1970-1979

Expansion in North America

Liebherr’s expansion in North America follows the same pattern to its success in Europe. Liebherr-America, Inc. began in 1970 with the construction of two 300,000 sq. ft. production facilities and an office building in Newport News, Virginia.

Liebherr-America, Inc.

Liebherr in America opens for business in a different world. The average price of a new car was about $3,500 and filling it up with a gallon of gas cost 36 cents. The Beatles had just broken up. Liebherr entered the US market that decade with a product lineup of hydraulic excavators, bulldozers, tower slewing and special purpose cranes

Product development and manufacturing

Multiple prototypes and specialty products are developed, produced and manufactured at Liebherr Newport News, including: the first series of hydraulic excavators, the R 945, the R 925, the largest line of excavators, the R 981; a specialty excavator for logging, The Swamper; and specialty cranes; a 120/25 US-ton (113/23 metric ton) polar crane; a 150 US-ton (136 metric ton) turbine crane; the world’s largest tower crane at the time, the 1800-C; standard tower cranes, 200 HC and 88 HC; and overhead cranes, among others.

A strong year for manufacturing

During the first full year of production, Liebherr America produces 145 excavators. In 1973, 100 machines have been sold and an additional 100 are on backorder. The demand for products “far exceeds what we anticipated,” Ernst Berndl, Liebherr’s president in the US, told a local newspaper that year.