Hyundai diesel forklift 70D-7A

Garland-based Hyundai dealership LoneStar Forklift has moved its Fort Worth, Texas location to an interim site and is working toward expansion into the markets serving west and south Texas.

The State of Texas gave notice to LoneStar in 2012 about plans to acquire the firm’s highly visible Fort Worth property under eminent domain laws for a construction project improving Interstate highway 35W.

"We have moved about 5 mi. (8 km) into another facility on an interim basis," says Josh McSwain, LoneStar president.

He anticipates building another facility near a major traffic artery.

While unquantified, the staff of Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas Inc of Norcross, Georgia says that LoneStar is "the largest volume Hyundai forklift dealer in the USA." McSwain says, "We will try to keep our status as the number one dealer as long as possible."

He projects LoneStar’s 2014 sales will exceed those of 2013 by about 12%.

In August, LoneStar began representing the Navigator truck-mounted forklift line from Chrisman Manufacturing Inc of Long Beach, Mississippi. "We have Navigator for all of Texas," McSwain reports.

LoneStar’s representation of Terex Corp’s Genie aerial work platform equipment in Redmond, Washington began in 1997 and the forklifts of LiuGong Construction Machinery NA LLC of Katy, Texas in early 2013.

LoneStar has about 110 employees, and has been "adding more employees for the longest time", McSwain says. In working toward a west Texas facility, possibly in 2015, he notes LoneStar has "one mechanic out there, and we will probably have three by the end of the year".  The forward-thinking initiative for south Texas will occur later.

LoneStar concentrates on selling forklifts with liquid propane gas (LPG) and diesel powertrains. Recently popular models included the Hyundai diesel forklift 70D-7A and the Hyundai LPG forklift 25LC-7A. The Hyundai organisation exhibited both models during the Modex trade show, which occurred in March in Atlanta, Georgia.

Josh’s father, Donny McSwain, founded LoneStar Forklift and continues as chief executive officer of the business, which initially represented the forklift equipment from Halla Heavy Industries. Hyundai Construction Equipment took over South Korean forklift manufacturer Halla in 1989 and brought the first Hyundai-branded forklift to market in 2000.

LoneStar in Texas established the Garland location in 1991, Fort Worth in 2005, Houston in 2007 and Longview in 2012. The Garland facility occupied 24,000 sqft. (10,800 sqm), Houston has 22,000 sqft. (9,900 sqm) and Longview has 12,000 sqft. (5,400 sqm).