This report concerns the French market for crawler dozers and crawler loaders, and is an update of the report last published in the European Service in March 2015.

Following the market’s lowest point in sales that was seen in 2016, crawler dozer demand has since seen growth of an average annual rate of 15 per cent. What is particularly heartening is that the Covid-19 pandemic did not appear to have a significant impact on sales in 2020, and demand for 2021 currently appears to be stable.

In this market, the machines offered have engines ranging from 90 to over 1,000 horsepower. In practice there is no demand for the very small dozers, as sold in Asia, and very little for the small utility machines with engines below 100 horsepower, which are popular in North America. The majority of the crawler dozer market lies between 140 and 184 horsepower.

Crawler dozers are classified into three types of powertrains: hydrodynamic (or hydraulic torque converter), hydrostatic drive, and diesel electro drive. The hydrostatic drive machines are regarded as technology preferably used in small to mid-sized crawler dozers, whereas the second most popular drive is the torque converter used in mid- to large sized models.

France has the largest crawler loader market in Europe, and is regularly two to three times the size of the next largest market in Europe, Germany. Although they still have a solid base in the country, their annual sales are only 30 per cent of what they were in 2008.

The preferred crawler loader sizes are powered by engines of a similar size to those employed in crawler dozers, and the machines are equipped with buckets of 1.6 to 4.6 m3. Larger crawler loaders exist in manufacturers’ catalogues, but potential users turn to other machines, notably larger wheeled loaders when they need greater loading capacity.

The findings presented in this report are based on the existing database of Off-Highway Research and on an interview programme undertaken in France with leading manufacturers, importers and distributors in the first quarter of Spring 2021.