Top 20 Lift Truck Suppliers

According to Modern Materials Handling Magazine, 2015 turned out to be a good year for lift truck sales. Study of the sales statistics and their comparison to 2014 figures show a growth in the sale of electric lift trucks and a decline in sales of internal combustion models. Electric lifts in the 1, 2 and 3 class combined grew by 8% over the previous year. Meanwhile, internal combustion lift truck sales in classes 4 and 5 declined globally by 10%. In fact, internationally, sales of electric lift trucks grew 55% and now make up 60% of global orders.

The Industrial Truck Association has identified seven classes of lift truck or forklift.

· Class 1 – Electric motor trucks with cushion or pneumatic tires.
· Class 2 – Electric motor narrow aisle trucks with solid tires.
· Class 3 – Electric hand trucks or hand/rider trucks with solid tires.
· Class 4 – Internal Combustion engine sit down rider forklifts with cushion tires used for indoor applications on hard surfaces.
· Class 5 – Internal combustion engine sit down rider forklifts with pneumatic tires for outdoor application on rough surfaces.
· Class 6 – Electric or internal combustion engine powered rider units with towing ability rather than lift of at least 1,000 pounds.
· Class 7- Diesel engine forklifts with pneumatic tires used on rough terrain in outdoor application.

Modern Materials Handling Magazine names Toyota top lift truck supplier.
(Courtesy: Toyota Material Handling at flickr.com)

The Modern Materials Handling Magazine top 20 lift truck suppliers based on 2015 sales are:

1. Toyota
2. Kion
3. Jungheinrich
4. Crown Equipment
5. Hyster-Yale
6. Mitsubishi Nichivu
7. UniCarriers Americas
8. Anhui Forklift
9. Komatsu
10. Clark Material Handling
11. Doosan
12. Hangcha
13. Hyundai Heavy Industries
14. Combilift
15. Lonking
16. Hystu
17. Hubtex
18. LPG
19. Paletrans Equipment
20. Godrej & Boyce

For a supplier to be eligible for the top 20 list, a company must manufacture and sell lift trucks in at least one of the Industrial Truck Association’s seven truck classes. Rankings are based on worldwide revenue from powered industrial trucks during each company’s most recent fiscal year. Revenue figures submitted in foreign currency are calculated using the December 31, 1015 exchange rate.