andrew_k
no they are not built/made/designed or anything else in china
caterpillar went into a joint venture with Mitsubitshi and formed MCFA
I'm sure their different models are built all over the world but i highly doubt china is a part of it in any way.
china spends too much time copying everyone elses to compete in the market.
All i can say is any china built lift i've ever seen was not designed very well and they in almost every case do not last very long before repair costs overrun the cheap cost of the purchase.

Our company purchased 2 new Foton FL530D forklifts 9yrs ago, we have just replaced them with Clarks.
Firstly, the Fotons seemed to be reasonably well built at first site but things started to fail in the first 2 years of moderate use, leaking rams, mast rollers failing, oil leaks, coolant leaks, electrical problems, overheating issues and the list goes on.
The other issue was sourcing spare parts specific to the forklift, there is only one dealer bringing these fotons into australia and they no longer support them, and the model has been superseded with no common parts, it has left a sour taste in my mouth, but, you get what you pay for, it was a 3rd the cost of a toyota of the same capacity. Won't be buying chinese ever again!

Hello! I have no good experience at all for chienese. Usually dealer is small company, so they collapse soon or later. spare part delivery is very slow, truck may be out of service about 1-2 week. technical support is very bad or nothing. usually if local mechanic( if you have local mechanic ) knows the problem, its great but if not it takes time again. if u try to sell used china truck, cant have very good money and its not very respected.

Aren't caterpillar trucks made in china?

Simple answer is don't yes they are cheap but support is non existent parts back up a joke and reliability isn't there. You get what you pay for. We lost a customer who decided to save money buying Hangcha machines they've since scrapped the lot at 2 years old and come back to us

We are also considering purchasing a 2 ton Lithium-ion Hangcha 3 wheel forklift. While their are some concerns about purchasing "cheap" Chinese forklifts, I can't find any info on this forklift other than the info that is available in this forum. Does anyone have real recent experience with this forklift or a suggestion where to go to get info.

aside from what everyone else has said all i can say is you get what you pay for ;o)
cheaper is not better in almost every case on any brand.
Pay attention to the service side of the brand and how it stands up and the dealer support in parts and service.
That has already been mentioned by those that know ;o)
There are the tried and true brands like cat, hyster, yale, raymond, crown, toyota, komatsu and linde. Any other brand is questionable. But even with the main brands the service and parts still plays a huge part in the dependability of the trucks no matter what brand they are.

Outback you got it right. I've lost so much time trying to find parts or information on Chinese lifts. If you contact China direct, you will be bombarded with emails and phone calls. The cheap price of the lift is offset by downtime. bad parts, waiting time and rental fees.

We've got a Foton FL530D, 2500kg diesel, quality is questionable, parts were hard to get through the australian dealer, now they're impossible to get parts for, although quite a few bits are used in other Foton equipment like engine, hydraulic valves, pump, and rams, but everything else is not available as the manufacturer of that foton forklift have gone out of business, personally i wouldn't buy any chinese brand lift truck, they're just not committed to their overseas customers, they just dump the equipment in our market and then don't support it enough.

Thanks for your message.
I was searching for example spare parts and they are available. For this moment it looks to be easy to find them. I am thinking to buy something more expensive and better than Hangcha. I do not want to have the cheappest product.
I knew that in 1970 it was hard to find spare parts. But now we have so much dealears and of course internet:)
And i forgot to add that I am searching for electric forklift.
Now I have to find more informations about Lithium Ion batteries.
I think thaht i will add next Post about it. May be someone will know something about it. :)
Best regards guys :)

Hi John. Brand could be Fetim. It is made in Bulgaria.

John is right, stay away from those. I've seen it many times, customer bought Chinese lift to save money. The machine was always down, parts not available, no help from dealer or factory. Last Hangcha didn't steer if you were not rolling. Customer fought dealer for 3 years until they fixed it.

Would suggest you first investigate what level of parts & technical support is available in your country for any brand of Chinese F/L or other makes and how it compares to support you currently have.
Anyone can offer low priced equipment but timely support (part/technical)to keep your equipment up and running can be less than satisfactorily.
Do you home work.

What type of 2500kg truck are you looking for - battery, LPG, diesel powered? Be a bit more specific.

I recall a brand & manufacturer called Bulkancar (Bulgarian made) that tried to introduce product in the US back in the late 1970s - they were cheap, their quality was bad, their product support was terrible - a recipe for disaster. Remember well there exhibit at a national MH show in Chicago's McCormick place. A fellow name (the late) Ted Jackson headed up this market introduction. Ted was part of the Datsun group in Mayfield, Tennessee. often refereed as a the Mayfield mafia. Ted was a good man and I knew him well. He tried to hire me a couple times. I looked over his exhibit and noticed the one leg of a 4 round pipe OHG was shimmed to fit with a welded together stack of steel plates. They promoted the idea that they were largest lift truck manufacturer in the whole wide world.