New Holland To Offer Compact Equipment Only

In an attempt to “refocus” on its strengths in the industrial product space, specifically compact construction, landscaping and utility equipment, New Holland will shed its North American offering of full-sized construction machines starting in 2012.

The construction brand of the venerable New Holland line today managed by Fiat’s CNH division, New Holland Construction will withdraw its crawler dozers, motor graders, telescopic handlers, 80-horsepower-plus wheel loaders and 6-ton-plus excavators from the North American market, the company announced Sept. 15. New Holland skid steers, compact track loaders, backhoe loaders, compact wheel loaders, tractor loaders and compact excavators will continue to compete in the market.

“New Holland Construction’s heritage in North America is a great source of pride,” says Jim Hasler, vice president of CNH Construction, North America, “and we are pleased with the success of our compact line.

“We are committed to providing our New Holland Construction customers with the superior equipment performance they expect.”

What It Means

Given CNH’s presence in the market with the Case brand, the pulling back of the New Holland Construction offering in North America may just reflect the reality that the recent recessionary times for the industry are not turning around as quickly as hoped for.

That CNH can serve the general construction markets with a full line of Case equipment without the partial competition of New Holland moving forward would seem to have a market cleansing effect. As it has been, New Holland has made inroads with some full-sized equipment offerings in specific geographical areas of North America, but on the whole has not offered the breadth of product and services across the board to compete as a full-line market player. Caterpillar, it has not been.

Let there be no confusion, however: This is a significant announcement that will affect a good number of construction equipment customers and dealers who have come to rely on New Holland excavators, dozers, large loaders and even the occasional motor grader.

For many years, I resided in a rural community that was immediately served by one construction equipment dealer – a New Holland Construction dealer.

To suggest contractors and dealer personnel in this community won’t have to at least change gears moving forward would both be a slight and a true disservice to them.

More on the Fly Ash Debate

A byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity is worth more than $5 billion year to the road, runway and bridge industries, according to a new study.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association says the cost of building those structures would increase by an estimated $104.6 billion over the next 20 years if coal fly ash is no longer available as a building material. Alison Premo Black, ARTBA’s senior economist and the report’s author, says that without fly ash, construction would cost $2.53 billion more a year because of the price of alternative materials and another $2.73 billion annually in pavement and bridge repair work due to the shorter pavement and service life of other Portland cement blends.

Fly ash is widely used as a supplementary cementitious material in the production of concrete, and is, says ARTBA, the “mixture of choice for many state and local transportation departments and transportation engineers because of its performance and cost-saving benefits.”