Doosan forklifts to be sold under Bobcat brand in US, eventually to Europe

Doosan Bobcat Inc., the construction and agricultural machine making unit of South Korea’s Doosan Group, will sell its forklifts under the Bobcat brand in the US from next year to enhance its brand awareness and expand its presence in the North American market.

Doosan’s decision to drop its name from the products sold in the US comes as the Korean conglomerate expects to enjoy decent demand growth for agricultural and construction machinery as well as landscaping and ground maintenance equipment (GME) in North America.

The Korean company in later years will also use the Bobcat brand in Europe, where Doosan is unfamiliar to consumers.

By product category, it will gradually expand the use of the Bobcat brand to logistics equipment and portable power generators.

In countries where the Doosan brand has a strong presence, such as South Korea, China and India, it will continue to use the Doosan brand.

In March, the company participated in ProMat 2023, a US logistics trade show, under the Bobcat brand.

Doosan Group acquired Bobcat, a strong industrial equipment brand with a 65-year history, from US-based Ingersoll Rand in 2007 for $4.9 billion. The deal was Doosan’s largest overseas acquisition at the time.

As Doosan struggled following the Asian and global financial crises, the group once considered selling Bobcat as part of its restructuring, according to industry watchers.

DOOSAN’S CASH COW

Doosan Bobcat, which manufactures construction equipment such as compact excavators, tractors, forklifts and skid-steer loaders, generates more than two-thirds of its sales in North American countries, including the US.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa account for about a quarter of its sales while Asia and Oceania take up between 5 and 10%.

The equipment maker has now become the breadwinnner for Doosan Group, logging handsome profit growth among affiliates in recent years.

Last year, Doosan Bobcat posted about 1 trillion won ($770 million) in operating profit with sales of 8.6 trillion won, contributing the most to the group’s financial growth.

Doosan Group previously ran its forklift business through Doosan Corp. but in 2021 handed the business over to Doosan Bobcat.

Doosan Enerbility Co., a power plant builder, is the largest shareholder of Doosan Bobcat with a 46.06% stake.

Doosan Bobcat has room to grow in the US construction equipment market, in which the Korean company ranked 11th with a 2.9% share in 2022, up 0.9 of a percentage point from the year prior.

According to construction market information provider KHL Group, Caterpillar Inc. is the market leader with a 16.3% share as of the end of 2022, followed by Japan’s Komatsu (10.7%), China’s XCMG (5.8%) and US agricultural machinery firm John Deere (5.4%).

BOLSTERING US BUSINESS

Since 2020, Doosan Bobcat has been expanding its business scope by adding new products such as lawnmowers to its portfolio.

Last year, it spent $70 million to ramp up its production facilities at its plant in Statesville, North Carolina.

The company also opened a new parts center in Atlanta this year, adding to its existing facilities in Illinois and Nevada.

With the additional center in Atlanta, Doosan Bobcat said it can send 90% of parts ordered across the US within 3 days.

Scott Park, chief executive of Doosan Bobcat, said he expects Doosan Industrial Vehicle, a company it acquired from Doosan Corp. in 2021, to post over 1 trillion won in US sales by the end of the year.

Its GME business will also post 1 trillion won in sales in the US alone this year, he said.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.