I am shocked that someone thinks that Toyota has the best Class I truck. In my opinion, they rely on gimmicks and marketing.
When they came out with their flashy, 3" high LCD numbers on the display to show the operators that they were travelling at 3.1 mph. Wow, what a technological breakthrough. I will admit that it did excite the average forklift driver but that's not saying much.
I agree completely sport5, I do believe Toyota has the best class 1 and IC unit, and Raymond has the best class 2 and class 3. This puts them in the best position to kill Crown in North America. Now whether or not they consolidte classes as to one system or not I could'nt say, but it would be in their best intrests to leave the guts of the units as is and offer both brands at both dealerships.
There is no real long term value in having two brands if there is no real and significant difference between the products offered. If you have two brands that are different in design and performance there is a great value as you can position specific brands and their models against specific competitors and still retain margin. The Raymond and Toyota Class I and Class II trucks are different in this perspective today. Toyota cannot go as high as Raymond and the Raymond trucks have higher performance characteristics as well as a higher level of technology. This is done to position the Raymond trucks in the high lift high cycle applications against Crown and Toyota aginst the rest of the pack. It works from a pricing standpoint as well as a competitive comparison perspective.
The Hyster and Yale model where there are two brands that are identical other than cosmetics leads to brand and margin cannabilization and the long term weakening of one brand over the other. That is one of the reasons why today Hyster's market share is lower than Yale's. Years ago the reverse was true.
The future holds the same as it did for the car industry, where substantial, global overcapacity led to convulsions at the first sign of a credit crunch. As with cars, where niche markets and style trailblazers evinced by brands like Aston Martin, Morgan and Bentley, give them USPs to pull them through, and will see them thrive, all other things being equal, so, too, forklift niche markets like articulated trucks, which show clear, substantial cost benefits over other truck types, will grow over the full business cycle. Other players who pay close attention to proving how they can cut operating costs over, say, a five-year cyle, will also thrive.
For the bread and butter market, however, like diesel counterbalanced trucks, inevitably there will be more consolidation and collapses. Meanwhile, many independent dealers will go down like nine pins
This won't be a surprise as Toyota own Cesabs which they got when they bought BT. It makes scene to try
to use as much as you can but I'm a bit surprised Toyota would let Cesabs do that. Maybe Toyota are now looking to change there plan Like Kion Group Have Toyota as the premium product and Cesabs as a economy product, use the same chassis with different ballast and possibly engine
Just seen an advert today of Cesabs new IC counterbalance trucks which look very much like a green Toyota 8 series with a different counterweight!!!
In the Uk this has already happened BT has disappeared and all BT
equipment are sold under the Toyota Brand. There is no real value in having two brands selling the same product under different names this is why Toyota sells products under one Brand.
The idea of one brand "swallowing" another is a tactic that has been tried over the years and has NEVER worked. Clark with Ross, Hyster with Lewis Shepard, Yale with Automatic and so on. Toyota undersatnds this as well as sees the value of the Toyota , Raymond and BT brands in their respective markets. The long range plan is to continue with both the Toyoyta and Raymond brands being sold by two seprate dealer newtorks to assure continued market share growth and profitability.
There are competitors that have suffered market share and profit loss because of the strength of the Toyota and Raymond brand and for that reason are hoping that one brand will disappear. The combined Toyota and Raymond market share along with BT represents the highest global market share in the industry. Based on that and the fact that TMHG is profitable it does not make sense to combine the brands.
For those of you hoping that this will happen my condolences!
You may be right, but I dont think they will go that route. I think it would be in both companies best intrest to keep them seperate from a liability and tax standpoint.
I think you are right Toyota have shown with BT that they will use the Raymond product in areas where it is best,but what will happen is Toyota will drop the Raymond name and sell everything under the Toyota brand
I think if Toyota goes with the Raymond technology just as they did on the class 3 stuff, it wont be a problem. The jacks are identical, just different colors. If Toyota sticks to the Raymond stuff under the covers on the class 2 stuff they should be able to sell and stay ahead of the Crown dealerships in North America. Whether they choose to do that or not remains to be seen.
Hi Chublil this will be the point how will the smaller interdependent company get on if the main manufactures go down this line. Toyota in Europe were not very good in warehouse equipment thats why they bought BT roller truck now all badged Toyota. this will happen in US with all Raymond equipment being badged Toyota within two years the Raymond name will not be around. The problem that Toyota will have is how customers will react to the Brand and the damage the car situation has caused. Toyota has always traded on quality but this has now been damaged by what people have seen in there cars.
With TMHU and Raymonds restructuring, I believe Toyota will be in decent shape given the fact they will "share" the class 1 thru class 3 market as one entity through national dealerships. This actually helps my company, as Raymond makes a much more desirable Class 2 product compared to Toyota. This also puts TMHU in a better position to chew away at Crowns market share at least in North America. I believe you are right in the dealing direct thing, and the after effect will be less and less independants and more national dealerships combining to strengthen their territories.