I would agree with Chuck S's comments. Everyone has dropped their prices over last few years including Yale and Hyster. I have had experience working with both Yale and Hyster and can attest to this. The issue of launching private labeling a cheaper forklift would appear to be an attempt by NMHG to reposition the Yale and Hyster brands as higher value trucks. The other NMHG strategy of combining Yale and Hyster dealerships is most likely to allow them to position Yale as the "Warehouse Products Company" (to compete with Raymond and Crown) and Hyster as the Class IV, V and some Class I Producer (to compete with Toyota, CAT, Nissan etc.). This has been something that they wanted to do years ago but could not convince the Yale and Hyster dealer groups to give up any products that they already had. With one dealer selling both brands that becomes a moot point.
Others such as Toyota/Raymond have chosen to share product on a limited basis but to keep some product differences in spec and performance different such as in the Class I and II products.
We as an industry need to better train our salespeople and most importantly our sales managers to start selling value again and not just low price. We did this successfully some years ago but have allowed ourselves (OEM's, dealers etc) to continue to revert back to discounting our products and services. It takes discipline as well as good planning to do this but if we do the entire industry will benefit.