One of the biggest stories in the construction equipment world this year has been the name change of Doosan Infracrore to Develon.
On this episode of The Dirt, we get all of your questions answered about the name change, what new products the company has released and its relationship with Hyundai Construction Equipment – as in, will the two entities remain independent? We also answer the all-important question of, how do you pronounce “Develon”? (Hint: Think “develop.”)
Develon now owns the former Doosan Infracore’s construction equipment operations, with the exception of Bobcat, power equipment and other products that remained with Doosan. The change followed Doosan Infracore’s acquisition by Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2021.
Attendees at this year’s ConExpo got the first glimpse of the new Develon brand. Meanwhile, the company’s dealerships throughout North America have begun to adjust to the name change, and new equipment is hitting the market with the Develon name.
So to find out more about the new Develon and what it means for the company’s construction equipment, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
- 00:00 - Doosan vs. Develon
- 00:40 - Why Did Doosan Change to Develon?
- 01:59 - Will Develon and Hyundai Always be Separate Brands?
- 02:57 - Develon Products: Dozers
- 05:17 - Develon Products: Mini Excavators
- 05:32 - Develon Products: Quarry Equipment
- 06:17 - Develon Products: Compact Track Loaders (CTLs)
- 07:21 - Final Thoughts
Bryan Furnace (00:00):
Today we're here to talk about Develon. What is Develon? Who is Develon? Well, if you were at Conexpo, you may have noticed there was a new brand, Develon. And if you were paying a little more attention, you would've noticed that they were all over the Doosan booth, what's going on with that? Well, Doosan has recently rebadged, rebranded as Develon, and that's what we're going to talk about today with Alice from Develon, who's going to explain the reasons behind the name change and what we can expect from Develon going forward. Well, Alice, thank you so much for taking your time to be on the dirt today. I really appreciate it.
Alice Banach (00:44):
Thanks, Bryan, really love the opportunity to do this.
Bryan Furnace (00:48):
Well, the big question that I'm going to hit you with right out of the gate, because I think everyone in the industry is kind of thinking this way is, why the name change from Doosan to Develon?
Alice Banach (00:58):
So I'm going to correct you, it's Develon like develop.
Bryan Furnace (01:03):
Okay, okay.
Alice Banach (01:04):
So the rebrand to Develon happened because of the purchase between Doosan Group and Hyundai, we accelerated the brand change because we wanted to have our own identity as soon as possible for our construction equipment and compact machines. So we collaborated with Korea, HQ in Korea and worked very hard last fall to get ready for the launch brand announcement in January. And the response has been great, our dealers have new signs, new branded equipment, they're decaling their equipment at their dealerships and newly branded machines are headed to job sites.
Bryan Furnace (01:40):
So has there been a lot of confusion for people on the ground or has largely the transition gone pretty smooth for you guys?
Alice Banach (01:47):
No, it's been really smooth, I have to say. Our dealers have been great. We've been communicating all along the way what they can expect, what they're going to get. So in that respect, I think it's been great.
Bryan Furnace (01:58):
Awesome. So my next question is, Develon, did I pronounce it right that time?
Alice Banach (02:02):
You did.
Bryan Furnace (02:03):
Develon, it's going to take me a minute to get my tongue around that one. So you guys are associated with Hyundai. Is there any plans in the future for those two companies to merge under one name, anything like that? Or is Develon going to be around for a while?
Alice Banach (02:17):
So there are absolutely no plans to merge the two brands. We have our own dealer network that's supported by two distribution centers for parts and a customization in Savannah. We plan to grow the development product line in North America and strengthen our dealer network, and actually in the last couple months we've added a dozen new locations to our dealers for our customers.
Bryan Furnace (02:40):
Wow, so you guys are in it for the long haul, this is not some sort of a temporary kind of transition point?
Alice Banach (02:46):
Absolutely. There's huge investments being made into the developing a brand in terms of new equipment, new platforms, and moving forward into the future.
Bryan Furnace (02:57):
So that kind of leads me into my next question. When it comes to new plans going forward in the future, what's coming down the pipeline from you guys? I know we had some dozer talk a little while back. You guys had one model if not two out, and there was talks of another, compact equipment it sounds like, and then I was told that you guys might be even getting into some quarry applications.
Alice Banach (04:45):
Right now we have the DD 100 dozer that we launched last year and the response has been fantastic. And at ConExpo we previewed the DD 130 and received quite a bit of interest from our attendees and they loved the DD 130. And I actually had the opportunity to see it in action at one of the demos in Alabama this fall and it was great to hear firsthand from the operators about the visibility, the creature comforts and the pushing power of the new model. And as far as compacts go, we offer right now a line of minis from two metric tons to eight metric tons and several in between and we plan to continue the additions to the model in our mini excavator lineup.
Bryan Furnace (05:32):
And then what about on the quarry and mining side? Are you guys starting to get into some of the larger applications, starting to move that direction, or do you think the product line will primarily stay with kind of that contractor sized dirt market, if you could kind of classify it that way?
Alice Banach (05:45):
So our dealers for many years with our customers in the pit and quarry industry have been using our wheel loaders, large excavators and articulated dump trucks, and they can be found all over North America. We're solidifying our presence in the industry and we have added the DX 1000 LC-7 Crawler Excavator. The machine is ideally sized to support the needs of the quarry industry. Additionally, we sold the DX 1000 LC-7 after CONEXPO to a customer in Washington.
(06:17):
And then I just want to go back and talk also about our compact line in terms of the CTL. So the CTL was launched at Conexpo, which is going to be our DTL 35 with huge great response. So we are going to be launching the DTL 35 in May of 2024, and we will expand that compact truck loader lineup in the years to come, looking and evaluating what the needs are for our dealers and our customers.
Bryan Furnace (06:46):
Excellent. So it sounds like you guys are kind of really moving and shaking. You're throwing a fair amount of new models in the mix, you've got the name change, things are really happening over there.
Alice Banach (06:55):
Yeah, we've got a lot of things going and we are continuing to grow, group our dealer network, grow our lineup, and grow into newer categories that we've not been in, landscaping and such.
Bryan Furnace (07:07):
Excellent. Well, Alice, thank you so much for taking time to come on the show to chat with us today.
Alice Banach (07:12):
Thanks, Bryan. I really appreciate the opportunity to discuss Develon and what we have going. So follow our social channels and you'll see the latest news from Develon.
Bryan Furnace (07:21):
Well thank you again to Alice and Develon for coming on the show to talk about kind of what's going on with the name change, why they went that direction, and what we can expect going forward. So as always, I hope this has been helpful to you and your business. We'll catch you on the next episode of The Dirt.
