Komatsu Forklift's European head office has asked European clients for feedback on the reliability, comfort and productivity of Komatsu's 1.5-tonne to 3.5-tonne AX50 and BX50 forklifts, rolled out in 2005.

A Komatsu Division statement said 50 European Komatsu end-users and sales personnel, "qualified to express an opinion", received a questionnaire which was the final step in a four-part product evaluation.

The evaluation was "an on-the-ground survey of the forklift after a minimum of 500-600 hours use and has the objective of revealing any problems related to quality, assembly or product-specific defects", the statement said.

The European questionnaire followed similar surveys in Japan, other Asian nations and Russia.

Komatsu's European clients "affirmed their satisfaction with the quality, reliability, productivity and handling of the forklifts", the statement said.

It said questionnaire results would assist in developing a blueprint for the next model.