Doosan Bobcat moves into European market with compact tractors

Doosan Bobcat's small tractors for agriculture and landscaping will enter the European market. After entering America's ground maintenance equipment (GME) market in 2019, the company posted sales of over 1 trillion won ($814 million) in this segment last year.

South Korea's construction machinery maker said on Friday that it has started selling about 10 models of compact tractors, a flagship GME lineup in the European market. Orders have already been received for about 100 units, and the first five models are currently scheduled to be delivered to Italian dealers.

According to industry sources, the size of the compact tractor market in Europe is about 40,000 units per year. About 200,000 units are sold annually in North America.

Doosan Bobcat, which introduced compact tractors for the first time in North America in 2019, continued to expand its lineup the following year by launching more than 20 models, including lawn mowers, the 20-horsepower CT20, and the 60-horsepower CT55.

Doosan's GME lineups have grown rapidly in the North American market. Accordingly, the company recently invested an additional $70 million in its Statesville (North Carolina) plant to expand production lines.

Doosan is offering compact tractors with a small turning radius and high work efficiency in minute size differences for each product category. A medium-sized compact tractor costs about the same as a small passenger car.

"Since the first compact tractor was introduced in last October to the European market at the Bauma construction machinery trade fair in Germany, pre-orders for more than 100 units have been received from Italy, Britain, Poland, and Benelux," said an official of Doosan Bobcat. “In Europe, we will keep expanding our GME business by sequentially introducing lawn mowers and other models, and will double our sales by 2027."

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com