XCMG to launch 650 tonne crawler

XCMG, China's largest crane manufacturer, will unveil a 650 tonne crawler crane at next month's Bauma China exhibition in Shanghai.

According to company vice president Zhang Yu Chun, although XCMG dominates the mobile and truck crane market in China, it is third in the crawler crane segment behind Fushun Excavator and first-placed Sany. However, Zhang said, "We plan to be first within two years."

According to Zhang, XCMG will sell some 500 crawler cranes this year. However, a new dedicated factory in its home city of Xuzhou will see its capacity double to 1,000 machines in 2009.

The company's new range-topping 650 tonner is a signal of Chinese manufacturers' move towards bigger and bigger crawler cranes, typified by the 1,000 tonne unit that Sany plans to launch at Bauma China. However, Zhang said XCMG did not have any immediate plans to produce such a big machine.

"We have a different strategy and are producing cranes according to the market. The most popular crawler cranes in China are from 100 to 300 tonnes," he said. Zhang added mischievously, "I'm not sure whether people will trust a Chinese-made 1,000 tonne crawler crane."

Zhang concluded, "The most important thing for crawler cranes is safety and reliability."