Not sure exactly what this means for Link Belt, as the article says that CNH and Sumitomo still have their supplier agreement. So if LBX is out but the supplier agreement are intact, do the three excavators (NH, Case, LBX) still remain the same? http://www.equipmentworld.com/case-ends-lbx-ownership-stake-sumitomo-assumes-100-percent/
Link-Belt has been stuck on the logging market for over thirty years and never really was able to make a big impression into the construction market. Since Sumitomo makes both excavators and Case mainly wanted to just focus on their own brand I suspect they cast Link-Belt back to the Japan owners. Case has no background in big logging and didn't really want to be in that market. I'm thinking this might just make Link-Belt a little stronger in the long run for the construction market. They have been doing the communal slide in market share in the woods for the last several years but I think that is as much to do with the dealer network as anything else. On the other hand I really think Link-Belt should focus their main efforts on their cranes. They are one of the last independent manufacturers left. Unless there is a huge change in their excavators and support network, I can't see any change for their construction market position in the future.
With this last generation of excavators (CASE B series and Link Belt X2) there is zero difference between the two machines. Considering that CNH was marketing four lines of excavators under the following brands CASE, NH, Kobelco and Link Belt. The CASE, Link Belt lines are duplicate lines as are the Kobelco and NH lines. Given the slow excavator market, its likely time to start cutting away excess weight. I don't see the entire NH Construction line staying around if the downturn continues. Grant most of the NH line is really a CASE machine painted yellow (except BHs sand skid steers). Intersting to see how Sumitomo handles the Link Belt line on their own.
I'm thinking the Case Sumitomo line might disappear and the Kobelco line be turned over to Case dealers. The Kobelco dealer here just shut the door and put the lot of for lease. Sumitomo and Link-Belt had a joint partnership ever since I worked for that dealer in 1979. For them it's just going back to business as usual. Good night.
North of the border here Case was never really strong and they've always kinda lagged behind the bigger manufacturers like Cat, Deere/Hitachi, and Komatsu. I ran a brand new Case 210 last year I found it a decent machine but they still hadn't discovered auto-idle where as most of the other manufacturers have had it since at least the nineties. I have heard the Kobelco line is a decent machine but have only seen one or two around here. I think if Case or Sumitomo had tried to keep up with Hitachi/Deere, Cat, and Komatsu they might have sold more here I had found that the 210 had more power and speed than Cat's 320D. I've only ever seen one Link Belt out here and I think whoever was selling them disappeared a long time ago. Even Hyundai and Doosan/Daewoo have sold more machines out here and that's saying something. One thing that will be unfortunate though if Case doesn't have an excavator line anymore is that the dealership here (Hitrac) actually still stocks parts instead of having to order away for everything unlike Cat, Deere/Hitachi, and presumably Komatsu.
Let's see,,,,What is a Case excavator? Case owned by Fiat, so....Early Case brand,,,Drott,,,Poclain,,Sumitomo,,Link Belt via CNH,,Case/ Link Belt,,,Mini's by Kobelco...Kobelco and NH via Fiat...One model of Case in South America is Kobelco branded. CNH or Fiat..who by the way just spun off the Construction CNH into a separate company of Fiat, owns a sizable portion of the Kobelco name in NA and the EU, where Kobelco is now only NH,,, Kobelco owns the majority of the name in the Far East. Where does this leave Case? Buying a brand from a none CNH company? Humm...Well, they buy one model of Wheel Loader from Hyundai! Got to give them credit for trying, but confusing to the rest of us.