Hitachi

Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (HCME) is a subsidiary of HCM Japan and was established in 1972 in the Netherlands. It is responsible for the manufacture, sales and marketing of Hitachi construction equipment throughout Europe. We offer the full range of genuine spares and replacement parts for Hitachi machines.

In 1986 a marketing partnership for plant machinery was agreed between Fiat and Hitachi, with the original plan to build a limited range of Hitachi crawler excavators in Fiat’s factory in Italy. In the 1990s, HCME increased production in the Netherlands, starting to produce mini excavators, which with an extension of coverage leading to a trebling of production volumes. In October 1998, Euclid and Hitachi agreed a distribution partnership. This resulted in a new part distribution centre being opened, so that HMCE could take over the exclusive distribution for dump truck parts. In March 2001, Hitachi and Fiat terminated their joint venture relationship.

In the UK HM Plant was established by Graham Hall in Somerset in 1979, to distribute construction machinery in south west England. The company was appointed a sub-dealer for various brands, including Bomag , Isuzu and Fiat. The company was also appointed a regional sub-dealer for HMCE, but within a year was appointed HMCE’s official UK distributor from 1980. After the agreement of the Fiat-Hitachi deal in 1986, the company solely focused on distribution and servicing in the UK of the partnership’s products.

In January 2000, a management buyout was led by John Jones. In 2004 HM Plant relocated to a purpose-built 7 acres (2.8 ha) site at south Tyneside to allow both easier importation from the Netherlands, and easier distribution around the UK. In April 2007, HM Plant became a wholly owned subsidiary of HMCE, and in May 2014 officially rebranded to Hitachi Construction Machinery (UK) Ltd.

Hitachi models we cover include