Grove and Demag are both claiming similar numbers of deliveries for their five-axle all-terrain cranes launched last year.
Grove claims that it is now leading the market for five-axle 100 tonne all-terrains, having delivered 130 units of its GMK 5100 by mid-February.
But Demag responds that it will have delivered 132 units of its AC 100 by the end of the month.
The four German leading all-terrain manufacturers – Grove, Demag, Liebherr and Tadano Faun – all came to market with new five-axle 100t ATs last year. Grove’s GMK 5100 beat Demag’s machine to the market only because the AC 100 was delayed for the boom pinning system to be redesigned. While Demag was swift to report 140 orders by the middle of 2000 to put itself ahead of the field, Grove is now claiming that it has made 130 deliveries and thus leads the contest, it says.
Official statistics from the VDMA (the German manufacturers’ association) show that 226 mobile cranes with capacities between 81t and 110t were produced in Germany during the calendar year 2000. Grove says that 126 of these were its GMK 5100, which implies that the other three manufacturers produced just 100 between them. While production figures are not the same as the number of deliveries made, they do give an indication.
But Demag says that it will have delivered 132 units by the end of February out of a total order book of 170 for its AC 100.
Liebherr says that it had delivered 35 units of its LTM 1100/2 by the middle of February, many of which would have been produced towards the end of 2000. It also produced several 90t-rated LTM 1090/2 units during the year which are reported in the same class as the 100 tonners. Liebherr also claims 140 firm orders in hand.
Tadano Faun would not disclose its figures but said sales of its ATF 100-5 were “very strong across Europe, the USA, China and Africa”.
