Service Dealer article Jan 2010
Garden machinery range delivers strong Eastern promise
Watch out, the Chinese have arrived, bringing with them tremendous opportunities for progressive and astute garden machinery dealers across Britain.
Although the name Sanli may not be too widely known on these shores, this situation is set to change over the coming year as the company builds a garden machinery sales and service dealer network for the Sanli range of outdoor power equipment.
Operating from modern premises near Abingdon, Oxfordshire and headed by former Countax sales director, Mark Osborne, the Sanli UK sales and technical support team has a combined experience totalling more than 150 years – all of which is now focused on helping new dealers build a profitable and successful business for Sanli products.
But just who is Sanli and what products are available to those dealers in the UK and Ireland who sign up with the company?
Established in 1983, the Fujian Sanli Engine Company Ltd is today one of China’s leading manufacturers of small engines, motorcycles and garden machinery, all of which are marketed world-wide under the Sanli name.
More than 1,000 staff are employed at the company’s 300,000 sq m high-tech engineering and production facility in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. Significantly, around 70 of these staff are engaged full-time on research and development, highlighting Sanli’s commitment to product design, development and improvement.
Starting off steadily within its home market, Sanli’s turnover has grown in line with a planned and sustained expansion of the company’s overseas representation. Sanli garden machinery, particularly lawnmowers, sells strongly in Australia, mainland Europe and South America, while the company’s motorcycles enjoy high market share in many parts of Africa and South America as well as several European countries.
The numbers of lawnmowers alone shipped over the past year by Sanli’s factory in China to distributors and stockists throughout Europe, Australia, the USA, Canada and South America topped half a million units.
Support for these products is being provided increasingly to appointed dealers and end-users by wholly-owned Sanli branches, the majority established since 2005. Among these branches are Sanli Australia, Sanli Togo, Sanli Ghana, Sanli France, Sanli Cameroon and, most recently, Sanli UK.
Delivering exceptional quality, reliability and performance at highly competitive prices, the Sanli products being launched currently in Britain encompass a wealth of high-demand garden machines, giving dealers an excellent range of powered equipment to offer to domestic, estate and semi-professional customers.
The Sanli product range includes both push-type and self-propelled pedestrian mowers in cutting widths from 40cm – 51cm. All are powered by single cylinder OHV four-stroke engines and incorporate model-dependent features such as centralised cutting-height adjustment, 60 litre capacity grass collectors and a choice of 3.5hp, 4hp or 5.5hp engines. All Sanli products come with a two-year domestic use warranty as standard.
Other products in the range are a 10.5hp ride-on mower with 76cm side-discharge deck and mulching facility; a 1.25m cut zero-turn rider mower powered by a 22hp twin-cylinder petrol engine; a selection of engine-powered brushcutters and chainsaws; two portable generators and a petrol hedge trimmer.
Early publicity announcing the arrival of Sanli products in the UK has attracted strong interest and positive enquiries already from a number of leading garden machinery dealers and dealer groups.
Sanli UK will be delighted to hear from companies interested in learning more about the Sanli package and the many benefits that a Sanli dealership could bring to their business.
Posted In Latest news, Jan 01 2010.