Exeter, Pa.
Pride Mobility acquired Medford, Ore.-based Silver Star Mobility, a 16-year-old manufacturer of scooter and power chair lifts, last month. The company now operates as the Silver Star Lift Division of Pride.
Lift manufacturing remains in Medford, where former Silver Star owner Dennis Mortimore has joined Pride as vice president of vehicle lifts.
“We think the lift market is going to grow,” said Dan Meuser, president of Pride USA. “The fact is that if you look at the size of the scooter market and you look at the size of the power chair market … the lift market is unnaturally low in comparison. We think the market should be double its present size. There are about 30,000 to 35,000 vehicle lifts sold annually, and we think it should be 70,000.”
He added that the ability to pair a POV with a lift “in a turnkey package offers the comprehensive mobility solution that people are looking for.”
According to Douglas Curtis, national sales manager of the newly formed division, “The awareness of the lift category has not been high at the provider level because there has been so much growth in the [mobility equipment] categories themselves. But now as things start to look different with reimbursement, providers must look at retail sales.
“We think that providers who are willing to embrace the category have a good opportunity to grow cash sales, because it's a natural extension of something they already do in selling power mobility devices.”
