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Aug 11, 2024

CanLift brings international equipment powerhouse to Ontario

Family-owned equipment rental and sales company gains an exclusive partnership with XCMG and echoes the manufacturer’s dedication to the market. CanLift is a Canadian, family-owned equipment rental

Family-owned equipment rental and sales company gains an exclusive partnership with XCMG and echoes the manufacturer’s dedication to the market.

CanLift is a Canadian, family-owned equipment rental company that was founded in 2009.

In January, the company expanded its product line through a partnership with construction manufacturing company, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), giving them exclusive rights to sales in Ontario for all XCMG earthmoving equipment.

Through this partnership, the company has unlimited access to all XCMG earthmoving machinery, giving customers access to XCMG’s wide variety of equipment.

So, in addition to its large offering of aerial lift equipment, the company now offers backhoes, compactors, excavators, graders, skid steers and wheel loaders.

Having established locations in Burlington and London, Ontario, CanLift also has plans to expand to Northern and Eastern Ontario in the future.

Last year, XCMG moved into third place in the Yellow Table 2021 ranking of the world’s top 50 construction equipment manufacturers—a list released by British publisher, KHL Group.

An annual revenue of $15.1 billion makes XCMG the highest-ranking company among Chinese manufacturers.

“Being the exclusive dealership for one of the top three construction manufacturing companies in the world makes the CanLift team very proud.” says Johnny Dragicevic, Managing Partner at CanLift. “We are thrilled to be able to offer this level of machinery to our customers.”

In the last few years, XCMG has been making a push for thorough expansion into the North American market.

In 2019, the company celebrated the export of 100 excavators to North America by holding a ceremony. Employees watched on as a parade of machines were hauled off the factory grounds through a storm of confetti.

“North America market has been known for its high entry threshold and strict requirements. The fact that XCMG excavators can be exported to North America proves the outstanding quality of XCMG products again,” stated Liu Jiansen, Vice President of XCMG Machinery, “In seizing a share of international market, XCMG excavators will, abiding by a product principle of ‘Advanced Technology and Long Duration’, win a good reputation for the products made in China world-wide.”

Furthermore, in September of 2021, XCMG celebrated its 200,000th excavator rolling off the assembly line—again reiterating its desire for further international expansion.

“Marking the production and sales of 200,000 units of excavators is a milestone for XCMG and a new starting point,” said Wang Min, chairman and CEO of XCMG. “Business in overseas markets will be an important direction for XCMG’s future development and we’ll expand the layout of excavators and other machinery products as well as full-cycle service in Asia-Pacific, Belt and Road Initiative countries, Africa, the Americas and more, providing better services to customers.”

Within the North American market, customers are often hesitant to consider products from foreign manufactures that aren’t yet well established in the West, even when the quality of the machine is comparable, or even superior.

This hesitation can often derive from the thought of long lead times and a lack of parts availability.

However, this doesn’t seem to be the case at CanLift.

“They’ve recognized what the North American market wants and what it doesn’t. It wants componentry that it recognizes and is comfortable with, (these machines) have Yanmar, Kubota and Cummins engines in them, which is what everyone knows in the construction industry, and we’re able to bring it at a price point that’s really attractive…And above and beyond that, (we’ve) got availability, which most manufacturers don’t right now,” explained Geoff Grant, Director of Sales for CanLift.

Following the announcement of CanLift’s agreement with XCMG in Janurary, Johnny said, “XCMG is here for the long haul. So, they’re actually putting the components that you would expect to be put in your North American machines.”