If 2008 could be described as the year for the completion of the marketing frame for the State III truck products for Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd., 2009 will be a start for the comprehensive campaign of Yuchai for commercial vehicle market faced the complicated external economic environment and intensified competition in the industry.

Truck market: seek change by golden ratio of emission and power  

Some people would be confused. Why did Yuchai, a veteran of Chinese commercial vehicle engine producer calls 2009 a start?  

The core business of Yuchai is included six sectors. They are diesel engines, construction machinery, automobile parts, automobile chemical products, materials circulation & electromechanical products and special vehicle. With an annual productivity and sales volume of 600,000 diesel engines and 10,000 units of medium- & small-sized construction machinery, its sales income in 2008 was exceeded 200 billion Yuan. Although the Group took a large share of the medium- & small-duty engine market, it continues trying to improve its heavy-duty vehicles.

Yuchai has been committed to the large power and large emission engines as 11~ 12L engines represent a major direction of truck engine development in the future, deputy general manager Wu Qiwei of Yuchai said. Yuchai probably will release a larger emission engine that could even larger than 12 L in 2009.  

There already are many kinds of large emission models available in the market particularly the heavy-duty engines above 10L . Some examples are: the 11L engines produced by Dongfeng-Renault, Xichai and Xi'an Cummins, the 12L models produced by Weichai, 13L models produced by Dongfeng Cummins, etc. Those models have been adopted by a number of OEMs. With the development of China s economic speed up and the increasing logistic transportations, the demand for new generation heavy-duty trucks with large-power, large displacement and low energy consumption is growing. Yuchai of course can not and will not stay outside of the huge market.

Yuchai is late compared to the domestic rivals that already launched the large power models. Is Yuchai able to win the market after the rivals had taken the lead? The market of large power has not been fully developed which offers enough time and room for the late comers to catch up. It enabled Yuchai to select a technical platform for its own large emission models focusing on the needs of customers more quickly and precisely.  

Yuchai has no reason to worry about the aggressive foreign brands. On one hand, the foreign engines have to go through the localization for the Chinese market that provides time for Yuchai. On the other hand, Yuchai encourages users to buy vehicles assembled with engines of Yuchai by the strategy of users besiege the OEMs since it has enjoyed a close partnership with a large number of OEMs. As said by general manager Li Tiansheng, the Group hoped to achieve a breakthrough and break the dominance of the foreign brands.

The bus market: maintains the leading edges   

Yuchai is the first domestic engine maker in the commercial vehicle industry to launch the State and engines. In 2008, Yuchai has nearly 52% of the bus market.  Its State IV engine was used by the Beijing public transport system and served Beijing Olympic Games with Culmins. The success showed the strong foundation and strength of Yuchai in the passenger vehicle field.    

In spite of the global financial crisis and gloomy domestic passenger vehicle market, Wu Qiwei still proposed the requirement of to advance the market in a full way. The passenger vehicle should be one of the key directions of Yuchai, he highlighted.  

In order to better expand the passenger vehicle business and grow all products of transportation, public transport and tourism, Yuchai subdivided the market and developed the special engines for varied road situations and application features. Up to date it has as many as 13 series of Yuchai bus products that meet Euro-V standard with a power range from 2.21 to 310KW. Regarding the State III market, Yuchai has the largest share in the domestic State III bus market due to its early development. From the feedback of a number of buses exhibitions that showed Yuchai YC4E, YC 4F , YC 4G , YC6J, YC 6L and YC 6M , Yuchai had demonstrated the image of green Yuchai.

Yuchai had thoughtful plans for the new energy buses marketa market that is drawing more and more public attention beside the intense cultivation in traditional diesel engines New energy represents a major direction. Yuchai has launched a large number of sophisticated hybrid and gas engine, Wu Qiwei added.   

Its worth mentioning that Yuchai Group joined hands with Hengtong Passenger Auto and Dongfeng Automobile Research Institute to develop the 1^st gas-electric hybrid bus CKZ6116HENV3. Compared to traditional 13-meter CNG bus, the new bus reduces nearly 30% gas consumption with an energy consuming rate of 22.9%. The engine cuts about 500 kg emission and saves about 10,000 cubic meter gas per year. Previously, most hybrid buses used engines produced by overseas or joint venture manufacturers. The breakthrough of Yuchai in this field indicates that Yuchai will be the leader in the domestic industry to release mature hybrid engine. The gas engines of Yuchai have already been used in key markets such as Tianjin , Hainan , Sichuan , Chongqing , Shaanxi Province, Yangzhou , Xinjiang and other provinces in large amounts.

The market downturn does not hit the confidence of Yuchai. Wu Qiwei said: the greatest challenge was not to acquire more orders but to adjust and meet the growing demand of customers regarding the costs of the products. In fact, the market does not only post the test to a single enterprise, but the response of every enterprise is likely to determine the geography of the Chinese engine industry. Yuchai, with its long term image of independence, self-reliance and innovation will be a winner in the tough competition and will have a bright future.  

Author: Wu Fan                        source: Buses Weekly