Hitachi to Landcros… Just Why?

I was reading an article on this topic over the weekend and it really got me thinking, as to why a leading global brand would do this.

Hitachi Construction Machinery has had a legendary presence in the construction machinery world for as long as I can remember and the distinctive orange machines have largely been admired and appreciated by owners, and more importantly operators around the world for decades, so with respect, changing the name to something as cheap sounding as Landcros seems like nothing short of commercial suicide to many of us.

I mean could you ever imagine Caterpillar, John Deere or even our own JCB changing their brand name, it’s a scenario that seems almost unimaginable.

The brainwashing into acceptance of the new brand name started during Bauma 2025, and the transition period is now well underway with machines in dealer’s yards sporting both Hitachi and Landcros logos.

Somewhat ironically the full change is scheduled to take place on April 1^st 2027, and unfortunately on this occasion it won’t be an April Fools prank, and the Hitachi brand will then gradually disappear from construction and mining sites around the world.

In the post I was reading, some commentators were even suggesting they would boycott buying machines with the new brand name, while another suggested he would still buy them, but he will have the stickers taken off and replaced with Hitachi ones. Another person suggested that whoever it was came up with this idea should be sacked from his post, so it shows that there are some strong feelings about this.

I have long been a fan of Hitachi machines, and have driven many different models over the years, right back to the old UH-Series machines, and indeed I owned a couple of 12/13 tonne models when I had my own business back in the late 1990’s early 2000’s, so I have a deep affection for the brand.

But this re-brand decision has just left me bamboozled, I can only imagine that it’s been made by men in suits who have no affinity to the industry and the personnel on the sites where these iconic machines are used and largely respected.

Either way, I sadly cannot see them changing their minds on this, and we will have to learn to either embrace the new brand or dump it for something else.

I’d be interested to hear what you all think about this move, let us know in the comments.