The economic crisis in Brazil has many business owners wondering whether it’s worth investing thousands of reais in buying a new truck, or whether it would be better to rent the same vehicle with maintenance included. “I can replace the entire rental fleet every 36 months, so I’ve always have new vehicles in operation,” explains operation manager Eduardo Ferreira de Souza, who looks after 14 rental customers for KION brands Linde MH and STILL. KION now has over 2,600 rental trucks in Brazil, with almost a third of the company’s revenue coming from rentals. Ferreira de Souza goes on to explain, “For a time, Leroy Merlin had to get by on fewer trucks due to the crisis. That wasn’t a problem. We also waived the annual price adjustment for the customer since the vehicles spent fewer hours in operation due to the downturn.”