With 101 RE machines ordered and extra stock committed, the Maharashtra company is adding “own it when you use it” to its “rent it when you need it” model
Leopard Equipments and Engineers has spent almost two decades renting out cranes and lifting equipment in India. Now it is adding a second answer to the question every customer asks: rent, or buy?
The company has signed as an RE distribution partner for Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra. It opens with an order of 101 new RE machines, valued at about USD 1.5 million, and has committed a further USD 1 million or so of local RE inventory.
More than scissor lifts
The opening order spans the access range:
- RE-Lift scissor lifts from 8 to 16 m
- electric booms from 17 to 29 m
- spider lifts of 25 and 30 m
- truck-mounted booms with working heights of 36, 45 and 60 m
That breadth lets Leopard address both construction and industrial customers, rather than offer one machine type for every job.
Rent for projects, own for routines
The logic is application-led. Construction firms with changing projects can rent for flexibility. Plants, utilities and logistics sites with recurring maintenance or installation tasks may do better owning a machine that is always on site. Local stock matters for that second group, because ownership only pays off if the machine stays working.
“The question should not be whether rental is better than ownership. The question is what makes sense for that customer and that application,” said Meghraj Singh, Chairman of Rentease Limited. RE is the brand under which the company is building equipment families for construction and industrial markets, sold through specialist distributors and backed by Rentease’s rental experience. The first families are RE-Lift, for access and work at height, and RE-Move, for material handling.
Experience centres planned
The partners also plan RE Experience World Centres in Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where customers could compare machines and technologies, try them, and work out which access model fits. Training for operators and owners could follow, the release says. An RE e-commerce platform is part of the model.
For dealers and rental firms elsewhere, the case shows a rental operator moving into sales as India’s mobile elevating work platform market grows beyond its traditional boundaries.
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