If I had not visited nearly one third of local offices of Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. (Yuchai Machinery), it would be difficult to realize that Yuchai Machinery often promotes its products in light of local conditions, based on requirements of different vehicle types, industries and policies. In Jiangsu, a major province of transportation, Yuchai Machinery has popularized its engines and enhanced its brand popularity by developing new vehicle customers in the context of the rapid development of the logistics and express delivery industries and the steady replacement of engineering vehicles.

Extend engine operations to the express delivery industry

2014 is a smooth year to Liu Sheng, general manager of Suzhou Liujie Automotive Sales Service Co., Ltd. (Suzhou Liujie) "Though it is less than one year since we began to supply trucks to express delivery customers, the sales volume of trucks for express delivery customers has exceeded the annual sales volume in 2013." And the ratio of Yuchai engines used by express delivery customers reached 90 percent.

Suzhou Liujie is a distributor of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Co., Ltd. (DFLZ) in Suzhou. This year, they seized the opportunity of the west movement of the express delivery industry to Shanghai to acquire stacks of orders from the express delivery industry which has grown explosively in recent years and vigorously popularize Yuchai engines. Thanks to Yuchai's persistently good reputation among customers, Yuchai engines were popularized smoothly.

Suzhou Liujie has been DFLZ's distributor for many years. With the number of DFLZ's vehicles powered by Yuchai engines grew, Liu has become increasingly familiar with Yuchai engines. "Yuchai is a mature brand highly recognized by our customers in Suzhou," he said, telling the reporter that a recent field survey conducted by DFLZ proved that. DFLZ has sent staff to detect the per-100-kilometers fuel consumption of trucks including those powered by Yuchai engines on the north and south lines in winters and summers. Some customers of DFLZ mistakenly had considered Yuchai engines to be fuel-consuming before, but the test results showed that three trucks powered by Yuchai engines save fuel by about 1 liter per 100 kilometers compared to trucks powered by engines of other brands.

Liu also acclaimed Yuchai's service level. He recollected that a customer called to say a fully-loaded truck broke down near Xuzhou when he was having a meal on the third day of the lunar year. "Our service covered Shanghai then, so I immediately called Engineer Yao, service manager of Yuchai Shanghai Office. He asked me to relax, promised to handle it and resolved the problem in only two hours. Owned by Jiangsu Bus Transport Company, the truck should be repaired by Yuchai Shanghai Office. I feel Yuchai has strong coordination ability. Whenever Yuchai engines need to be maintained, Yuchai will respond fast by sending maintainers immediately.

Liu assured customers the quality of Yuchai engines. "I said something happy to customers: if you can find any problem in Yuchai engines, you will win the lottery. I dare say so as a distributor, let alone Yuchai. To tell the truth, we have never compensated customers due to Yuchai engines' quality problems," he said.

Match engineering vehicles in Nanjing

To Zhao Mingde, chairman of Nanjing Dongning Automotive Sales Service Co., Ltd. (Dongning), an advantage of Yuchai engines is that they suit engineering vehicles well. "Yuchai engines meet the requirements of engineering vehicles such as low speed, large torque and powerful start. We basically use Yuchai engines in order to increase engineering vehicles in Jiangsu. We expect engineering vehicle sales to be 200 units this year compared to tens of units in each of the previous years.

As Dongfeng Motor Corporation's distributor in Nanjing, Dongning mainly deals in highway trucks and sold 850 units this year. "Nanjing's engineering vehicle demand is robust," Zhao told the reporter. "According to a source with the Jiangsu Muck Disposal Association, a new muck company is required to have 20 muck transporters. As muck transporters have certain useful lives, muck companies have to update a lot of muck transporters annually. Thus, up to over 1,000 engineering vehicles are sold annually in Jiangsu," he said. Based on market demand, the company is preparing to establish a branch to promote engineering vehicles. The reporter saw an "urban intelligent environmental muck transport" of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Company powered by Yuchai's YC6MK350-40 engine on show, which is a model to be promoted vigorously in the next period.

To improve service quality and promote overall sales, Dongning has purchased 20 mu of land for the new 4S store in Zhenjiang neighboring Nanjing, and prepared to move there and establish a core spare parts warehouse with Yuchai Machinery to reduce intermediate links of spare parts use and facilitate terminal customers. Also, the company has prepared to set service vehicles and place common wearing parts. In case of any problem with customers' vehicles, the service vehicles will hurry to the site for rush repair.

In terms of heavy-duty trucks, Dongning is losing no time in promoting Yuchai engines, too. "We used to promote imported engines, but they are of high prices, now we have gradually shifted to domestic-branded Yuchai engines. With high popularity, Yuchai-powered Dongfeng vehicles will have strong market competitiveness," said Zhao.

Win recognition from non-Dongfeng customers

"I had known little about Yuchai engines before, but my knowledge of Yuchai engines increased as Foton Daimler began to use Yuchai engines, we have sold a lot of heavy-duty trucks powered by Yuchai engines since last year," said Lyu Ning, general manager of Nanjing Qingqi Automotive Sales Co., Ltd. (Qingqi) "In my original impression, Yuchai engines are delicate, fuel-conserving and environmentally-friendly," he thought Yuchai engines probably do not fit engineering vehicles due to high technology degree at first, "I felt Yuchai engines are delicate, fuel-conserving and high-speed engines, and engineering vehicles need low-speed and large-torque engines, but our view changed after Foton Daimler used Yuchai engines. Now overall customer response is positive, especially fuel consumption and power."

Qingqi has used over 100 Yuchai engines over the past years and Lyu Ning has become increasingly familiar with Yuchai. "Yuchai engines are pretty good and may be rated as a top domestic brand. Non-Dongfeng customers used to know little about Yuchai engines and few used Yuchai engines, but recognized Yuchai engines after use. Our Foton Daimler-branded highway vehicles and logistics transporters are also powered by Yuchai engines, about which customers feel good," he told the reporter he feels good about services and spare parts, too. As Yuchai's spare parts warehouse is nearby, the company can conveniently enjoy Yuchai's considerate services. "It is easy to communicate with Yuchai's staff. If you put forward problems in time, they will accept your opinions, make improvement and meet customer demands to the full in future product innovation.

(Liu Wen/cnautonews.com)