Manitou and Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) have jointly decided to end Manitou's exclusive distribution agreement for Toyota forklifts in France from 1 January 2013.

Manitou will continue to sell Toyota's products in France during 2012, but will now market its own range of forklifts worldwide and in France from 2013. The two companies said they would continue to investigate opportunities for cooperation in the future.

Jean-Christophe Giroux, Manitou president and chief executive officer said the agreement had brought Manitou expertise in forklifts and helped establish its construction/industrial/agricultural business model; "We now wish to expand this model across other geographies, leveraging a single product range under our own Manitou brand, to be launched early February 2012 abroad and progressively in 2013 in France.

"We believe our differentiated positioning from Toyota will not compromise our ability to remain a true partner to TMHE, which we will continue to support in many capacities."  

Hakan Dahllöf, TMHE president, said Toyota was appreciative of the part played by Manitou in building the Toyota brand in France; "but we now need to deploy our pan-European model for branding and distribution with one integrated organisation in charge for both Toyota and BT brands.

"I am convinced it will represent a great business platform for the French dealers who will naturally fit in. Even if our business arrangement with Manitou changes, we still very much value the relationship moving forward, and will continue to explore opportunities together."

The current arrangement will continue as usual until December 31, 2012 with no expected impact on either organisations, dealers or customers.