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Global elevator companies are rushing to take advantage of Chinese government subsidies to replace hundreds of thousands of ageing lifts in a reprieve for an industry hit hard by the country’s property slowdown.
Finland’s Kone, Otis from the US and Switzerland’s Schindler all say their “modernisation” businesses are growing in China as more elevators pass the 15-year mark — the usual trigger for upgrade or replacement.
China has about 12mn elevators, escalators and moving walkways, according to official data. The state-run People’s Daily reported in December that about 1.1mn elevators are more than 15 years old and now pose “safety hazards”.
Kone’s Greater China head, Joe Bao, said the number of elevators in China that needed to be modernised represented the industry’s “next growth super cycle”.
The company expected to replace or upgrade 40,000 to 60,000 elevators a year in China by 2028, up from about 20,000 now, while American competitor Otis said its modernisation tally doubled year on year in 2025.
China’s property slowdown has afflicted the world’s second-largest economy for most of this decade, cutting the number of new elevator installations.
China is an important market for lift makers given its size, and several manufacturers have large factories north of Shanghai complete with towers used to demonstrate their products.
Otis said in its most recent results that global sales fell 7 per cent last year, dragged down by a decline of more than a fifth in China, while Schindler also said orders were hit by a “continued steep decline in demand” in the country. Kone’s orders in Greater China “declined significantly” compared with 2024.
All three companies are targeting growth from a subsidy scheme financed by long-term special government bonds.
Companies said government subsidies of about Rmb100,000 (about $14,650) to Rmb200,000 are available to replace ageing elevators and expanded this year to support installations in older buildings.
Otis’s head of China, Sally Loh, said the initiative reflected both ageing urban infrastructure and the rising number of Chinese living longer.
The race for market share has prompted Kone to offer elevator replacements in the space of a week, while last month the company exhibited its products including a gold lift button at its China headquarters.
Maintaining elevators as well as replacing them is regarded as a business opportunity given the highly fragmented nature of the Chinese market, which Bao said was dominated by thousands of local players.
However, Otis has warned that its customers’ “credit conditions” have affected the company’s ability to match its previous pace of sales in China.
Kone’s Bao said his balance of business has gone from 85 per cent new installations and 15 per cent modernisation to being roughly equal, and expected overall sales to eventually recover. “If the peak of our industry [was] 2021, we will at some point get back to 2021,” he said.
The construction sector always had peaks and valleys, Bao said — and while the Chinese market was experiencing a “pretty dramatic slowdown . . . there are some sectors that are growing”.
Additional contributions by Cheng Leng in Beijing
