Global Smart Off-Road Equipment Sales Expected to Triple Through 2025

A new Freedonia Group analysis projects global off-road equipment sales to rebound in 2021 from the pandemic-induced declines registered in 2020, rising 5.4% to $439 billion.

Among the key drivers of growth will be the release of pent-up demand as global economies renormalize post pandemic and capital investment returns to growth. Firms that had delayed equipment purchases in 2020 will be better positioned to do so in 2021 and beyond, and many of them will opt for higher value smart technology due to their productivity-enhancing benefits.

Global Smart Off-Road Equipment Sales to Grow 30% Annually Through 2025

Sales of smart equipment are expected to nearly triple between 2021 and 2025, when they will account for over 4% of global demand boosted by increasing use of drones and other smart technologies.:

• Most adoption of new technologies and state-of-the-art machinery will occur in high-income nations, where high wages and labor shortages encourage investment in the most efficient equipment models.
• In lower- and middle-income markets, lower-end equipment and used machinery will continue to be popular because construction and surface mining firms have limited financial resources to invest in new machinery. Wages also tend to be lower in these countries, providing less incentive for companies to purchase high-performance equipment.
• The mining industry is the notable exception, as many of the world’s largest mines – operated by multinational companies with the finances to afford advanced machinery – are located in lower-income countries.

The mining sector will spur advances, as it is expected to become the leading smart off-road equipment market in 2025. Mining firms typically have the financial resources to absorb the high costs of advanced smart equipment, while costs are a more significant hurdle for many construction or agricultural projects.

Additionally, producers such as Deere, Doosan Infracore, and Komatsu increasingly offer smart construction equipment options to give operators more control, precision, and information about the machine and the task it is performing. The agricultural industry has already made significant headway in adopting precision agriculture and farm management solutions that rely on smart technologies.

Want to Learn More?

Global Off-Road Equipment 2021 is now available from the Freedonia Group. This study analyzes global demand for off-road equipment.

Demand values are provided for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2025 at the manufacturers’ level in current US dollars (i.e., not adjusted to account for inflation). Demand is segmented by equipment type and world region. Data include the value of replacement parts and attachments sold separately. Values do not take into account retail markups. Also excluded are the values of software and services.

Off-road equipment demand is segmented by the following machinery types:

• construction
• agricultural
• mining
• forestry

The study also provides estimates of demand for smart machinery by equipment type. Smart machinery is defined as equipment that can operate autonomously or semi-autonomously and greatly enhance the abilities of the operator by connecting, sharing, and interacting with other devices to make decisions without human intervention.

While demand for drones is presented in the study, it is not included in the equipment demand totals. Also, drones used by government agencies or environmental groups to monitor forested land are excluded from the study.