USED MACHINERY: The early Claas Targo telehandlers suffered from reliability issues, so when their replacements, the Scorpions, were launched in late- 2005, the new Claas handlers had to be spot-on from the start. James de Havilland reports
Claas doesn’t take all that kindly to poor machine dependability, so we suspect the company had reached the end of its corporate tether by the time the 1999-2005 Targo telescopic handler range ceased production.
Claas had invested huge sums in upgrading any customer machines with problems, even bringing some early models up to the specification of later units. The aim was to help satisfy disgruntled Targo users (see profi used machinery 7-8/06). Ironically – and as is so often the case – the last of the Targo handlers, which were by then built for Claas by Caterpillar at its Desford plant in Leicester, were pretty much sorted, complete with greatly improved dependability and performance records. That lesson learnt, replacing the Targo with yet another all-new design was obviously not something to be embarked on prematurely, because Claas certainly couldn’t entertain the new Scorpion telehandlers suffering from the same teething woes as their Targo predecessors. It simply wasn’t an option.
