Toyota invests £7m in short-term hire fleet

Toyota has increased the size of its short-term hire fleet to over 3,500 trucks. The investment is said to have significantly reduced the age of trucks available. Trucks added to the fleet include over 120 Toyota Tonero engine-powered counterbalance forklifts and 180 Toyota Traigo electric-powered forklifts, including over 20 Toyota Traigo 80-volt forklifts launched in the UK last May. Rachel Thomas, rental operations manager for Toyota Material Handling UK, said "By understanding our customers' requirements, we have increased our fleet in the areas where we have the most demand. We want to provide our customers with highest quality trucks and that is why nearly 40% of the whole fleet and 62% of the counterbalance fleet is less than three years old. "We are also looking at how we can support specialised industries by ordering industry tailored trucks. An example of this is within the local farming industry where we have a dedicated fleet of farming spec Toyota Tonero forklifts, allowing us to provide delivery within 24 hours". The short-term hire fleet will be managed by Toyota's dedicated short-term customer service hire team.