More Chinese Re-Branding 'Down Under'

The Chinese assault on the construction machinery sector continues unabated, driven by demand and even more so by purchase price. Over the weekend I came across this Australian business who are importing and re-branding machines as UHI.

UHI Machinery (United Heavy Industries Pty) are described as a small machinery specialist and have branches in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Townsville and Darwin, so they cover a vast area in the land ‘Down Under’.

The company has made a big impact in the compact machinery sector locally in recent times, by selling competitively priced machinery which appears to be relatively reliable, and which appeals to the smaller landscaping contractor, jobbing builder, farmers and agricultural contractors.

After a little bit of investigating, I discovered that these machines are actually manufactured in China by XCMG, who somewhat amazingly are rated as the third largest manufacturer of earthmoving equipment in the world, just tucked in behind the giants of the game, Caterpillar and Komatsu!

One of the firm’s best-sellers at the moment appears to be the 2.0-tonne class UHI-XU20 zero tail swing model which arrived on the market earlier this year.

As with so many of these Chinese manufactured machines these days, most of the components under the skin come from the best ‘Blue Chip’ manufacturers. This example is powered by a 15hp Kubota diesel engine, while the main hydraulic pump is sourced from Rexroth with the slew and track motors coming from Eaton.  

Checkout this slightly cheesy video from the guys over at Professional Landscape Contractor magazine for more details.