If you follow the history of lift trucks you'll notice a pattern- they follow the auto industry when it comes to technology. Everything from engines to electronic ignitions, starting & charging systems all started out being very industrial- now look at them - everything is a cross over from the auto industry.

The industry does this because of one reason- economics- period. It's cheaper to purchase the parts they need from the auto industry then to manufacture their own parts- makes sense.

Since this has been the case in the past, we can only assume it will continue in the future. With government regulation continuing to put a strong hold on the industry, it only makes sense that the various manufactures will pool their resources by joining forces for the sake of- you guessed it- economics. As in the auto industry, various manufacturers join forces for a few years- only to disband the joint venture at some point to start another one with somone else practically the same day. It's been happening for years. It's now our turn to be introduced to this mish-mosh.

Just like cars all basically look alike, do the same things & have very similar technology, our industry will follow suit. You won't be able to tell forklifts apart except for their badging in a few years. They will all have shared technology to keep R & D as low as possible, in the process taking away any edge one has over another.