Construction equipment rental company Volvo Rents has appointed Heli as its preferred North American vendor for industrial forklift products.

Volvo Rents is a "significant user who had evaluated and utilised other forklift brands in the past but found the combination of Heli features, performance and overall user 'friendliness' from a maintenance standpoint to be the best value available," says Bruce Pelynio, president and chief executive officer of Dobbs Imports LLC (trading as Heli Americas). "This is obviously a significant customer for Heli."

In January, Volvo Rents and the Heli distribution organisation reached an agreement that allows Volvo Rents franchisees to source the full line of new Heli forklifts to meet customer industrial material handling needs.

Forklifts will be supplied to Volvo Rents locations by Heli Americas of Memphis, Tennessee in 31 states; Southwest Equipment Sales of Denver, Colorado in 19 states; and Heli Canada of Thorold, Ontario will supply Canada.

Volvo Rents of Asheville, North Carolina has more than 70 rental locations in North America and another 70 elsewhere. Volvo Rents is a subsidiary of Volvo Construction Equipment North America Inc, a division of Göteborg, Sweden-based AB Volvo.

Anhui Heli Co Ltd of Hefei, China manufactures the forklifts and is making strides in building its distribution networks in North America, Europe and elsewhere and offering a broader range of Heli forklift models.

Anhui Heli has projected manufacturing more than 40,000 units in 2008, up from last year's output of 38,500 units. No details were available on the volume of Heli forklifts reaching the North American market.