As JCB's 7,500th Teletruk starts work in a UK recycling plant this month (February) the company has its sights set on expanding sales to the other side of the world in Australia. This makes particular sense because in 2009 the counterbalance forklift market in Australia (Class 4 & 5) leveled with, and some months exceeded, that of the UK.

The UK market, as with other leading European markets Germany and France, was significantly adversely affected by the recession. Meanwhile Australia was, and still is, in much better shape. Soon after signing New Zealand dealers Centra Forklifts to the Teletruk franchise in 2008 JCB linked with Western Australia's growing force Allied Forklifts, based in Malaga near Perth. In 2010 Allied are expanding premises, staff and product offering. Owner and Managing Director Wayne Adams has even started the year with a new TV advertising campaign specifically for the Teletruk.

Now JCB is looking to appoint dealers for the rest of Australia. International Sales Manager Mike Poxon, who visits Melbourne in March to link with the JCB Regional team and then tour other major cities told ForkliftAction: "We are delighted with the progress made by Wayne Adams and his team at Allied Forklifts. They've really grasped the concept of telescopic reach and our four-wheel-drive variant primarily into rental, mining and other extractive industries. Allied are doing a great job alongside their other forklift brands and now we are confident the time is right to add South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The interesting thing about the Teletruk is that our competition isn't other forklifts but other machine types. So there's no franchise conflict".

JCB design engineer John Sketchley putting the latest Teletruk through Tilit-Table sign-out at JCB's worldwide research and development centre UK. This model is a TLT 35D 4x4 able to lift 3.5 tonnes.

Additionally the Teletruk option of 4x4 format allows this FLT to operate in Australian ground conditions beyond the capabilities of conventional counterbalance FLTs. JCB emphasise that the design is based on the counterbalanced FLT footprint and therefore the Teletruk is not an All Terrain / Rough Terrain machine, but it will work well where other counterbalanced FLTs cannot. The other key difference from the conventional truck is that the machine conforms to both ROPS (Roll Over Protection) and FOPS (Falling Objects Protection). JCB believes this is seen as a big benefit in those Australian extractive locations where ROPS and FOPS conformity for all wheeled machines is mandatory. However, until now, only conventional masted FLTs with FOPS cabs have been available to the market, not also with ROPS.

For more information:
Mike Poxon +44 (0) 1538 758964 | +44 (0) 7917 174750 | : mike.poxon@jcb.com