Liebherr jumps 100 sales hurdle

In spite of the rapid economical global downturn in the second half of the year, sales were spread relatively evenly at around 23% for each of the first three quarters, with an increase to 32% in Quarter 4.

There was a noticeable increase in European order intake, which remained the largest market worldwide for the company representing 50% of all mobile cranes purchased. In common with other MHC manufacturers, Liebherr also saw growth in the Middle East with 17% of sales, followed by Africa at 13% and South America at 9%. North America, India and Far East together shared the remaining 11% equally.

Spain and Kuwait were the top selling countries with 13 machines each, while Brazil and Turkey had six each and Nigeria, the UAE and Russia taking delivery of five units each. Together, these seven countries accounted for over 50% of the company’s total global sales in 83 countries, which included new entrants Angola and Latvia. Top selling models in 2008 were the LHM 500 and the LHM 400, totalling 72 machines.