11.12.2009

Haulotte pulls out of Bauma

Aerial lift and telehandler manufacturer Haulotte has announced that it will not exhibit at Bauma 2010. The company has made the decision after weighing up the costs of attending compared to the benefits.

Speaking to Vertikal.Net this afternoon, Haulotte president Alexandre Saubot, said that the decision had been a very difficult one, but that the management team had weighed up the costs, which were in the region of €500,000 plus personnel, travel and lodging costs, with the alternative uses it could put the funds to.

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Alexandre Saubot

“While all of the customers we spoke to would like us to be there, when given the option of spending more on customer support, local marketing and extra product development there was no question which was the better investment” said Saubot.

The company will maintain its presence by continuing to exhibit in markets where it needs to bolster its image, and will attend the ARA and Bauma China along with other more modest shows.
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Haulotte at Bauma 2007

Vertikal Comment

A decision such as this is an extremely difficult one to make and none more so than Bauma – the world’s largest equipment exhibition. Unlike the other two big international shows, Bauma is very hard to do on the cheap. Even if you take a smaller space and a smaller booth, with hotels running between €350 and €500 a night, costs soon escalate.

Whether the decision proves to be good or bad Haulotte is right to make it now rather than dither until the last minute. Its greatest challenge will be to convince its customers in the German speaking region that this is not a case of taking them for granted. With a good market share in Germany Haulotte will need to step up its communication efforts locally.

A year ago Haulotte was the only one of the top three self propelled lift manufacturers to attend Intermat. It will have noted that the decision by one of its major compatriots not to exhibit at that show has proven to be highly negative in the months since. There is also a long track record of such decisions setting off periods of decline.

Haulotte will need to work hard with its other -local - activities to make sure that the same is not true for its decision to pull out of Bauma.