In an exclusive interview with iVT International, Manitou president Michel Denis predicts where the industry will be in three years from now – and outlines how the pandemic has steered the company strategy to speed up the development of its electric vehicles.
“At Bauma in April 2019 we presented our all-electric Oxygen line including the ATJ 200 electric all terrain aerial platform,” he told the iVT Podcast. “In May we began production of the ATJ and will deliver to the first customers in the Nordics very soon. We are accelerating the transition of our electric machines and I believe we are heading in the right direction on this.”
Another area Denis flags up is connectivity. Early last year Manitou announced that it planned to connect up its entire fleet, with all machine data feeding into Manitou’s data centres. Since the onset of Covid-19 the company has sped up the process.
“There is great value we can bring to customers, to end users, to rental companies, to our dealer network and key accounts,” says Denis. “We are convinced that it will accelerate the need and the way to interact directly with the users to bring value. When you buy Manitou you have your digital twin on your telephone. Where before this could be seen as a nice-to-have and I think it will be a must-have in the future. The value chain will move and I’m convinced about that.”
The full interview is available to stream or download.
