Five established global suppliers – Invacare, Sunrise Medical, Ottobock, Pride Mobility Products Corp (electric wheelchairs) and Permobil – control less than 50 per cent of the global mobility market. 157 These large global manufacturers are focused on high- income countries and have limited presence in LMICs where they operate through distributors. For instance, Europe and North America comprised more than 96 per cent of net sales of Invacare in 2021. 158 The production of active wheelchairs for high- income countries is highly customized and localized, which limits the product range that could be provided cost-effectively in LMICs. 159 Thus, most existing wheelchair designs are not suitable for use in rural and peri-urban areas where ground is uneven, local transport is not wheelchair accessible and local repair and maintenance is not available.
Table 52: Leading global wheelchair manufacturers
Company (Head- quarters location) | Description | Regional Presence | Manufacturing Sites | Products |
---|---|---|---|---|
Invacare (United States) | Leading global supplier of mobility aids, respiratory products and hospital furniture; publicly listed | Europe, North America, Africa, Middle East, Asia | North America, Europe, China |
|
Medline (United States) | Manufacturer and distributor of more than 80K healthcare products for surgery and lab supplies; privately owned | Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, Africa etc. | Australia, France, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, U.S. |
|
Company (Head- quarters location) | Description | Regional Presence | Manufacturing Sites | Products |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ottobock (Germany) | Global manufacturer with focus on prosthetics and orthotics; privately owned | Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, Asia. LMICs such as Algeria, Kenya, Morocco etc. | Germanyi |
|
Permobil (Sweden) | Global supplier of wheelchairs with primary focus on powered wheelchairs; privately owned | Europe, North America, Australia, Asia, South Africa (50 countries worldwide) | China, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, USA |
|
Sunrise Medical (Germany) | Leading global suppliers of wheelchairs and mobility products; privately owned |
Europe, North America, Asia Pacific Distribution across 130 countries |
UK, Mexico, Germany, USA, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Chinaii |
|
ihttps://corporate.ottobock.com/en/company/about-ottobock↩︎
iihttps://www.sunrisemedical.com/ ↩︎
Note: Listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer.