Volvo just launched three new compact excavators. If you own the model each one replaces, your machine got a little cheaper the day they landed, and nobody sent you the memo.
The Volvo ECR90, EC65 and EW65, and what they replace
The new models are the ECR90, the EC65 and the EW65, and they replace the ECR88D, the EC60E and the EW60E. They are listed for order in Australia now, alongside the rest of the world. Volvo says the ECR90 alone makes 28% more power, 15% more pump torque and carries a cab a third bigger than the model it replaces.
But this is not really a Volvo story. It is what every OEM does on a cycle. Cat, Deere, Komatsu, Kubota, Hitachi, they all refresh their lineups every few years. And every time they do, the machines already working out in the yards and paddocks do not change one bit. The way the market values them does.
What "previous generation" does to a machine that digs exactly the same
The day a replacement exists, the model it replaces becomes "previous generation." Your EC60E digs exactly as well as it did last week. A buyer does not see last week. He sees a machine one rung below what is on the showroom floor, and prices it that way. Over the next year or two, more of them come up used as owners trade up, and the extra supply pulls the price down again.
Both sides have a clock running
So both sides have a clock running. Selling or trading a superseded machine? Your strongest number is early, before the discounts on the new gear reach the used market. Buying one? A fresh release is your best lever. The machine is proven, it is about to get cheaper, and you can say both across the desk.
None of this means a new model is bad, or that you should rush. It means the value of what you already own just moved, and you cannot negotiate around a number you do not have. So before you trade or sell anything, whether or not there is a shiny replacement in your category, get it priced on its own and in writing first. A number you can point at beats a number you feel.
Source: Volvo CE. Image: Volvo CE.
We track the Australian used and new equipment market and publish what we find, in plain language, for the people actually buying and selling machines.