Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/933470
January 2018 | EquipmentWorld.com 26 S ome would say skid steers have run their course, and that compact track loaders (CTLs) have replaced them. "Fake news!" cry the manufacturers, and they have the facts to prove it. True, CTL sales have soared, but depend- ing on the manufacturer and the size category, skid steer sales have at least held steady and, in many cases, have slightly increased. There are two important factors to keep in mind regarding this shift in sales volume that seems to put skid steers at a disadvantage. First, CTLs are still relatively new. As more customers are discovering the advantages of tracks in certain applications, more tracked units are being sold. "After customers with legacy machines replace their skid steer loaders with compact track loaders, the rapid growth of compact track loader adoption over skid steers will likely start levelling out," says Kevin Scotese, Volvo skid steer product manager. He says that since the service life of a skid steer loader is 5,000 hours, many legacy machines will be due for replacement soon, "adding to the probability that market share erosion will level off after those machines are replaced." The second factor is that the shift in sales volume is almost exclusively a North American market phenomenon. Globally, skid steer sales far eclipse compact track loader sales, says Gregg Zupancic, product marketing manager, John Deere. "Outside of North America, CTL sales are spotty and number around 2,000 units per year, while skid steers are in the 20,000- to 30,000-unit range." Zupancic says it's understandable that CTLs are stealing the limelight; Deere's sales in 2016 were about 60 percent CTLs and 40 percent skid steer loaders. "But the trend line for skid steer sales over the past five years is up, and our sales of skid steers for 2017 were up about 1,000 units" as of November 1. Speedier? Another bit of conventional wisdom is that skid steers preserve their market share in part because they're faster than CTLs. Marketwide, that's true. Skid steers typically can travel 10 to 12 mph, while the top speed of CTLs is 7 to 10 mph. But not so fast, say some OEMs. Buck Storlie, testing and reliability leader with ASV, points out the company makes compact track loaders with travel speeds of 11 mph. Some OEMs suggest that customers ask themselves, "How important is speed anyway?" Certain applications, such as sweeping and snow removal, favor faster speeds. Randy Tin- ley, product manager of skid steer and compact track loaders with JCB, says scraping operations are also better at higher speeds, but those are mostly found in ag (mucking out barns, for example) and less often in construction. machine matters | by Richard Ries ARE HOLDING THEIR OWN LOADERS SKID STEER