Doosan working to ease finance constraints for customers

Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment said rental companies and contractors are being constrained in purchasing new equipment by the lack of availability of finance and that it was looking at ways to make it easier for customers to acquire machines.

Norbert Donaberger, vice president of sales and marketing for Doosan Infracore CE in Europe, Middle East and Africa, told IRN; "Availability of easily accessible financial solutions is a constraint. Without going into details, right now we're working on projects for rental companies or large contractors that have length projects or jobs."

Mr Donaberger said Doosan was working on several things, but ruled out having a ‘rental' fleet of machines to supply to rental companies of contractors for specific jobs.

"It is definitely a constraint on business. If that constraint was removed, more business will be done", he said.

Mr Donaberger said 2011 had been a good year for Doosan in Europe, and that the start of 2012 had seen a reasonable amount of orders for rental companies. However, the Eurozone financial crisis is having an impact on confidence levels.

Stéphane de Laplagnolle, Doosan's director for major accounts in France, said that after the increases of 2011 this year's sales were likely to be flat, with rental companies unsure about whether to increase their fleet sizes or just replace old machines.

Andrew Hatton, Doosan general manager for branch operations in the UK and Ireland, told IRN that there was a difference in strategy between the larger UK renters, who are investing in their fleets, and smaller companies who remain unsure about the economy and who "are not too concerned about buying new equipment."

Overall, Doosan is noticing a trend for rental to become more important, although Mr Donaberger said it was difficult to say if this had been accelerated by the recession. "There is definitely a trend for end users to look more towards solutions than just buying a piece of equipment," he said.

Mr de Laplagnolle said the same trend was evident in France, with rental companies starting to rent lager machines. "Before, 14 t excavators were typically bought by contractors. Now they are looking to rent."