Terex launches low-cost Chinese platform range

Terex AWP has launched the first of a new range of low-cost aerial platforms designed and built in China and targeted at emerging markets.

The first two models in the ‘Skysafe by Genie’ range are the 12 m V1200 telescopic boom and the PS500 electric powered, push-around scissor lift. Both were launched on the opening day at the bauma China exhibition in Shanghai.

The two models were designed and built at Terex AWP’s Changzhou facility in China and will be targeted at emerging markets in China, wider Asia, India, Latin America and the Middle East, with some possibilities to sell the scissor lift in developed markets as well.

The V1200 will cost around half the price of the equivalent Genie S-40 self-propelled boom, while the scissor will be priced at around 30% of the cost of a conventional self-propelled scissor of the same height. That pricing will undercut similar sized models produced by Chinese manufacturers.

Tim Ford, president of the Terex AWP division, told AI that the new range was experimental but that they had high hopes for them; “We’ll grow it to a full family of products in the coming years.” For example, an 18 m version of the telescopic boom is also now under development.

The V1200 – which does not have a rotating turret and bears some resemblance to the popular lift-and-carry booms seen in India - provides a working height of up to 13.7 m, has a cage capacity of 200 kg and weighs 3600 kg. It uses a locally produced 31 kW Yangchai diesel engine – the first time that Terex AWP has used Yangchai’s engines - as well as Chinese made hydraulic cylinders and drive motors.

Meanwhile, Terex is forecasting between 25 and 50% annual growth in the Chinese AWP platform market from 2013 to 2017, driven in part by an increased focus on working at height regulations in the country and by growth of the equipment rental sector.