15.03.2006

Hird and Locatelli part company

Valla UK, owned by Peter Hird, has resigned the Locatelli distribution for the UK, only a year after taking it on.

In spite of Hird’s efforts to launch the innovative Locatelli ATC20 city type crane with fork and platform options, results have been minimal. According to Peter Hird the level of support from the manufacturer was not the same as he has received from Valla, where the companies have forged a close partnership.

Vertikal Comment

The Locatelli ATC20 has a great deal of potential, but winning over the UK crane hire fraternity was never going to be easy. In order to succeed it required a strong and consistent investment from both manufacturer and distributor.

The chance was that in spite such an investment orders were always going to be slow until the market is convinced that the producer has long term commitment to the market.

Locatelli will need to move fast to find an alternative if it is ever to win a share of the UK or Irish market.