To no one’s surprise, forklift sales in the North American market (U.S. and Canada) dropped by 5.1% in 2020, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with the economy now in resurgence, so too is the forklift industry rebounding, with first-quarter sales being characterized as “healthy” by the Industrial Truck Association (ITA).
“The forklift industry performed well throughout the pandemic thanks to the essential nature of our products and the dedicated associates in our industry,” reports Jay Gusler, chairman of the ITA and executive vice president operations for Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas Group.
According to ITA, the North American market for forklifts in 2020 forklift reached 230,134, which includes electric rider trucks (Class 1 and Class 2 combined), motorized hand trucks (Class 3), and internal combustion-powered trucks (Class 4 and Class 5 combined). Class 2 and Class 3 trucks saw a small increase from 2019 at 2.0% and 1.1%, respectively. The remaining classes declined, with Class 5 seeing the largest decrease at 19.7%.
As is our annual tradition, MH&L again presents our ranking of the 10 largest global manufacturers of forklifts, ranked by revenue. These suppliers provide some of the leading material handling technologies and vehicles used worldwide by companies to manage their warehouses and distribution centers, and many of them are at the forefront of developing and promoting the latest in forklift safety technologies. All financial figures are stated in U.S. dollars, based on the relevant exchange rate as of December 31, 2020. The information was provided by the companies unless otherwise noted.