WHO’S NUMBER ONE?
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What the data reveals Based on available data from the trailer makers, CIMC is ahead of the pack in terms of being the world’s largest trailer manufacturer with a 2011 production figure of 174,000 units of all types.
It has 18 plants in China and seven in the US, Belgium, Australia (two in Melbourne), Thailand, Saudi Arabia and, when Burg Silvergreen comes on-stream, Germany. CIMC says its total annual production capacity is more than 300,000 trailers on a double-shift.
Meanwhile, in the US, the influential Trailer/Bodybuilders magazine website lists Wabash as the top US manufacturer with 46,526 units produced last year, followed by Great Dane in second place with 39,000. Significantly, CIMC’s wholly-owned US subsidiary Vanguard National Trailer Corporation is in fifth place having built an impressive 8,184 trailers in 2011.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Schmitz remains Europe’s biggest manufacturer with 44,000 units built in 2011, followed by Krone with around 22,000 and Kogel with some 12,000 units. With no registration scheme in the UK, it’s not easy to get definitive figures.
However, the best ‘guesstimate’ obtained from CM’s industry sources suggests some 13,800 trailers of all types were made by UK manufacturers in 2011, with SDC leading the field with around 4,000 units built last year.
Clear Consulting produces annual reports for both the western and eastern trailer market listing all the major players with their production capacity, as well as actual output and sales, together with predicted market demands.