A COMPETITIVE WORLD

Divide the two dozen wheeled loader competitors into the UK's 1994 projected unit sales of 850 or so and it's a fairly derisory 35 per marque. Hardly enough to justify the dealer investment let alone a full manufacturing set-up. But that is to be too pessimistic. There is more than one wheeled loader market in the world. And not all of the world's wheeled loader makers choose to sell here anyway! Thank goodness. But there's little doubt that some marques will have to content themselves with meagre pickings. And that, unfortunately, may have more to do with marketing strategy than the actual dynamic qualities of the machine offered! There's many a good design that's foundered because it wasn't marketed properly.

Of those wheeled loader manufacturers that sell here, just three are British made - JCB, Terex and Matbro, and of these Terex is US-owned and Matbro Irish-owned! Two of these represent perhaps different ends of the manufacturing spectrum although both JCB and Matbro have roots in the earliest days of wheel loader technology - JCB through its purchase of Chaseside many years ago, and Matbro because it bought Bray, and, more importantly, because the Mat stands for Len Mathew who is credited with inventing the pivot-steer machine. Yet Chaseside, Bray and Matbro (under the Mathew brothers) each displayed unsound commercial abilities in what was after all a relatively unsophisticated market.

But we digress. JCB is now the manufacturer of a wheel loader range which is as up to date as any available. It concentrates on the lower/medium end of the size spectrum and its range was recently re-designed and launched to its dealer body in Malaga, Spain. It now has seven models with bucket sizes from 0.7m3 up to 2.1m3 and all are articulated. But JCB has a second string to its bow because it can also offer, to perhaps the more casual user, loading shovel versions of some of its backhoe loader models. JCB did slip a little behind the wheeled loader mainstream but its new range has put paid to that altogether. And whatever your preference, nobody can deny the JCB machines look good. As usual with the Rocester-based manufacturer, the new wheel loaders will be marketed with characteristic vigour.

Matbro has had different fortunes altogether, and is now in the hands of Ireland's Powerscreen International. This change has seen Matbro make a determined effort to reverse its fortunes by making its products as market-worthy as anyone else. It has just three models but these were launched as recently as early 1994, so they're among the most up to date available in their respective size categories. It may be argued that Matbro has most of its marketing strength concentrated in the agricultural sales sector, but there's little doubt that it has an eye on the construction-related sales sector too.

Terex's Motherwell, Scotland-built range consists of three models and they come in at 4.2m3, 6.1m3 and 6.5m3. All have Detroit Diesel engines and are aimed squarely at the production user. The usual habitat is a large quarrying operation.

Among the international manufacturers, Caterpillar probably takes pride of place. From a small beginning in the 1980s, Cat has grown its wheel loader range to a whopping 15 models currently - and that's not counting variations available as options! It doesn't make very small wheeled loaders (nothing under 1m3 capacity) but it does make very big ones! Its 994 is currently the world's largest wheel loader in series production at around 185t and 18m3 nominal bucket capacity. There is a demand at this level, they've sold more than 70 units worldwide. Cat has recently concentrated its efforts on cab design and it would be fair to say that it has succeeded. Its cabs are now among the best for operator comfort. And there's no doubting the Cats' ruggedness in service.

Certainly, Caterpillar has taken the world wheeled loader industry by the scruff of the neck and shaken it. From virtually nowhere a decade ago, it has built up its range to be among the best on offer anywhere. Just take a look around the UK's quarry industry! Now it's started on heavy mining shovels - let no one doubt the seriousness of intent!

VME markets three marques, each with a definite identity. Michigans are American, big, non-articulated and beefy, Volvos are Swedish, smaller, articulated and somewhat more sophisticated while Zettelmeyers are German and even smaller, still articulated but also share many of the Volvo wheeled loaders' sophisticated qualities! So the range covers just about every possibility via at least 16 different models - again not counting options! Zettelmeyer offers its machines with capacities between 0.5m3 and 1.0m3 while Volvo's range goes from 1.3m3 up to 6.1m3. So unlike Komatsu/Hanomag, the VME ranges are complementary rather than at odds with each other.

While many readers with long memories will remember Volvo's strange looking early offerings back in the late 1960s the design philosophy has moved on apace since then. Now it's generally agreed that the Swedish-built kit has just about the state of the art in cab design. It's no slouch when it comes to environmentally-friendly drive-by noise levels either! Nor in its range of attachments.

Zettelmeyer follows its own design philosophy of small nimble machines with hydrostatic transmissions that are simply child's play to operate. There are many industry pundits who regret that it ever dropped its very high speed machine programme a few years ago even before it was acquired by VME.

Case has achieved a dedicated UK user parc for its five models of wheeled loader which are currently in series 'B' of the 1990 announced 21 range. Part of the changes announced for the 'B' series was the introduction of two models designated BXT. These are designed with parallel loader linkage rather the usual Z-bar type. The reasoning behind this is because Case engineers believe that parallel linkage is better suited to multi-attachment users. (Volvo offers its users the best of both worlds by specifying its TP - Torque Parallel - front end gear which it claims combines the best features of both systems.)

Komatsu offers more than a dozen wheel loaders and of course it also has a majority stake in Germany's Hanomag which has a further dozen or so in its manufacturing line-up. Komatsu's offerings range from 1.2m3 up to 10.5m3 while Hanomag's are spread between 0.7m3 and 4.0 m3 capacity. Talk about being spoilt for choice! The two marques also differ in choice of engines with Komatsu preferring its own while Hanomag has just signed an agreement with Perkins for some of its machines. However if you study the specification table it can be seen that for a given machine size the Komatsu offering tends to confer a higher tipping load factor in the straight ahead position. Maybe German operators are somewhat more careful than their UK counterparts. Maybe Komatsu is over cautious about stability. Whatever, the Komatsu-Hanomag lineup is about the largest and we haven't yet seen the specification of the new Green Line kit!

O&K has recently begun to redesign its wheel loader range and it currently offers 16 models ranging from 0.5m3 up to 4.2m3 in capacity. The O&K machines were somewhat design-dependent on the former Faun wheeled loader range which O&K took over in 1989. But O&K has put in a lot of research effort which is now bearing fruit in machines such as the L45B which CJ recently tested against its Series One counterpart. The performance bonus is very worthwhile yet it hasn't been achieved by increases in horsepower. Like most German manufacturers O&K is faced with an uphill struggle for German-built exports because of the strength of the Deutschmark. There are O&K wheeled loaders here but not that many.

Atlas Weyhausen has six wheeled loaders in its range and all are built in Germany where they achieve a goodly market share. In this country they have suffered somewhat from a very variable dealership policy. This has tended to distract potential purchasers from their otherwise undoubted virtues. Consequently there is not a high population here. However the mantle of UK sales/marketing has now been assumed by Atlas Hydraulic Loaders and that should prove a boost to user confidence. It's perhaps a little early to say but if the sales graph goes anything like the one currently enjoyed by Atlas excavators here, it'll be interesting to say the least. A sobering thought, however, must be that the current total UK market forecast for sales of wheeled loaders under 75kW is projected at just 200 units. If you contrast this with Germany, Atlas' home market, where total unit sales are more like three times the UK number, then the difficulty begins to dawn.

VME is faced with similar statistics as it starts to market its Zettelmeyer-built replacement for the Swedish-built L30. But at least it is starting from a higher base level in that there is already a fair population of L30s which will need to be replaced at some stage. For reasons to do with inertia that must give VME some advantage, and VME is no slouch at marketing anyway!

Liebherr, yet another German brand, continues to plough its own furrow with determination. It offers seven models of which the smaller four are Deutz-powered while the largest three are Liebherr-powered. The range spans between 0.7m3 and 4.0m3 and all feature fully hydrostatic drive and Liebherr's undoubtedly efficient Litronic engine/hydraulic pump management system. We have yet to test the system on a wheeled loader. But certainly when we Field Tested a Litronic excavator the performance gain was extraordinary. So much so that we carried out the test series three times just to check! So if Liebherr makes a model in your preferred size then you owe it to yourself to take a close look at it.

Furukawa is a brand name which doesn't trip too easily from British lips. But if you remember that it was Furukawa which bought Dresser Europe some years ago then you can see the Furukawa machines have a long pedigree. The current Furukawa range encompasses seven models from 1.05m3 up to 3.8m3 and is European-built. In fact the production unit has recently been switched from Heidelberg, Germany to Lyons, France. The machines are bang up-to-date so far as specification is concerned, but potential users may have a small niggle in that three different engine makes are used. Not all at once of course! Only in the three largest models does Furukawa use its own engines. The others are split between Yanmar and Isuzu's offerings. The former Dresser had a sizeable parc of sold machines here and UK dealer Saville Tractors has continuity on its side as it strives to re-establish the marque here. But it is a long slow process.

At Intermat in 1992 there were a couple of wheeled loaders lurking on the Samsung stand. Enquiries revealed that they could not be sold in Europe because they didn't have wet disc brakes amongst other things. That was soon rectified and the machines have been here for around 18 months. UK dealer Imaco has had quite good success notably north of the Border and inroads are now being made further south. The Samsung wheeled loaders look good, Cummins diesels are reliable, Korean build quality is sound and Imaco Blackwood Hodge believes that it offers good back up service. The range of three models cover a small market segment from 2.3m3 up to 3.5m3 but there's quite a concentration of users who need those sizes so there's enough for Samsung to go at.

Blackwood Hodge as it was (pre Imaco) used to market Japanese-built TCM wheeled loaders here. Since the takeover of Blackwood Hodge TCM has found itself in limbo. That's a pity for the six model range had a good reputation for rugged build quality. The size spectrum goes from 0.8m3 up 3.5m3 and power is by either Isuzu or Nissan. Expect to see another well-known concessionaire trying to collar the UK franchise in the not too distant future!

From Korea (like Samsung) comes another brand of wheeled loader, Hyundai. But CJ has yet to see one working in this country. According to our crib sheet there are three models, all articulated and with capacities from 1.7m3 up to 3.5m3. Both Ernest Doe and Reekie plant sell Hyundai excavators here and in theory anyway, could decide to sell wheeled loaders here too.

HM Plant markets Fiat Hitachi's wheeled loaders here and, as you might expect from an outfit with plenty of marketing savvy, has had some success. There are just three models with sizes from 2.3m3 up to 3.6m3. All have Fiat diesel engines and at least two, the FR130 and FR160, have an impressively high top speed at 40km/hr. Fiat is very bullish about its future in the European construction industry and you can bet that it'll be pushing as hard as it can for more UK sales. As well as more European sales too of course.

On the very small machine front Pel-Job has the EL451. It's just 1.6t in weight, has a bucket capacity of only 0.3m3 and less than 19kW of diesel power. But it's got fully hydrostatic transmission and can reach places where bigger machines can't go. Pel-Job UK has great hopes for it.

Kubota too has two titchy models but again far from titchy specification levels. Unlike the Pel-Job both Kubotas are articulated and you can hang a backhoe attachment on them if you wish. Logic dictates that there will be a niche for these tiny machines somewhere but we've yet to see one at work.

Rumour has it that Kawasaki and Mitsubishi would like to offer their wheeled loaders here but no one's admitting they've discussed the franchise. Kawasaki has 10 models while Mitsubishi has just three.

Perhaps they're waiting until the market picks up some more.

Europeans Schaeff and Kramer have recently decided to tackle the UK again. Schaeff via subsidiary and Kramer via TM Rentequip.

Both have been here before with varying degrees of success. With no less than 14 models between them there's sure to be some sales gain.