Gulf Automobile Industry Corp produced the world's first Arab forklift - the Camel forklift.

The manufacturer of the world's first Arab forklift announced ambitious expansion plans at last week's Big 5 PMV, the Middle East expo for construction plant, vehicles and machinery.

Gulf Automobile Industry Corp (GAIC), which produces cars, pick-up trucks and the Camel forklift, is responding to industry demand by moving its 14,000 sqm (150,695 sqft) Abu Dhabi factory to a 3 million sqm (32.3 million sqft) facility in Saudi Arabia.

Company chairman Nasser Hamad Al Hajeri says the expansion will occur in 2010 over two phases, starting with a 109,000 sqm (1.1 million sqft) factory.

"We are forecasting sales of AED50million (USD13.6 million) for 2010. The move to a larger manufacturing plant was necessary to meet the demand for our products and while it makes sense to be in Saudi Arabia, our biggest market, the UAE continues to offer us strong sales potential." Al Hajeri says.

He adds that 800 people will be employed at the new factory and by 2020, GAIC expects to have 11,000 employees.

The Camel forklift was introduced at the start of 2009, when most of the world was negatively impacted by the economic downturn. However, GAIC took advantage of that time to introduce the forklift, which it claims is competitively priced and specified for the Middle East region.

"The forklift is about 30% cheaper than its competitors but still offers excellent quality," Al Hajeri claims.

The engines are sourced from Nissan and Isuzu in Japan, but the traditional forklift model has been adapted to work in the Middle Eastern climate. Each forklift is installed with a filtration system to deal with dust and sand, and a cooling mechanism helps deal with the region's high temperatures. Air conditioning units can also be added if needed.

Al Hajeri says visitors to the Big 5 PMV expo at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre that ended on 26 November showed great interest in the Camel forklift.

GAIC received orders on the first day from Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Sudan.

In 2007, GAIC introduced the first UAE-made car, a 150-horsepower, double cabin pick-up priced between AED36,000 and AED60,000 (USD9,802 and USD16,337). The car has a 2,400 cc Mitsubishi engine and its components are from China, Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa and the UAE.