This report concerns the market for articulated and rigid dump trucks in France, and is an update of the European Service report last published in June 2017. They are generally known in French as dumpers, although the official term, created to avoid the use of English, is tombereaux automoteurs (articulés). The analysis and information contained within the report covers the market for both rigid and articulated dump trucks, as the applications and end-end user requirements for each product differ widely. The on-off highway truck, or camion, which has a smaller payload, different braking and a less robust transmission, is not covered in this study.

Articulated dump trucks with an overall width of less than 2.5 metres are permitted to run on French roads, but obtaining the necessary permit is difficult. Most machines do not, therefore, run on public roads, but are used on poorer quality offhighway haul roads. Off-highway trucks with rigid frames, usually dismantled for transport, are not made to run on highways, being too wide and too heavy.

This report classifies dump trucks by their payload in metric tonnes. The articulated dump truck is of European origin and has always followed the metric system, but the rigid dump truck is of North American origin. The practice there is to classify the trucks by their capacity in short tonnes, (1 short ton = 2,000 lbs). This report follows the European practice in using the metric tonne, which equals approximately 1.1 short tonnes or 2,200 lbs.

The findings of this report are based on Off-Highway Research’s International Database and on information obtained in an extensive interview programme with all leading suppliers undertaken in the Summer of 2021.

The market for off-highway dump trucks begins at approximately 18 tonnes capacity, with the smallest machines all being of the articulated design.