Manitou North America Names Stevenson Crane and J-Rene Lafond as First “Partner Dealers”
Manitou North America has named Stevenson Crane and Service LLC of Illinois and Indiana, and Quebec’s J.-Rene Lafond as its first ever “Partner Dealers” — a designation given to Manitou dealers who exhibit quantifiable excellence in product sales, parts support and service in its territory. This includes commitments to training, parts inventory, brand support and overall sales of Manitou equipment.
Manitou sells and supports a full line of industrial, rental, construction and agricultural equipment throughout North America, including telehandlers, mobile elevating work platforms, skid steers, CTLs, front-end loaders, forklifts and more under both the Manitou and Gehl brands.
“Our first Partner Dealers represent both American and Canadian excellence in serving their customers with the right mix of products, service and support to succeed,” said Ilmars Nartish, vice president of Manitou North America. “Both Stevenson Crane and J.-Rene Lafond have demonstrated excellence in listening to the needs of their markets and building their businesses intelligently — and representing Manitou to the industry with great pride and customer service proven to make a difference.”
Stevenson Crane has been serving the construction, industrial, mechanical, manufacturing and material handling industries in the upper Midwest since 1989. J.-Rene Lafond — a member of Avantis Cooperative — was founded in 1974 and has built a reputation on quality service and exceptional expertise and inventory in Quebec.
“Both dealers set the standard for product knowledge, support and service that we aspire to throughout our entire dealer network in North America,” said Nartish.
The “Partner Dealers” designation is new for Manitou in 2024 and will be revisited each year to recognize additional dealers in Manitou’s network. For more information on Manitou and its entire lineup of products and services, visit Manitou.com.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.
