Kobelco Construction Machinery Resumes European Sales Of Heavy Excavators And Crawler Cranes

Following confirmation of EU certification approval from Hino Motors Ltd (Hino), Kobelco Construction Machinery (or KCM) and Kobelco Construction Machinery Europe B.V. (or KCME) has lifted its temporary suspension of sales in Europe.

The announcement means that all excavators and cranes containing the J series engine, shown on APPENDIX below will now be available to customers across Europe. However, the temporary suspension currently remains in place in the UK, pending validation of UK-specific certification.

The European-wide suspension was introduced in September 2022 as a result of Hino disclosing some concerns around its certification process under EU emissions regulations. Since then, KCM and KCME have been actively working with Hino to compel them to find a fast and agreeable solution.

Hino has now notified KCM that the EU certification authority has recently completed its verification process, and it has confirmed that the certification for the J series engines was, and remains, valid. The verification process is still ongoing for a small number of machines, powered by the Hino E series engine. A further update, relating to these machines, will be shared once this is made available to KCM.

KCM President and CEO, Akira Yamamoto and KCME Managing Director, Makoto Kato, jointly stated “We understand that this has been a challenging period for our customers and stakeholders and would like to thank them for their patience and support while we secured a solution. Our focus now is on fulfilling the existing order book and supporting our customers in distributing machines as quickly and efficiently as possible to support their businesses throughout 2023 and beyond.”

APPENDIX

List of models for which the sale will be resumed