Big deals done at the 56th Doe Show

Wed 10 Feb 2016

Big deals done at the 56th Doe Show

We decided to visit on the last of the 3 days that the show runs for, which is traditionally the quietest day overall, this allowed us the freedom to get around the ground taking photos and to talk to the relevant sales personnel who all reported positively about interest and sales of new machinery and attachments. This year’s event attracted just under 10,000 visitors over the course of the 3 days, a truly significant amount for what is considered to be the largest dealer show in the UK.

Talking about the show Ernest Doe’s Sales Director Graham Parker said, “The Tuesday was mobbed and we very nearly ran out of car parking space - the weather was ideal and for many years I have not seen so many visitors heading out into our demonstration areas to see the machines working. The old vintage tractors are the most popular attraction and in particular the Doe DDD's.

The main focus of our visit however was the construction machinery on offer. Ernest Doe Ltd are the longest established Hyundai dealership in the UK and have had a lot of success selling the Korean machines. Commenting on the brand’s continued success Graham said, “For us Hyundai sales are booming and so far from the show we have closed over 20 orders with more to go at this week. Over the two week show period (this is the period we run our special offers for) I would expect us to sell 30 plus Hyundai machines, maybe even more”.

The company have been selling a lot of the 8 tonne class R80CR-9A midi excavators, but this has been closely followed by the new 1.5 tonne class R17Z-9A which since its launch at Intermat last year is growing in popularity. I got “hands on” with one of these machines on the demo plot at the show and I will report on the test drive in a future edition of Earthmovers Magazine.

There were “show offer” deals to be done on the new R17Z-9A models in a package that included buckets, quick hitch and trailer all for just £17,000 + VAT.

Other best sellers from the Hyundai range include the R27Z-9 and the 14 tonne class R140LC-9A and example of which was also being put through its paces on the demo plot. R220LC-9A’s continue to be popular too and an example was on static display emblazoned in the livery of long term Essex based Hyundai user Wormell Plant.

But it’s not all Hyundai on the Doe portfolio of products with the company reporting good sales of Thwaites dumpers, especially in the 6 to 9 tonne sectors, thanks in part to the “rampant” house building that is going on in the area and the need to shift muck on sites quickly.

Examples from the Bomag range of compaction equipment were also on display including double and single drum rollers and compaction plates, in addition a remotely controlled Bomag BMP8500 trench compactor was being demonstrated which generated a lot of interest resulting in 4 being sold at the show.

Attachment specialists Exac-One once again took a stand at the show and were demonstrating a wide range of attachments including a nifty combined grab and fence post hammer tool, which was also generating a lot of interest.

There was also a large selection of trade in machines on sale at special bargain show prices, one that caught my eye was this 2005 Bell B215CDLC hydraulic excavator with 8000 hours on the meter was on offer for £16000. The badged 21 tonne Hyundai based machine was from the brief period when Bell sold them in the UK market.

Concluding his thoughts on the latest event Graham Parker said “For us the show creates a great deal of set up work but it is our shop window for the year and although we will do in excess of £10,000,000 of business over the actual show period, over the course of the year the show brings in much more”.

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