A few years ago, I traveled down to Georgia to visit with Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas. Back then the company was ending its longtime excavator distribution partnership with John Deere and beginning to build its own North American dealer network. It was a pivotal moment, and the future was uncertain.  

Fast forward to the summer of 2026, and I find myself back in Georgia for another Hitachi milestone. More than 500 folks (dealers, employees, and industry partners) gathered at Trillith Studios near Atlanta for the company’s annual dealer meeting. This time, the focus wasn’t on life after Deere. It was focused on life as Landcros.

“Landcros is our new brand name,” said Simon Wilson, chief operating officer at Landcros Americas. “We were part of Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas. Now after the transition, we’ve become our own company — our own fully public company. So therefore, we have a new name, and it’s Landcros and it really is more than a brand. It’s really a meaning. For us, it’s land. That’s very important. It’s what we take care of for the future. But then the C-R-O-S really is an acronym for us. It’s customer. It’s reliable. It’s open, and it’s solutions.” 

We first reported on the name change back in October 2025, but the recent event felt like the beginning of a new chapter. Plus, the company announced a metric ton of new machines and news at the meeting. There were new mini excavators. New wheeled excavators. Plans for compact track loaders and articulated dump trucks. Investments in parts, rental, AI, and dealer support. There was even news of a partnership with Yanmar that could reshape the company’s compact equipment strategy.

“For us, right now is a good time,” smiled Wilson. “We have lots of new products coming out and lots of new partners that we’ll be engaging with. That’s the open part of our new name.” 

So, again, why is the name changing?

Let’s review. Hitachi is first and foremost a famous excavator brand. It launched the first hydraulic excavator in Japan back in 1965 — the UH03. Today the brand also makes wheel loaders and ridged dump trucks. In America, the Hitachi brand was always tied to John Deere. Hitachi specifically supplied John Deere with its excavators for 33 years. The joint venture ceased in 2022. That same year Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas began operating independently in North, Central, and South America under its own dealer network.

At the same time, Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. was getting out of the construction machinery business. Hitachi divested the majority of its stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery in 2022, selling half of its 51 percent share to Itochu Corp. and Japan Industrial Partners. Hitachi further reduced its remaining holding over time. 

“Hitachi Limited today is down to about 11 percent ownership,” said Wilson. “They still have a small investment in the Hitachi stock today as it’s being traded, but they don’t have a majority anymore. The largest shareholder is Itochu, which is one of the largest trading companies within Japan.” 

So, that’s why they’re changing the name. Landcros will replace Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas as the company’s North American identity beginning in April 2027.

Hitachi shows off four new mini excavators

Mini excavators continue to be a hot category, so of course one of the biggest product previews centered around Landcros’ four new Dash-7 compact excavators.

• ZX30U-7
• ZX35U-7
• ZX50U-7
• ZX60-7

We got a walkaround of the new ZX50U-7 at the event with Patrick Baker, product marketing manager at Hitachi/Landcros. All these models join the previously released ZX75US-7 and ZX85USB-7, giving contractors a much deeper next-generation compact excavator lineup.

“You’ll see a lot of the same creature comforts, a lot of those hydraulic and engine improvements, as well as reliability and serviceability improvements that you saw on those previously launched -7s,” explained Baker. “For instance, in our new cab space, we have a new 7-inch LCD monitor where you can preset up to 16 different attachments, including their flow rates. So, it’s an easy swap. You just go through the display, change the attachment you’re on, and you’re off and running.” 

During Baker’s walkaround of the ZX50U-7, he noted engineers added roughly 3 inches of floor space in the cab, redesigned the seat and armrests, improved ergonomics, strengthened the HVAC system, and included thoughtful touches like a phone holder and USB charging port. The ZX50U-7 is powered by a 40-horsepower Yanmar diesel, and it avoids diesel aftertreatment. Premium models come from the factory equipped with quick-coupler plumbing plus primary and secondary auxiliary hydraulics. That allows contractors to run everything from breakers and thumbs to tiltrotators without aftermarket modifications. 

“A lot of trial and error, a lot of voice of customer, voice of dealer, really allowed us to pinpoint the perfect operating layout for these compact machines,” said Baker.

Orders are expected to begin later this year, with machines arriving on dealer lots in early 2027.

Wheeled excavators finally reach North America

At the dealer meeting Landcros also officially entered the North American wheeled excavator market. The company introduced the ZX180W-7 and ZX220W-7, giving municipal, utility, and infrastructure contractors another option for jobs where mobility matters as much as digging and wielding attachments.

“So, we got an 18-ton and a 22-metric-ton machine,” explained Tim Cicora, product manager for medium and large excavators at Hitachi/Landcros. “We’re going to introduce these at PWX in August [that’s a public works show], and so you’ll see these available for sale later here this year.” 

Unlike tracked excavators, these machines can travel between nearby jobs at speeds approaching 22 miles per hour. The machines pair Isuzu engines with Hitachi’s HIOS hydraulic systems. Compared to previous models, the Dash-7 wheeled excavators improve fuel efficiency by about 7 percent (compared to European models) while adding a 270-degree camera system, LED lighting, air-suspension seating, and multiple steering options, including joystick steering.

“As you can see on this machine, we’ve installed a tiltrotator from Rototilt,” said Cicora. “We think this will be a great application for that type of an attachment. It 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.” 

Landcros will enter the CTL and ADT segments

Perhaps the biggest news wasn’t sitting on the show floor. Executives confirmed Landcros plans to expand into entirely new equipment categories. Landcros compact track loaders are coming. The company also announced it will soon be selling articulated dump trucks.

“The CTL market is a key market for us,” said Wilson. “As we expand into that market, we will be working through a partner. We’re in the final stages with a partner to align that. We expect that product about next summer, early next summer. We’ll also be looking at the skid steer side of the business potentially after, but the CTL, it’s the largest part of that business. You’re talking 90,000 units a year in the U.S. and Canada.

“With the ADT, we are doing something very similar. It’s actually a parallel project — same timeline. So, the team is working on the ADT entry point as well, working with a well-known partner that will come into the market. And we expect the announcement sometime this fall.” 

Just as I got back from this trip, I got a press release noting Hitachi Construction Machinery and Yanmar Holdings signed a letter of intent to explore collaboration in the global compact equipment business. Remember, Yanmar acquired CTL pioneer ASV in 2019. No products have been announced, and both companies emphasized they will maintain separate brands and independent dealer networks.

Open to outside ideas

The agreement reflects a broader trend across the equipment industry. Instead of building every product independently, manufacturers are increasingly partnering to combine engineering expertise, manufacturing resources, and dealer reach. For Landcros, this Yanmar collaboration could accelerate its expansion into one of construction’s fastest-growing equipment categories. And it’s not just a one-off. 

Landcros executives repeatedly described the company’s willingness to work with technology companies, startups, software developers, and machine-control providers instead of insisting every solution come from inside the organization. A good example of this would be the company’s strategic partnership with Pronto, aimed at advancing open mine automation solutions. 

“We don’t have to do everything,” said Wilson. “We want to be able to solve problems. So, that hits that word ‘open,’ but it also hits the ‘solution’ side that the customers and our dealers are asking for.” 

There’s a lot more to the story

Company leaders outlined continued investments in parts inventory, logistics, warehouse operations, forecasting, AI-assisted inventory management, and dealer support. Rental was also another growing priority. I’ll try to delve into some of those topics in future stories. 

“We see it [all] accelerating in ‘27,” said Wilson, noting “accelerate” was the theme of the 2026 dealer meeting. “The market’s looking pretty good. The dealers were a little uncertain this year. 26 was an unknown. Interest rates now are still a big unknown, but the general business flow is still working pretty well. The rental business is on fire across … everywhere. We’re seeing it from our rental customers, but we’re also seeing it from the dealer’s rental. That rental business is just on fire. We see that maintaining in 2027. It’s giving the dealers some good confidence to invest and to say let’s do some of these things that we’ve been talking about moving forward.” 

Judging by the mood in Georgia, dealers appear ready for that next chapter.