Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/953148
P reliminary results are in for 2017 financed earthmoving machine sales, and the out- come has some interesting components. I'm calling these preliminary because I gathered them 45 days from the end date of December 31, 2017, which means there are still a few strag- glers, but enough information to give the major- ity of the 2017 data. The data are compiled by EDA, a division of Randall-Reilly. In the no- surprise depart- ment, compact track loaders continued their advance, rising 17 percent in the number of units sold year-over- year. When you narrow the field to four machines in the compact equipment space – CTLs, compact excavators, skid steers and com- pact wheel loaders – CTLs now com- prise 43 percent of the total machines sold, compared with compact excavators at 32 percent, skid steer loaders at 22 percent and compact wheel loaders at 3 percent. Another gainer in this segment were compact excavators, which increased by 13 percent in the number of units sold. Compact wheel load- ers, on the other hand, decreased by 12 percent in the number of units sold year-over-year, while skid steers remained flat. Overall, in terms of total units sold, compact equipment now makes up 69 percent of the financed construc- tion equipment market. The compact equipment advances are not reflected on the heavy machine side, however. Even though the number of financed equipment units rose by 6 percent year-over-year, all of this increase was realized in compact equipment. The heavy side actually saw a 4 percent decrease in units sold. (We've iden- tified this segment as the top seven machine types sold by number of units.) The only heavy machine category that saw an increase were excavators, gaining 3 percent year-over-year. The number of financed backhoes experienced the biggest decline from 2016 to 2017, decreasing by 16 percent. Keep in mind this is just one portion of the ma- chine sales ledger; it does not include machines bought with cash or bank letters of credit. Still, depending on the machine type, EDA estimates that financed machines can represent 40 to 75 percent of the total number of machines of that type sold in the United States, so this represents a significant peek into what happened with machine sales in 2017. EquipmentWorld.com | March 2018 9 on record | by Marcia Gruver Doyle MGruver@randallreilly.com A first glance at 2017 results New financed compact machines, 2016-2017 2016 no. of units 2016 % of segment total 2017 no. of units 2017 % of segment total YOY % of units change Compact track loader 22,390 40% 26,880 43% 17% Compact excavator 17,425 31% 19,958 32% 13% Skid steer loader 13,602 25% 13,621 22% 0% Compact wheel loader 1,910 3% 1,708 3% -12% Total 55,327 62,167 11% New financed heavy machines, 2016-2017 2016 no. of units 2016 % of segment total 2017 no. of units 2017 % of segment total YOY % of units change Excavator 9,725 33% 9,987 36% 3% Wheel loader (exc. compact) 8,525 29% 7,808 28% -9% Dozer 4,046 14% 3,976 14% -2% Backhoe 3,360 11% 2,901 10% -16% Double-drum compactor 1,332 5% 1,240 4% -7% Artic 1,244 4% 1,113 4% -12% Moror Grader 1,002 3% 985 4% -2% Total 29,234 28,010 -4% Grand total (compact and heavy) 84,561 90,177 6%