I recently caught up with Hitachi product manager Tim Cicora for a walkaround of the company’s first North American Landcros wheeled excavator — the ZX180W-7. He also discussed its bigger ZX220W-7 brother, with both machines arriving at North American dealers soon. In July, I traveled to Georgia for the Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas dealer meeting, where more than 500 dealers, employees, and industry partners descended on Trilith Studios near Atlanta. There were new mini excavators, future compact track loaders, technology partnerships, and a pretty significant name change — the whole Hitachi/Landcros transition.

Naturally, I spent a lot of time walking the dealer floor with a camera. One machine that grabbed my attention was the new Landcros ZX180W-7 wheeled excavator. This is one of the first machines actually branded Landcros, so I snagged Tim Cicora, product manager for medium and large excavators at Hitachi, and asked him to walk us around the machine.

“This is our first wheeled excavator here in the North American market,” says Cicora in the video above. “We’re going to have the ZX180W-7 as well as the ZX220W-7. So, it’s an 18-[metric]-ton and a 22-metric-ton machine. We’re going to introduce these at PWX in August, and so you’ll see these available for sale later here this year.”

Meet the Landcros ZX180W-7

The ZX180W-7 wheeled excavator is aimed at applications where mobility matters. Think municipal work, road construction, infrastructure projects on paved services, and jobs that require frequent machine travel. Maybe read up on our recent guide to wheeled excavators. The ZX180W-7 has a top travel speed of 22 miles per hour, so it can road. Under the hood sits an 172-horspower Isuzu diesel engine. The ZX180W-7 also uses Hitachi’s two-pump HIOS V hydraulic system. Cicora explained that the two-pump arrangement better fits the packaging and application.

“It pairs better with what we’re doing with this particular type of a wheeled excavator,” says Cicora in the video. “This is precision hydraulics that gives you all the flow and pressures you need to run a variety of attachments, which is a big advantage to this machine.”

The ZX180W-7 also gets a two-piece boom, allowing operators to work close to the machine while still providing reach. The ZX180W-7 shown at the dealer meeting had two rear outriggers, a front dozer blade, and eight tires. Operators can lower those outriggers to stabilize the machine for digging or attachment work. The larger ZX220W-7 uses four outriggers (two at each end). The ZX180W-7 on the show floor was equipped with a Rototilt tiltrotator.

“We think this will be a great application for that type of an attachment,” noted Cicora in the video. “[A tiltrotator] allows an operator to get as much productivity and maneuverability out of the front of the machine, and it allows an operator to pick up multiple attachments, buckets, whatever they need to use, a mower, and set them back down and pick up the next one as quickly as possible.”

What operators get in the cab

The ZX180W-7 allows both traditional steering-wheel control and joystick steering. The Dash-7 wheeled excavators also have the option of a 270-degree camera and LED lighting system. With travel operation, there are cool functions like Auto Working Brake, cruise control, and Public Road Mode. Via the display, operators can adjust swing speed, arm responsiveness, and attachment performance. There’s also Automatic Transmission Control, which selects a gear based on travel load. Go get a test drive. 

Don’t forget: Hitachi is changing its name to Landcros

There’s a bigger story behind the new name painted across this excavator. Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas will become Landcros Americas in April 2027. The transition follows major ownership changes at Hitachi Construction Machinery and comes several years after the company ended its 33-year excavator joint venture with John Deere. Read all about that story right here.