"Hangzhou has been committed to environmental improvement and imposed strict environmental requirements on buses in recent years. Early in 1996, the municipal government began to fine buses discharging black smoke," said Wang Xunyue, vice general manager of Hangzhou Public Transport Group Co., Ltd. (HPTG).

Hangzhou attaches great importance to the comprehensive treatment of bus exhaust emission, thus "green and clean" buses enjoy wide popularity in Guangzhou, creating a space and opportunity for those energy-conserving and clean engine suppliers to show themselves.

Yuchai engines account for 80%

When bus power changed from "gasoline to diesel" ten years ago, Hangzhou's buses generally used imported engines due to substandard homemade engines and poor oil quality. With the technical progress of domestic engine manufacturers later, HPTG began to use domestic brands. However, the biggest problem was black smoke from buses in this period and the second was that buses were prone to fire when starting. These problems were not resolved properly until Yuchai engines were introduced.

Referring to the characteristics of Yuchai engines, Wang summarized, first, Yuchai's part prices are reasonable and affordable to public transport companies. "Some imported engines are good when they are new, but it takes a long time to deliver new parts when old parts need to be replaced, and parts prices are high, we suffered from foreign engines." Second, Yuchai's after-sales team works diligently and solidly. "Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. (Yuchai Machinery) often provides technical support to us, whenever new models are launched, Yuchai Machinery will give us special trainings and arrange some of our technical staff to visit their production lines and attend field trainings.

As HPTG's long-term partner, Yuchai Machinery is not content to provide products and services to the customer only, but has deepened cooperation with the customer. Wang said, "When Yuchai launched a national III common rail engine, it was first tested by HPTG and then popularized in the country. With full combustion, up to the emission standard, the new model has contributed to energy conservation and emission reduction."

A lot of management inspiration has been produced in frequent communication and collision between HPTG and Yuchai. Thanks to such deep cooperation based on mutual trust, of HPTG's 8,060 buses in 2014, 7,500 were diesel buses and 6,000 were powered by Yuchai engines, accounting for 80 percent.

"Our first choice will still be Yuchai engines next year"

Hangzhou Yuhang Public Transport Co., Ltd. (HYPT) is a subsidiary of HPTG. Using engines of different brands simultaneously, HYPT can keenly feel their differences and knows the characteristics of Yuchai engines better. First, Yuchai engines are more humanized in design such as layout. Second, Yuchai engines consume little fuel, as a result of a test conducted by HYPT, Yuchai engines' fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is two liters less than other brands. Third, product maintenance is convenient, there is a five-minute ride from Yuchai service station to the company, and after-sales service is good. "Now we have a total of 1,160 buses, of which 90 percent are powered by Yuchai engines. It has been six years since we cooperated with Yuchai Machinery from 2008, in which Yuchai used new technologies fast. We will not consider other engine manufacturers in the future and our first choice will still be Yuchai engines next year," said Zhang Shuikang, manager of the Department of Machinery Management, HYPT.

After exploration and use at the beginning, HPTG's another subsidiary Hangzhou Public Transportation Xiasha Co., Ltd. (XPT) has got to know the operation conditions and features of buses and been able to judge the cost performance of bus and parts, thus holding biddings independently. After an elaborate selection, XPT eventually chose Yuchai. "After years of use, we found Yuchai engines stood the test of time in fuel consumption, far outperforming a couple of domestic engines in energy conservation," said Shen Bo, vice general manager of XPT, adding, "A bus generally has at most two overhauls. The cost for two overhauls of a bus powered by an imported engine in the service period is equivalent to the purchase cost of a new vehicle. In such circumstances, we certainly prefer stable Yuchai engines."

Shen sang high praise for Yuchai, "We began to use Yuchai engines in 2006, Yuchai Machinery established an internal service station which provided daily services to us and trained our internal staff in 2009. Why do we position Yuchai as the only engine brand and why did we choose Yuchai eventually? Because of Yuchai Machinery's appealing business concept, follow-up service, preferential policies and reputation."

(Lin Jian/China Automotive News)