"We sold only 200 heavy-duty trucks last year but over 400 units this year, up 100 percent year on year," Yu Xiusheng, chairman of Hefei Yucheng Automotive Service Co., Ltd. (Hefei Yucheng), said happily at the sight of the reporter.

According to sources, Hefei Yucheng which began to sell JAC heavy-duty trucks in 2005 was not on the top in the local market. In 2013, the private enterprise moved into the top two with its sales soaring. How did the rising heavy-duty truck distributor overtake its peers?

For Yu, Hefei Yucheng's substantial sales growth has been attributable to several factors.

Hefei Yucheng jumps as second-largest market player

As the capital of Anhui Province, Hefei is also a major home appliance production base. Key domestic home appliance brands like Meiling, Haier, Gree and Midea have large plants in Hefei.

Extension of the home appliance industry chain and Hefei's favorable location suiting highway transport has contributed to its developed trunk line logistics and transfer. "Trucks and tractors are mainstream vehicles in Hefei's heavy-duty truck market, with an annual market capacity of over 2,000 units," Yu analyzed.

Despite a moderate market capacity, competition is fierce in Hefei's heavy-duty truck industry, and key heavy-duty truck brands include JAC Gallop, FAW Jiefang, DFCV and Foton Auman. "In segments like truck and engineering vehicle, Gallop's sales have exceeded or been even with sales of competitors, only tractor sales are slightly lower than sales of key competitors," Zhang Zhongqun, general manager of Hefei Yucheng Heavy-duty Truck Marketing Co., Ltd., told the reporter that the share of JAC Gallop in Hefei's heavy-duty truck market has jumped to the 2nd.

Yu attributed Hefei Yucheng's catching up largely to its one-stop solutions for customers.

"Generally speaking, customers will encounter two problems when purchasing trucks, which we call two circles," Yu told the reporter. One "circle" is the business process from truck selection to operation, due to complicated formalities and high professionalism, the problem is a headache for many customers, thus "one-stop" service is needed during truck purchase.

The other "circle" is logistics transport scheme: what trucks can meet customer demands most? Yu introduced, when customers turn to Hefei Yucheng, it will analyze customers' logistics first, find out various factors like resources and cargo conditions (bearing capacity, volume and cargo measurement) and transport lines (mountains, plains, high cold and high-temperature areas), and recommend appropriate trucks and configuration.

"During truck purchase, distributors must take the two 'circles' into consideration and complete them fully in order to resolve all problems," Yu thought, with the intensification of competition in the heavy-duty truck industry, under the conditions of same configuration and same prices, customers are inclined to distributors which can offer more extended services and can complete all formalities at a time. "Just like popular supermarkets which can satisfy almost all demands of customers at a time, while stores selling single products target some groups only and the market will become increasingly small."

In view of that, Hefei Yucheng has extended its business scope to upstream and downstream industries on the basis of consolidating heavy-duty truck sales. "We are conducting group-based operations covering four sectors: commercial vehicle trade, vehicle maintenance, commercial vehicle parts and transport (predominated by industrial park operation and truck affiliation)," Yu disclosed, adding, "Besides, we are also applying for establishing a motor vehicle performance test station, and will gradually form a whole commercial vehicle industry chain involving complete services like vehicle purchase, mortgage, affiliation, insurance, gas filling, maintenance and annual inspection to provide better one-stop services to customers."

In view of that, Hefei Yucheng has extended its business scope to upstream and downstream industries on the basis of consolidating heavy-duty truck sales. "We are conducting group-based operations covering four sectors: commercial vehicle trade, vehicle maintenance, commercial vehicle parts and transport (predominated by industrial park operation and truck affiliation)," Yu disclosed, adding, "Besides, we are also applying for establishing a motor vehicle performance test station, and will gradually form a whole commercial vehicle industry chain involving complete services like vehicle purchase, mortgage, affiliation, insurance, gas filling, maintenance and annual inspection to provide better one-stop services to customers."

Yuchai heavy-duty engines contribute over one third of sales as "secret weapon"

Besides the one-stop solution, Hefei Yucheng has another "secret weapon" to boost its sales, "That is Yuchai heavy-duty engines," he said.

"I first contacted Yuchai in 1993. After retiring from the army in the year, I established a transport fleet. Though I did not use Yuchai engines at that time, I transported Yuchai engines from Yulin to areas like Hefei and Xiamen," a faint smile flickered across Yu's lips when he spoke of his connection to Yuchai.

JAC Gallop heavy-duty trucks were launched on the market in 2005, and Hefei Yucheng began to transform as one of the earliest distributors of JAC Gallop. "As Yuchai engines are the main power of JAC heavy-duty trucks, my relations with Yuchai become closer," he said.

Speaking of Yuchai heavy-duty engines, Yu summarized their advantages according to customers' feedback. "First, Yuchai engines are advanced in design and powerful. Besides, they are fuel-conserving compared to other engines of same configuration and power. They have enjoyed great popularity among Hefei's heavy-duty truck customers," he said.

Second, Yuchai has established a complete after-sales service system, offers high-caliber services and can resolve customers' problems in time. "Time is money for heavy-duty truck customers," Yu who was once engaged in logistics transport had a deep feeling about that. He told the reporter, Yuchai attaches great importance to after-sales services and keeps perfecting the functions of regional service centers. Yucheng Yuchai service station not only engages in after-sales services, but also has functions such as used parts recovery and new parts distribution, and gives regular trainings to staff at other local service stations. "In division of responsibility under specific circumstances, Yuchai is also humanistic and fully understands customers' difficulties," he added.

According to sources, Hefei Yucheng sold over 100 vehicles powered by Yuchai heavy-duty engines in 2013, accounting for over one third of the company's total sales. Particularly, over 90 percent of the company's trucks and lightweight dumpers carry Yuchai heavy-duty engines. "Yuchai has made a great contribution to Hefei Yucheng's sales growth this year," Yu said.

(Li Xuelei/cvworld.cn)