Komatsu is bringing back the PC130-11 after pulling it from the U.S. market nearly 10 years ago. In the video below we dig into why Komatsu did it and the important role the PC130 plays as a bridge between the company’s small and mid-size excavator lineups.
After an absence of several years from the U.S. market, the Komatsu Parts PC130 excavator is officially back. The last PC130 that was offered in North America was the PC130-8, which went on sale in 2008 and left the market in 2011. Positioned as an entry-level excavator, Komatsu says the new PC130-11 serves the purpose of filling in a pivotal gap between its small and medium sized excavator lineup that became apparent in the machine’s absence.
Now, the reason that gap is pivotal and why it posed a very interesting challenge for Komatsu engineers is because a lot of customers—especially construction customers and utility customers on the small end or just starting out—might find themselves stuck deciding between a more affordable but ultimately a less powerful machine out of Komatsu’s compact excavator lineup that might not meet their needs, or another machine that, while offering more power than the mini models, might have more power—or size—than they need or want, and at a price they can’t afford.
That is where the PC130-11 comes in.
Continuing the discussion at the top about what and who this machine is for, the PC130-11 is squarely aimed at excavation or utility contractors looking for construction-grade performance in a lightweight package that is easy to transport.
Komatsu says they were really aiming to develop a small footprint machine that did not exceed 29,000 pounds while retaining durability and the level of performance you’d expect from a medium-size Komatsu excavator.
The result is a machine that weighs in at a range between 28,604 and 28,660 pounds. It’s 8 feet, 10 inches wide and, despite its positioning between the small and medium lines—and specifically its position in the lineup between two tight-tail-swing models—the PC130-11 itself is not a zero or tight tail swing model. It’s a conventional tail swing machine with a tail swing radius of 7 feet, 3 inches.