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d
&
ri
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2013
A
ny news that there is a measure of
stability in the market for compact
equipment can be seen as a plus-point,
and can even lead to an amount of justified
optimism – it is just a measure of how serious
the declines of the past few years have been.
It comes as no surprise that the different
markets are recovering from the economic
crisis at difference paces, with southern
European markets still looking pale beside the
more robust northern countries.
Jose Cuadrado is vice president for
compact equipment, Europe, Middle East and
Africa, for Doosan Infracore Construction
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Equipment, which has the Bobcat brand.
He said, “The southern European markets
such as Italy or Spain have traditionally been
very large markets for compact loaders. The
decline in these markets has been dramatic
– they are approximately 70% smaller than
they were in 2008.” He added that conditions
were still challenging, with a lack of credit
for private investors and very weak public
investment."
“At Bobcat, we have been focusing on the
launch of the new generation of machines as
well as developing attachments that allow us to
access new applications. This has helped us to
gain market share in most European markets
in recent years.”
He said that outside Western Europe, there
were many markets where the company had
been seeing healthy growth. “We have enjoyed
significant sales increases in the Middle East,
Africa, Russia and Turkey in particular,” he
said.
“Russia is becoming the biggest market
for the compact loader product with constant
growth over several years,” Guillaume
Chatillon, marketing manager for Gehl/
Mustang Europe said. Regardless of the market
situation, companies have to move forward,
introducing improved models and working
hard on new technology.
GOING FOR POWER
Guillaume said that in Europe, his company
had launched the new Gehl V400 and Mustang
4000V this year. He claimed these new models,
which were launched in the USA and Canada
in June 2012, were the most powerful skid
COMPACT EQUIPMENT
Small but
perfectly formed
Some of the traditional
markets for compact
equipment have been
suffering, but that has not
slowed down the introduction
of new models
The Bobcat T590
– one of the new
500 series of
platform loaders
launched at the
beginning of 2013
The new Gehl V400 introduced this year
