscaping, fencing, hardscape, or property-maintenance outfit and you've been putting off replacing an aging BX, this is the release that should get your attention.

What Kubota Actually Changed From the Original BX

The original BX Series launched in 2000 and, until this week, had never gotten a full platform redesign — just incremental updates. Kubota's own language around the BX90 calls it a reinvention of the segment, and after talking to a lot of contractors who've run these machines for years, the changes line up with what actually slows a small tractor down on a real jobsite.

The loader is the headline. Kubota increased hydraulic flow and pressure through the new LA355 and LA405 loaders, which means noticeably quicker cycle times when you're stacking material, loading a trailer, or clearing brush all day. Dual bucket cylinders and an improved rollback angle mean less material spilling off the back of the bucket on the way up — a small thing until you've shoveled up the same pile twice because your old loader dumped half of it behind you.

Kubota also redesigned the HST (hydrostatic transmission) foot controls into a side-by-side pedal layout, which is a more intuitive forward-reverse motion for anyone who's driven literally any other piece of equipment. It sounds minor until you're training a new operator and don't have to explain why this tractor's pedals work backward from everything else on the lot.

Five Models, Three Trim Levels

Kubota didn't just replace the BX with one machine — it built out a real lineup:

The BX2190 is the entry point at 19.3 gross hp, paired with the LA355 loader rated up to 721 lb of lift capacity. The BX2390 Deluxe steps up to 21.6 hp with the larger LA405 loader (904 lb lift capacity) and upgraded operator controls. The BX2690 Premium tops the loader-only lineup at 23.9 hp with electronic engine controls and a full-color LCD display in the cab.

Then there are the two models that matter most if you do any kind of utility or site work: the BX2390S and BX2690S Premium, both fitted with Kubota's BT604 backhoe attachment alongside the LA405 loader. These are genuine tractor-loader-backhoe (TLB) combos in sub-compact form — small enough to fit through a standard gate and work in a finished backyard, but still capable of digging footings, trenching for irrigation or drainage lines, and setting fence posts without renting a separate mini excavator.

Mower Decks and the Swift-Mount System

Alongside the loader and backhoe work, Kubota redesigned the mower deck options for the BX90 — new 54-inch and 60-inch welded-steel decks, with an optional Swift-Mount auto-coupling system that lets an operator switch between mowing and loader work without wrestling with a deck lift kit. For a landscape or grounds-maintenance contractor who's swapping attachments multiple times a day, that's real time saved, not a marketing bullet point.

Who Actually Needs a BX90

This isn't heavy iron, and it isn't meant to be. The BX90 (especially the BX2390S and BX2690S backhoe models) is the right-sized machine for landscape and hardscape contractors doing residential and light commercial grading, fence installers setting posts across a property line, irrigation and small-utility contractors trenching in tight, already-landscaped yards, and property maintenance operations that need one machine to mow, load, and dig without owning three separate pieces of equipment.

If your crew is regularly running a rented mini excavator or a rented compact utility tractor just to get post holes and short trench runs done between mowing jobs, a BX90 with the backhoe attachment can genuinely replace that rental line item.

The Rent-vs-Own Math on a Machine Like This

A sub-compact tractor-loader-backhoe is exactly the kind of equipment that gets rented over and over by small contractors who assume it's not worth owning outright — and that assumption usually costs more over a year than owning does. Every week you rent instead of buy is a week where the machine goes back on the trailer with zero equity built, while a financed BX90 keeps working for you on the next job and the one after that.

This is exactly the kind of purchase where equipment financing makes more sense than a long-term rental commitment. Down payment structures on a machine in this class are flexible — well-qualified buyers can sometimes finance with little to nothing down, while others put down a modest percentage depending on credit profile — and BFC can walk you through what that actually looks like for your business rather than a generic rental quote that never builds you anything.

Backhoe or No Backhoe: Picking the Right Trim

The trim-level split on the BX90 is worth thinking through before you buy, because the wrong choice either leaves capability on the table or has you paying for a backhoe you rarely use. If your work is almost entirely mowing, loading, and light grading — think property maintenance crews or landscape outfits that subcontract out any real digging — the BX2190, BX2390 Deluxe, or BX2690 Premium loader-only models are the more efficient buy. You get the full benefit of the redesigned loader and, on the 2690 Premium, the electronic engine controls and color LCD, without carrying the extra weight and cost of a backhoe you'd use once a month.

If your crew regularly gets asked to dig — fence post holes, small footing excavations, short irrigation or drainage trenches, setting a mailbox post or a small retaining wall footer — the BX2390S or BX2690S Premium earns its keep fast. The BT604 backhoe on these models won't replace a mini excavator on a real excavation job, but for the kind of shallow, tight-access digging that shows up constantly on residential and light commercial sites, it means you stop calling a subcontractor or renting a separate machine for work that's really only an hour or two of digging.

Florida Contractors: Dealer Support Matters as Much as the Machine

For contractors working South Florida's residential and light commercial market — Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach in particular — a new platform launch like the BX90 also means a fresh parts and service pipeline through Kubota's dealer network, which matters more than most buyers realize. A tractor that sits in the shop for two weeks waiting on a loader cylinder seal isn't saving you anything versus a rental, no matter how good the machine is on paper. Kubota's dealer network in Florida is genuinely strong compared to some competing brands, and that's a real factor to weigh alongside the spec sheet, not an afterthought.

Availability

Kubota says the BX90 Series will reach authorized dealerships starting in early 2027, so this is a machine worth budgeting and financing conversations for now, ahead of that rollout, rather than scrambling once dealer allocations tighten up. In Kubota's own words from Senior Product Operations Manager Matt McDonald: "Every improvement is intended to help customers accomplish more with ease." After 26 years on the same platform, that's a fair description of what actually changed.

If a full-size tractor-loader-backhoe is overkill for your work but you occasionally need to dig deeper or move more material than a BX-class machine can handle, it's worth comparing this segment against Kubota's own compact excavator line — see our breakdown of the Kubota KX030-4 for a sense of where that line starts. And if you're weighing a Kubota against a full-size backhoe loader for heavier site work, our Kubota BX90 vs. John Deere 310 P-Tier backhoe comparison lays out exactly where the sub-compact class stops making sense.

Ready to Put This Equipment to Work?

Renting by the month doesn't build equity, and every dollar spent on a rental agreement is a dollar that vanishes the moment the machine goes back on the trailer. BFC Equipment Loans structures financing and leasing for contractors across Florida and beyond, so you can own the iron that's doing the work instead of paying someone else's note indefinitely. Whether you're eyeing a Kubota or a John Deere for your next project, our team can walk you through real financing options built around your credit profile and your job pipeline. Visit our homepage to learn more about how BFC works, or go straight to our equipment financing application to get the process started today.

Looking to add to your fleet or move a machine you no longer need? Browse our current equipment for sale and financing inventory — BFC both finances new purchases and helps contractors list their own used equipment. And if you want more deep dives like this one on the machines shaping Florida jobsites, subscribe to the BFC blog and we'll keep you posted.