Industry
Approximately 49,00 hoists were sold each year in North America. Typically hoists were purchased by an automotive outlet that serviced or repaired cars, including new car dealers, used car dealers, specialty shops (for example, muffler shops, transmission, wheel alignment), chains (for example, Firestone, Goodyear, Canadian Tire), and independent garages. It was estimated that new car dealers purchased 30% of all units sold in a given year. In general, the specialty shops focus on one type of repair, such as mufflers or rustproofing, while "non specialty" outlets handle a variety of repairs. While there was some crossover, in general, CAH competed in the specialty shop segment and, in particular, those shops that dealt with wheel alignment. This included chains, such as Firestone and Canadian. Tire as well as new car dealers (for example, Ford) who devote a certain percentage of their lifts to the wheel alignment business, and independent garages who specialized in wheel alignment.