Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) has retained overall national forklift market leadership and achieved a 26th consecutive year of dominance in internal-combustion counter-balance forklifts.

Official Australian Industrial Truck Association (AITA) industry sales results for the 2012 calendar year show TMHA captured approximately 32 per cent of the total Australian forklift market.

TMHA sold in excess of 5,400 forklifts during 2012, which was over 18 per cent more than TMHA’s total 2011 sales.

Most of the growth was due to a big jump in sales of TMHA battery-electric forklifts, which grew by over 750 units for the year.

This success saw TMHA’s share of the battery electric forklift segment grow to over 30 per cent.

TMHA executive vice president and COO Steve Takacs said the company’s 2012 results reflected its increased commitment to the warehouse equipment market.

“We focused on the warehouse equipment segment last year by launching several new battery-electric forklift models – and our customers have responded positively to that,” Mr Takacs said.

TMHA also remained the clear number one in the engine powered forklift category in 2012, with sales of over 2,500 units.

TMHA accounted for one in every three internal combustion forklifts sold in Australia, with a market share of more than 33 per cent.

It has now led the Australian internal combustion counter-balance forklift market uninterrupted for 26 years.