hmm

I saw the crown IC unit when I worked at Crown in joliet, IL 2 years ago. it was still is early stages but it look a lot like an FC electric unit but it had a a john deere motor in it. I know there are a bunch running around southern illinois area in warehouses for test run/durability test.

the majority of the lowes business goes to yale.

Crown and Raymond have a piece of it.

If crown goes into IC it wont be in the same bracket as raymond and it wont affect Raymond market share, unless they use it as a selling point to get their electric lifts.

as far as crown getting into Home Depot, not likely. for every DC that Crown has equipment at, Raymond has 5 or more. And from what I understand the operators arent liking the crowns at the new locations. Especially the ones that drove Raymonds before.

ah ah ah.......... Crown is now in Lowe's stores... just had a new store open up in my backyard....... all Crown electric and Hamech I/C.... store manager said all new stores are Crown for next 5years........

First of all I doubt Crown would ever sell out to anyone. They're doing fine the way the are. Also one thing to remember, Crown has a lot of quiet ventures. The european market can open your eyes if you really look around. Re: to the comment regarding Home depot & Lowes, have you looked in the DC's lately - Crowns. Why? They say they hold up better than the rest. They wont put them in the stores because the cheaper ones work ok in there. To the post regarding market share; first compare apples to apples, then recheck your numbers.

More likely that Kion would try to buy Crown. The have aspirations to be number 1 again and need a strong footing in the US to achieve that which they dont currently have. Thay tried to develop a reach truck to take on the US market, the Linde 116, but it was a complete disaster with major reliability issues. Their IC product is expensive and i'm not sure how hydrostatic is accepted in the US.

Kazz, I think you've got that backwards.

I'd say a linde purchase is unlikely, see other posting on international numbers. Linde is #2 in 2007 at 6.35 billion, crown is #6 with 1.82 billion. Likely a purchase would be the other way around but crazy things happen. If crown pulled it off they would compete with raymond/toyota for #1 possibly at 7.80 billion.

and lets not forget why Crown is going through all of this. They do plenty with just their electric line. Lowe's and Home Depot would not talk to Crown unless they had a Crown IC line, hence the re-emergence of the Hamech namesake and then ofcourse the Deere/Crown product in a few years.

Then, they can compete with Toyo/Ray/Cat/Yale for the Lowe's and Home Depot business.

FYI, Budman- we're a non-factory dealer and are gearing up to sell the Hamech. We have put in our first order and are waiting for arrival. Not sure about all non factory dealers, but we're going to sell them. Do you have one in your branch yet, and have you started training modules?

In the US, Crown is marketing the Hamech Lift Truck. This is a Komatsu painted gray and decaled with the name Hamech. It gives them an IC unit for Crown National Accounts, along with Crown Factory Dealers to sell. Other Crown Dealers will support it on warranty, parts & service.

HI Guys. im new to this forum thing.
Here in Australia Crown has used Daewoo(Doosan) for a long time for ic forklift.
if you want to see it go to
wwwcrown.com/asia/products/ic.html

Heres the deal. Crown has branded european IC trucks from Daewoo/Doosan.
Crown has branded IC trucks in the US under the Hamech name from Komatsu.
Crown is beta testing thier own built IC trucks at undisclosed locations in the US. Only thing I know about this is it's powered by John Deere ( Not Hitatachi/Deere as someone else suggested.
You can view the trucks at the following addresses.
( don't forget the. after the w's)

european;
wwwcrown.com/asia/products/asia_engine_forklift/3ton/index.htmlted )

US;
wwwcrown.com/usa/news/usa_company_news/2008/agreement_with_komatsu.html

Where can I see a picture of a "whatever" IC truck with Crown decals?

Crown is gonna get real aggressive in the I.C. market. They have added some of the Top people from Komatsu to make a possible rebadging of the Komatsu to Crown product.