Don’t knock every European manufacturer from back then, the Japs weren’t any more advanced than the Ackermans and certainly weren’t better machines. Price and Volvo did for that brand. Likewise the last model Mustangs were a match for any Jap at the time, again price and possibly reliability did for them. Hymac didn’t do anything particularly well, and certainly didn’t rise to the challenge. Oh, and the Japs were quite a way behind Poclain. I think Poclain were quite early with mini’s, and were the first over 100 tonnes with a hydraulic machine. Their mid-range machines would stack up against a lot of current products. I certainly felt short-changed moving from an old 14 tonne Poclain to a new 13 tonne Komatsu. Just because some companies couldn’t compete over the long haul didn’t mean that the machines weren’t any good. Don’t think the Japs arrived oven-ready, they had issues but were quick at resolving them.
The early bigger Hitachis found favour with smaller contractors but they didn’t have a rep as a strong digging machine, however they were fast, but in the main didn’t find favour with big muck shifting outfits. Not sure how big their early range was but I think it was the 90’s when they really got a hold of the UK market.When they began to embrace bigger hydraulic machines, Cat, Ackerman and Poclain were the go-to’s in a lot of the bulk market. Cat turned to Eder for their smaller machines. The 215 was Cat designed and made in Belgium from the off and no-one would call it inferior to Jap machines of the time, certainly not me who had my arse in a good few makes over the years.
Not sure how the numbers stacked up, but I don’t remember seeing many Taks over here when the minis started making 1 RB’s redundant, but Kubota were certainly about in big numbers very quickly, with little Hitachis pushing them hard. The Kubotas were much cruder than the Hitachis back then (80’s) but anything beat a pick and shovel so they sold.
I’d take any of the above machines over most takeaways except Liu Gong.