New Year, New Kit

So here we are back for the 2026 season of the Digger Man Blog, I hope that everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year period, and that we are all fully recharged and ready to face another busy year ahead. I will take this opportunity to wish all our readers and followers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

We kick off the year with the news that after a long hiatus, Komatsu are bringing back a 13-tonne class conventional tailswing hydraulic excavator which has been designed and built specifically for the UK & Irish markets.

The new Dash-11 Generation PC130-11E0 model will be built in the UK in the Komatsu manufacturing facility in the North East, and is already available to order, with the first eagerly awaited machines expected to arrive in April.

This will be great news for those who prefer a conventional swing radius machine, especially those in the housing development groundworks sector, utility, agricultural contractors and plant hire sectors.

The new model will be powered by an in-house built Komatsu Stage V emissions compliant 4-cylinder diesel engine offering a power output rating of 72.5kW (97.2hp) @2,050 RPM.   

New for the PC130-11E0 is a long-life Komatsu Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF); HCU-A and HCU-C auxiliary hydraulic circuit options – allowing for the use of various attachments on the machine's arm and boom – and 700mm triple grouser or 500mm road liner track options.

Sturdy in build, and smooth to operate, the PC130-11E0 will arrive with operator comfort in mind, featuring a large cab with plenty of amenities that include automatic air conditioning, a 7-inch high-resolution LCD monitor, KomVision camera system, Komtrax satellite monitoring and DAB radio.

The PC130 and before that the venerable PC120’s was always a popular machine on UK sites, I myself spent time on a number of them over the years, but they were discontinued in the UK market in favour of the PC138 zero tailswing model over 15 years ago, but were still available in other markets.

Photo: Digger Man Blog Archives: Yours truly at the controls of a Dash-5 PC130 back in the day, have to say I really liked these machines. 

Checkout the promotional video featuring the North American version of this model from Komatsu. 

We look forward to taking a closer look around one of these in the not too distant future.