Liebherr Mietpartner ups fleet investment

Liebherr Mietpartner, the manufacturer’s heavy equipment rental business in Germany, France and the UK, will increase its fleet investment to €80 million this year after spending €70 million in 2014.

Martin Schickel, managing director of Liebherr Mietpartner, speaking to IRN at the Intermat exhibition, said the manufacturer was happy with the way its rental operations were developing in the three countries and that it aimed to continue to expand its fleets.

The company now has a strategy of replacing its excavators, dozers, dump trucks and wheeled loaders every three years, meaning that it needs to buy around 600-700 machines every year.

Watch the full video interview by clicking on the image above.

In addition to renewing its fleet, Mr Schickel said it had plans to expand. In Germany – its biggest market – the fleet will grow from 1200 units to 1500 within a year or two, and in the UK from the current 250 units to between 400 and 600 units “in the coming years”.

He acknowledged that France, where it has 550 rental machines, was currently a difficult market, but he said he was optimistic; “We will increase our market share, and we will invest in new machines, new technology, with less fuel consumption. I hope that if we have new machines we can grow our market share.”

Mr Schickel ruled out entering any new countries for the time being, and added that it was probable that the business would exit the rental of allied products such as Hamm compaction machines.