Financed new wheel loader sales up 10% in 1Q. These are the top sellers

Marcia Doyle Headshot
Updated Jul 25, 2018
The Komatsu WA270-8, one of the top new wheel loaders financed in the first quarter.The Komatsu WA270-8, one of the top new wheel loaders financed in the first quarter.

The number of new wheel loaders financed in the first quarter of 2018 tracked 10 percent above the same period last year, according to an Equipment World analysis of EDA data. Used financed wheel loader sales during the quarter, however, were 7 percent below the number of units sold in the first quarter of 2017.

Wheel Loaders Sic Code Pie Chart

 

Who bought wheel loaders in 1Q?

Buyers identified by the Excavation Work SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code bought nearly twice as many wheel loaders as the next type of buyer. Just examining the top 10 SIC codes for financed wheel loader buyers, Excavation Work companies bought 614 new and used units, or 31 percent of the 2,003 wheel loaders sold among these top buyers during the first quarter.

The Landscaping Contractors SIC came in second among the top 10 wheel loader buyers in the first quarter, financing 352 units. They were followed by companies in the Highway and Street Construction SIC, which financed 212 units.

Screen Shot 2018 07 23 At 3 38 21 Pm

 

What did they buy?

In terms of number of units sold during the first quarter, Cat, Deere, Komatsu, Volvo and Case were in the No. 1 to 5 positions in both new and used wheel loaders.

On the new equipment side, Kubota, Hyundai, JCB, Doosan and compact loader manufacturer Avant took the No. 6 to 10 positions. Rounding out those positions on the used equipment side were Hyundai, Doosan, Kawasaki, Kubota and New Holland. Kawasaki, owned by Hitachi Construction Machinery, is now transitioning to the Hitachi brand in North America.

The three top selling new wheel loader models during the quarter were the Cat 938M (101 units), Komatsu WA270-8 (87 units) and Deere 624K (81 units).

For both new and used machines, the demographic giants of Texas, Florida and California had the most 1Q financed wheel loader buyers. There were 324 buyers in Texas, 243 in Florida and 178 in California.

Wheel Loader New Used 1 Q Sales

 

New and used sales 2016 to 2018

Comparing first quarter results during the past three years, the number of new financed wheel loaders sold in 2018 is neck-and-neck with the three-year average for this time period: 1,953 units sold 2018 compared to the three-year average of 1,950. The first quarter of 2016 had the highest financed sales in the past three years, with 2,139 units sold.

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On the used financed side, the number of wheel loaders sold in the first quarter of 2018 were 2 percent below the three year average.

* By number of units. Source: EDA, Randall-Reilly.* By number of units. Source: EDA, Randall-Reilly.

 

Data sample

For this analysis, we included full-size wheel loaders, toolcarriers and compact wheel loaders.

EDA is a division of Randall-Reilly, parent company of Equipment World, which tracks UCC-1 filings, used by lenders when a machine is financed.

Depending on the type of machine, financed machines can represent 40 to 75 percent of the total number of machines of that type sold in the United States. While machines can also be bought by cash or letter of credit, which are not tracked by EDA, buyers of larger, higher priced machines tend to use financing.

EDA reports are continually updated, and these numbers, while representing the majority of the first quarter results, may have changed slightly since this data was pulled in late June.