Mitsubishi's "clean" new Grendia forklift has been a huge hit in Australia, according to Australian importer and marketer, MLA Holdings.

MLA general manager Charles Foo told Forkliftaction.com News that customers in Australia had responded well to the new machine after almost 12 months on the market.

The Grendia is the first mainstream collaboration between Nissan and Mitsubishi since the companies formed an alliance in 2000. The forklift was launched onto the world market in June 2003, and the first units arrived in Australia in November.

Mitsubishi released the Grendia and Nissan launched the Agres, each sitting comfortably within the stringent, future US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, and feature complex emissions control systems which reduce the production of noxious gases by 90 per cent (Forkliftaction.com News #113).

While Foo would not reveal actual sales figures, he said MLA had underestimated the popularity of the forklift. Customers had responded well to the truck's reliability and up to 20 per cent fuel savings over rival LP gas forklifts.

"Sales have taken off more than we expected them to," he said. "This year we sold out of our supply two months in a row. That was in June and July - customers were waiting 12 weeks for their forklift at the peak of it."

More generally, Foo said MLA Holdings, which also sells Fantuzzi container handlers, had performed well in 2004.

"We don't go out there shooting for market share; our focus is purely on building relationships with our customers and selling forklifts, and in that respect, we are very pleased with our performance this year," he added.