Leading global wheelchair companies

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
  • Manual: active, postural support, sports
  • Powered
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.
  • Manual: active, postural support, standard/ transport
130
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
  • Manual: active, postural support, sports
  • Powered
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
  • Manual: active
  • Powered
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
  • Manual: active, postural support, sports
  • Powered

ihttps://corporate.ottobock.com/en/company/about-ottobock↩︎

iihttps://www.sunrisemedical.com/ ↩︎

Note: Listed in alphabetical order by manufacturer.