The lift market - France

Use on a large number of floors in residential and office buildings/skyscrapers but also car parks, hotels and hospitals. This use has less competition from escalators because the elevator is faster (speed proportional to the height of the skyscraper towers) and can generally carry a larger number of people.

According to the Fédération des ascenseurs, the lift market in France represents 100 million trips per day for more than 600,000 lifts installed. The number of lifts in France is ageing (more than 50% of lifts are over 25 years old and 25% are over 40 years old). With only about 11 to 12,000 new lifts installed per year in France, the market challenge is in fact very much linked to the modernisation, maintenance and repair of existing lifts, since this segment occupies 70% of the sector's workforce. The French lift market is particularly concentrated and is dominated by the French subsidiaries of the four world majors: the American Otis, the German ThyssenKrupp, the Finnish Kone and the Swiss Schindler. Alongside these groups, which control the entire value chain, from manufacturing to maintenance and modernisation, there are many small and medium-sized companies operating on a local scale. The numerous takeovers show that the lift market is becoming increasingly concentrated around the world leaders who are internalising maintenance and repair activities. Lastly, the future of the lift market in France will depend largely on the regulation of safety work on the stock already installed.