Manufacturers of Construction Equipment are Increasingly Using Strategic Acquisitions to Gain Access to New Technologies
by Gleb Mytko
June 14, 2023
New technologies – with the potential to greatly increase the capabilities of construction equipment – have appeared on the market in recent years.
Cleveland OH, June 14, 2023 – According to the new study, Global Construction Machinery, technological innovation is transforming the massive global construction machinery industry. New technologies – with the potential to greatly increase the capabilities of construction equipment – have appeared on the market in recent years, sparking a race to develop next-generation machines. Among the most promising areas of development are:
electrification (i.e., the development of electric and hybrid off-highway equipment)
autonomous machines and models that automate key functions
data collection and communication capabilities
new fleet management systems
Because manufacturers of construction equipment have limited experience with many of these state-of-the-art technologies, they have increasingly turned to strategic acquisitions to achieve their R&D goals. Such technologies are also extremely expensive and time-consuming to develop. Since 2021, several important acquisitions have occurred in the global construction machinery industry:
CNH Industrial agreed to acquire Hemisphere GNSS (China) in March 2023 in order aid the development of autonomous machines for construction and agricultural applications.
In January 2023, Caterpillar agreed to purchase a partial stake in US-based Lithos Energy – a battery technology company – as part of its electrification efforts. In May 2022, the company acquired Tangent Energy (US), which develops energy-saving and emissions-cutting technologies.
Oshkosh acquired Hinowa (Italy) in January 2023 in order to get access to the company’s electrification technologies.
To expand its battery electrification capabilities, Deere acquired a majority stake in Austria’s Kreisel Electric, a developer of immersion-cooled battery technologies, in February 2022.
Volvo used its purchase of a majority stake in Electric Special Technics (Netherlands)—which produces customized electric wheeled and crawler excavators for the domestic market – to advance its development of electric models.
With technological innovation growing in importance, such strategic acquisitions will continue to be used extensively by manufacturers of construction equipment. In general, it will be the leading industry participants that continue to make the largest acquisitions because of the high costs involved. About The Freedonia Group The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a premier international business research company, providing clients with product analyses, market forecasts, industry trends, and market share information. From one-person consulting firms to global conglomerates, our analysts provide companies with unbiased, reliable industry market research and analysis to help them make important business decisions. The Freedonia Group’s brands also include Packaged Facts, a trusted provider of consumer market research on food & beverage, pet products and services, demographics, and financial services, and Simba Information, the leading authority for market intelligence and forecasts on the education and professional publishing industries. Find off-the-shelf studies at https://www.freedoniagroup.com/ or contact us for custom research: +1 440.842.2400.
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