Terex celebrates fifty years of backhoes

Terex Corp's Construction division used a customer open day in the UK in May to celebrate the 50-year history of the backhoe loaders that it currently manufactures in Coventry.

The division commemorated the milestone by showing a specially-painted version of one of its most popular models, the 860 Elite, to customers, dealers and the press at the company's demonstration area near Warwick.

Terex's connection to backhoe history is through its 2001 acquisition of Fermec from CNH. Fermec was the company that grew out of the Massey-Harris-Ferguson and Massey Ferguson businesses in the UK.

Jon Beckly, Terex product manager for backhoes, said the backhoe still had an important role to play in the construction sector, particularly now; "People in Europe have been able to afford to buy two specialized machines, a loader for loading and an excavator for digging. However, the versatility of backhoes may become more important as the market tightens."

If it is clear that sales of backhoes have now passed their peak in well developed markets, they are now becoming an important product in newer areas; "We're pushing basic machines into [developing areas], such as the CIS and India," Mr Beckly told IRN. "To gain sales in emerging markets, customers need an easy-to-use, reliable, versatile machine."

Now enhancing the versatility of Terex backhoes is a quick coupler, which is the first available for the loader arm. The device, which is produced by White Material Handling Ltd in Bristol, UK, lists for about £1300 (€1450) and reduces change-over time for attachments to approximately 30 seconds, said Terex.