Youngman to export 1,000 buses to US

Youngman Automobile Group, a prominent Chinese bus and coach manufacturer, has announced plans to ship 1,000 high quality German technology-based CNG buses to the US within the next 12 months.

Following the announcement, ZAP has been appointed as the exclusive importer and distributor of these buses within North America. Lotus Engineering Inc., the US-based subsidiary of Lotus Engineering of the UK, will be leading the homologation and US certification process, which is expected to take a few months to complete. The company expects to deliver its first shipment by the fourth quarter of 2008 under the ZAP brand.

“For the last 14 years we have been building luxury motor coaches based on German standards of quality in partnership with Neoplan, and we are No.1 in our domestic market,” said Mr. Pang Qingnian, Chairman and President of China Youngman Automobile Group. “Now for the last four years we have managed to penetrate into the international market, selling in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Europe and the Middle East. The US is one of the last and prize trophies for us. With Chinese-based economics and German-based quality, I believe our buses offer the best quality at half the price.”

Youngman Automobile Group and ZAP also plan to open an assembly plant to carry out the final assembly in California, creating green collar jobs for the US.

“Our meeting with ZAP and the Governor of California in October last has convinced me that this partnership goes beyond just selling buses to the US. We can leverage the skilled workforce in the US to deliver the highest quality products. We shall manufacture and produce the components for these products in China and have them assembled in the US, a business model that allows us to enjoy the best economics as well as being part of this green movement in the heart of California,” Mr. Pang added.

Depending on the final vehicle specifications, ZAP expects to price these buses between $175,000 and $230,000, typically half the price of comparable buses in the US market.

“We have spent the last six months organizing and forging a number of strategic partnership deals and really have some strong people supporting us now. In the past, we have failed to gain significant traction, but I believe we have learned and are ready to embrace these new changes. The chance to distribute this quality of buses at a competitive price would bring significant benefits to our customers and shareholders. We have already started discussions to recruit creditable distribution partners within the US, and I envision there to be significant growth potential for these buses”, said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider.

Youngman’s engineers would be working with the engineering team from Lotus Engineering to ensure the products meet the certification requirement for the US market. The team would be working on a 12-metre CNG bus as its product to hit the US market. Since this is a quality product based on German technology and engineering, officials believe the certification and homologation should be a smooth process.

Said Don Graunstadt, CEO of Lotus Engineering Inc., based in the Detroit area: “Youngman Automobile Group is a strategic partner of Lotus Engineering with a number of projects being carried out in the UK, Malaysia and China. I am proud to have a chance to assist the Youngman Group from the US. Through its relationship with Neoplan, Youngman has experience with the US homologation process. So we expect the homologation and certification for this bus will be relatively straightforward.

Youngman recently introduced advanced manufacturing technology in its facilities jointly with Neoplan of Germany. Youngman’s manufacturing is based on the ISO 9001 international standard of quality for its bus production.

The manufacturing facility in Jinhua covers an area of over four million sq. feet. Youngman employs 4,000 persons, including 700 research and development staff. With seven production facilities in process, the company expects to soon have the capacity to produce 200,000 vehicles per year, including a capacity to build 10,000 buses.

Vibracoustic to start air springs plant in China

Vibracoustic Europe will be opening its first production facility in China by the year end. Around 200 employees will then be manufacturing air springs for the Chinese commercial vehicle market in a production area covering 4,300 sq. metres in Yantai, a city with six million inhabitants in East China.

The decisive factors in favour of this location included its good connections to customers and suppliers, availability of skilled employees and its convenient position on the Yellow Sea, opposite the Korean coast. A project team is currently preparing to start up production. The capital investment amounts to around 2 million euros.

Before taking this step, the presence of Vibracoustic in the Chinese market was already established in the form of a sales office in Shanghai. “By setting up our own local production facility, we will be able to orient our activities much closer to this important market,” explained Zhichao Wang, Manager of Sales Office China.

Vibracoustic presented its latest developments in the field of air springs for buses and coaches for the third time at Busworld in Shanghai. Among other things, the company is hoping that its presence at China’s largest trade fair would enable it to establish new contacts with potential customers.

As Zhichao Wang explains, “In our capacity as technological leader in the field of air springs for buses and coaches, this trade fair offers us an excellent opportunity to inform new and existing customers about our company’s most recent developments”.

The general economic setting for this year’s trade fair was decidedly favourable as this segment of the market is characterized by an exceptionally high growth rate.

Scania foray into China’s city bus market

Scania recently delivered 25 articulated buses conforming to the Euro-4 emission requirements to a public transport company in Changzhou in the Jiangsu province of eastern China. Scania won the contract on account of its vehicle emission technology, low operating cost and long service life.

The delivery was made following the agreement between Scania and the Chinese bodybuilder Jiangsu Alfa Bus, signed in the presence of the Swedish Prime Minister and the Chinese President in June 2007.

Scania’s emission technology is based on EGR exhaust gas recirculation, which requires neither after-treatment of exhaust gases nor extra tanks with additive on-board.

Says Mr. Mats Harborn, Managing Director of Scania China: “Our convenient emission control solution appeals to Chinese customers. Getting lower exhaust emissions without the need to store and fill additives makes it easy to take a radical step towards a cleaner transport system. Scania scores high on uptime, fuel economy and service support. Combined with long-lived and durable vehicles, this is fundamental to minimise the overall operating cost – the cost per passenger-kilometre.”

In October, Scania signed a contract and is also in the process of supplying 500 city buses to Singapore, where environmental performance is a deciding factor.

China is extending its bus rapid transit (BRT) system with many projects under execution in major cities all over the country. BRT provides a quick and flexible solution to passenger transport in fast-growing regions.
In 2007, Scania and Jiangsu Alfa Bus signed an agreement to collaborate in production and marketing of buses. This is an agreement in line with Scania’s strategy of entering into partnerships that clearly define the responsibilities and obligations of the parties, according to Mr. Mats Harborn.

Alfa Bus is a privately owned company based in Jiangsu province that manufactures buses for urban traffic as well as tourist and express coaches. With backing from Scania, the company will also be responsible for marketing the Scania buses it produces.

“By partnering with Alfa Bus, we will gain increased opportunities to show the Chinese market what Scania stands for in terms of reliability, passenger comfort and low environmental impact”, adds Mr. Harborn.

Strong growth for ContiTech air springs

ContiTech Air Spring Systems was on hand at the 7th Bus World Asia held in Shanghai during March 11-14 as development and production partner for air suspension systems in the Asian commercial vehicle and bus market. At the ContiTech booth, air springs and air suspension systems for axles were showcased and details provided about the systems for cabs and driver seats.

Olaf Philipp, General Manager of the ContiTech plant in Ninghai, said that at Bus World the company tried to enhance the reputation of its brand in the Chinese market, intensified customer contacts and demonstrated its commitment to state-of-the-art technology.

For ContiTech Air Spring Systems, China is a market loaded with potential. Thanks to the upcoming major events – the Olympic Games this summer in Beijing and the Shanghai Expo in 2010 – and the resulting transportation requirements involving buses, ContiTech is expecting sales to grow in China.

Since 2005, ContiTech is producing air springs for the commercial vehicle industry in Ninghai, some 300 km from Shanghai. There are plans to expand production of air suspension systems at the Ninghai air facility.
ContiTech AG, Hanover, specialises in rubber and plastics technology in the non-tyre rubber sector. The company develops and produces functional parts, components and systems for the automotive and other important industries. It has a workforce of around 22,000. In 2006, it posted sales of more than 2.8 billion euros.

ContiTech is a division of the Continental Corporation, one of the top five automotive suppliers worldwide, with annual sales of more than 25 billion euros. As a supplier of brake systems, systems and components for the powertrain and chassis, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics, tyres and technical elastomers, the corporation contributes towards enhanced driving safety and protection of the global climate.

Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. Today, the corporation employs approximately 150,000 people at more than 200 locations in 36 countries.

Volvo launches BRT bus in China

Volvo Buses has launched its BRT Volvo 7800 bus in China. Currently, there is a strong environmental focus in China prior to the Olympic Games and later the World Expo in Shanghai. In addition, Volvo’s Chinese company Sunwin has received an order for 395 city buses for use in the Olympic city of Qingdao.

Volvo Buses launched the Volvo 7800 articulated bus at the recent Busworld in Shanghai. It is an 18-metre-long low-floor bus with a nine-litre engine mounted on the side at the front of the bus. The chassis Volvo B9SLA, with a different body, is being used with great success in the BRT system Transantiago in Chile, where Volvo has delivered more than 1,500 such buses.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a solution for traffic problems in many of the world’s cities. It involves creating bus-based transport systems using buses with high passenger capacity, bus models and stations that facilitate rapid on and off-loading and a traffic solution in which buses have priority.

Increasingly more BRT systems are being built in China, and Volvo’s new bus is suited for such traffic. It can carry 160 passengers, has four wide entries and a low floor through the entire bus to facilitate on and off loading.

Most of the chassis is delivered as assembly kits from Volvo’s central chassis plant in Borås, Sweden. Local components are added and the chassis is assembled in Sunwin’s plant in Shanghai, where the body is also produced. The body is basically the same as used in Volvo’s Chinese 12-metre buses, but the front and rear are new and the interior is fitted to suit articulated buses.

The city bus company, Sunwin Bus, is equally and jointly owned by Volvo and the Chinese partner SAIC. The company builds city buses on Volvo chassis that are sold under the Volvo brand as well as on local chassis whereby the buses are sold under the Sunwin name.

The company has now received an order for 395 Sunwin buses for delivery to Qingdao City where the Olympic sailing competitions will be decided in the autumn. The buses, which are 10.5 and 12 metres in length, will be built at the Sunwin plants in Qingdao and Shanghai and delivered in the spring.

Allison transmissions maintains leadership in China

Allison Transmission, the world’s leading supplier of commercial duty fully automatic transmissions for buses and trucks, has once again announced record transmission sales into the global city bus market. With more than 14,000 units sold into this fast-growing sector worldwide, Allison is poised to further strengthen its position as a global provider of standard and hybrid transmissions within the bus sector.

The No.1 provider of automatic transmissions in China, Allison is now the transmission of choice for Japan’s Isuzu and Hino large city transit buses and is fast becoming a dominant force in the hybrid market in Europe. Other markets are following too with significant orders in markets traditionally dominated by manual transmissions, such as Eastern Europe and Asia.



With over 10,000 Allison-equipped buses now operating in Beijing alone, the company has maintained its strong position on the Chinese market, making the most of the country’s burgeoning economy and the need for better public transport links. “China is a busy marketplace for Allison. Still No.1 in the commercial duty automatic transmission industry, our success reflects China’s overall speed of growth as well as our continued efforts towards building good relationships with end users and OEMs. We remain the primary automatic brand in China, renowned for outstanding quality, reliability and durability,” says Paula Chen, Sales Manager at Allison in China.



In the wider Asia region, Allison is bringing the benefits of automatic transmission to a largely untouched market, still almost entirely populated by manual transmission equipped buses.



“We view the Asia market as a great opportunity for Allison. With manual transmission still very much the norm, we are in an ideal position to showcase and demonstrate the benefits of our automatic solutions to a very receptive audience. Governments in this region are investing heavily on more efficient and modern transport infrastructures. Allison is well-paced to make the most of this opportunity for market growth,” explains Ashwin Gopalaswamy, Allison Marketing Manager for Asia.



Already it is the de facto choice of transmission in Japan’s Isuzu and Hino large city transit buses. Additionally, it is able to reach into territories such as South-East Asia and Australia due to its relationship with OEMs in China, Japan and Korea who export to these countries.



Allison is also experiencing particular success in India, recently acquiring an order for 500 state-of-the-art low-floor, CNG-propelled buses supplied to the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) marking Allison’s largest bus order in India to date.



Responding to environmental concerns and government legislation across the region, Europe is embracing the need for hybrid transmissions to create a cleaner, more efficient public transport system. Launched in October 2006, Allison’s hybrids are already gaining popularity following the success in several cities in Germany and Switzerland as city after city introduces the technology to its public transport infrastructure.



In addition, Allison is maintaining an active presence across Europe with its successful range of Torqmatic bus transmission products, including important sales in Bratislava, Slovakia and Warsaw, Poland. “The hybrid market continues to grow as the demand for more environmentally friendly public transport spreads throughout Europe. Our latest success brings hybrid technology to Bochum, the third city in Germany to opt for hybrid buses, and to Istanbul – an important region that opens up the gateway to North Africa and the Middle East markets. With our continued growth in Russia, this promises to be another good year for Allison Transmission in Europe”, says Manlio Alvaro, Allison Marketing Manager for Europe.



In North America, Allison’s hybrid technology has enjoyed a record-setting year. So far, the Seattle King County Metro Transit Authority has made the biggest commitment to the system, ordering 500 of the hybrid buses. In 2007, more than 400 GM-Allison hybrid-powered buses were produced, with 360 units delivered to 36 cities – the highest annual totals since deliveries began in 2003.



South America has already embraced the benefits of fully automatic transmissions, and 2007 continued the upward growth in the bus sector. “Buenos Aires has 100 per cent fitment of automatic transmissions in their city bus fleet. Productivity is key for the fleets, together with low cost of maintenance, passenger safety and availability of buses”, says Allison’s South American Marketing Manager, Cesar Farinelli.



Allison enjoys strong relationships with local OEMs such as Encava, Daimler Argentina, Agrale, Tatsa and Materfer. The relationship is equally strong with the operators. DOTA has the largest fleet in Argentina of over 2000 buses using Allison transmissions. This proves that the benefits are equally applicable to the OEM and the operator alike.



The two-mode hybrid technology in the GM-Allison Hybrid EP-System has served as the starting point for General Motors’ co-development with DaimlerChrysler and BMW Group of the two-mode hybrid system for passenger vehicles.



Allison Transmission is the premier global provider of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Its products are specified by over 250 of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors, including bus, refuse, fire, construction, distribution, military and specialty applications. Founded in 1915, the Allison business, headquartered in Indianapolis, and employs 3,600 people. Regional headquarters with dedicated support staff are located in China, the Netherlands, Brazil and Japan. With a global presence in 80 countries, Allison has over 1,500 distributor and dealer locations. It generates annual revenues in excess of $2 billion.

BRT with low-floor buses proves faster, more flexible

Metropolises like Beijing are growing fast. Traffic jams and smog are the order of the day. For two years now, traffic planners in Beijing have therefore been using Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) based on low-floor buses equipped with ZF technology.



The benefits of the traffic concept are shorter implementation time, less space requirement at bus stops and greater flexibility. And often, this goes hand in hand with lower total costs compared to systems with platform bus stops. The benefits have been well recognised by many other cities worldwide like Istanbul, Teheran, Seoul, Santiago, Barquisimeto and Sao Paulo.Beijing was the first city to put a BRT bus line into service in 2006. Since then, approximately 10 more cities like Hangzhou have joined in.



The BRT concept with low-floor buses is implemented consistently everywhere: extra bus lanes, high frequencies and short dwell times at bus stops. Almost 90 state-of-the-art low-floor articulate buses are running on the roughly 16 km long north-south line in Beijing. They transport up to 160,000 passengers to their destination every day.



The use of low-floor buses enables level access for getting on and off the bus, also known as one-level boarding. The passengers can move through the bus quickly via the central corridor which is also free from platforms and steps. Thus, in Beijing, it is possible to achieve dwell times at bus stops of only about 16 seconds. In combination with extra bus lanes on the roads, the BRT line can serve the 17 bus stops in a three-minute cycle during the rush hour even in a 50-second interval.




Only 25 months’ planning, including all construction measures, and an investment cost of only $4.6 million per km were required for line operation in China’s capital. The time, effort and expenses were rather much less, mainly because it was not necessary to plan and build space-intensive platform bus stops.
ZF provides bus manufacturers worldwide with the technology for these low-floor buses. Mercedes-Benz, Setra, MAN, Neoplan, Scania, Volvo and many others are banking on ZF’s low-floor axle systems just like King Long, Dongfeng, Huanghai and Yutong.




In addition to the RL 85 A front axle, the AV 132 and AVN 132 portal axles as well as the RL 75 EC low-floor independent wheel suspension are made by ZF.
These products not only allow for low-floor technology but also ensure better manoeuvrability and handling, more driving and ride comfort, as well as increased safety. When combined with the automatic 6-speed transmission Ecomat 4, fuel consumption and emissions can be considerably reduced.




Beijing’s traffic planners are convinced of the BRT concept with low-floor buses. This year, and in time for the Olympic Games, two additional BRT lines will be put into service, also with low-floor buses. This shows that the low-floor concept is heading in the right direction.

Busworld Asia 2008: Showcases China's technological might in bus manufacturing

- By K. Gopalakrishnan
It is no exaggeration to say that China could well emerge the bus manufacturing hub of the world. It was my second visit to Busworld Asia held in Shanghai during March 11-14, and I could see vast improvement in the quality and design of buses manufactured in China. An annual event held in Shanghai, Busworld Asia is organised by BAAV, which arranges the world’s biggest exposition for buses. The parent event is held in Kortrijk (Belgium) once every two years.

Although held every two years, the organisers of Busworld Shanghai decided to make Busworld Asia an annual event in view of the size of the Chinese market and its growth. This year’s event attracted participation of 300 companies. Coinciding with the Busworld Asia, the Asian Coach of the Week was also held. As many as 25 major bus manufacturers from China competed for this prestigious award. A team of professional journalists and technical experts judged the buses on various parameters and gave the final award for different categories. Higer, a prominent Chinese bus manufacturer, won the coveted award for the Coach Manufacturer of the Year.

China’s bus industry has been growing fast in the last few years. However, it is very difficult to get the exact production, sales and export figures. One has to rely on the information provided by the vehicle manufacturers. Based on the current production and sales of China’s 70 bus manufacturers, growth in this segment is expected to be far better than last year. Expansion of both rural and urban public bus transport as well as encouraging exports are the major growth drivers. China is in fact exporting to all major markets like the US, Russia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and even to mature markets like Europe.

Further, China’s urbanisation rate is projected to increase from 30.4 per cent in 2000 to 45 per cent by 2010. Based on the estimated one bus per 10,000 people in cities, the total city bus population will reach at least 630,000 by 2010, registering an annual increase of 30,000-40,000 buses. If replacement is also taken into account, the number of buses will increase annually by 55,000.

Taking the Beijing public transport as an example, the number of public buses increased from 17,000 vehicles in 2005 to about 23,000 now. Beijing has invested RMB3 billion for public transportation for the forthcoming Olympic Games, involving more than 4,000 public buses. The proposed World Expo in Shanghai will undoubtedly encourage development of public buses in Shanghai.

Currently, most of the vehicles plying on Chinese roads comply with the Euro-III emission norms. All public vehicles will be required to conform to the Euro-IV standards by 2010. This would stimulate upgrade and renewal of a large number of buses in urban areas. With a steady inflow of both domestic and international capital, key bus factories will continue expanding, all the while creating a stiff competitive city bus market.

Bus Rapid Transit

Beijing has successfully adopted Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a traffic concept based on low-floor buses. The benefits: shorter implementation times, less space requirements at bus stops and more flexibility. And often, this goes hand in hand with lower total costs, compared to systems with platform bus stops.

Beijing has already had China’s biggest bus fleet – over 20,000 units. To these will be added some 1,300 low-floor articulated buses to operate on a growing BRT map. Indeed, Beijing has moved quickly since making the decision to go the BRT route back in 2005. In 2006, Beijing was the first city to put a BRT bus line into service. Since then, approximately 10 more cities have joined in.

The BRT concept with low-floor buses is implemented consistently everywhere: extra bus lanes, high frequencies and short dwell times at the bus stops. Almost 90 state-of-the-art low-floor articulate buses are running on the roughly 16 km North-South line in Beijing. They transport up to 160,000 passengers to their destination everyday. The use of low-floor buses enables – as the name already suggests – level access for getting on and off the bus, also known as one-level boarding. The passengers can move through the bus quickly via the central corridor which is also free from platforms and steps. Thus, in Beijing, it is possible to achieve dwell times at bus stops of about 16 seconds. In combination with extra bus lanes on the roads, the BRT line can serve the 17 bus stops in a 3-minute cycle, during the rush hour even in a 50-second interval.

Only 25 months’ planning, involving an investment on construction of only $4.6 million per kilometre, was required for line operation in China’s capital. The time, effort and expenses made were rather low, mainly because it was not necessary to plan and build space-intensive platform bus stops.

Bus market competition hots up

The Chinese Government has decided to invest RMB100 billion for the construction of rural transportation network to help villages have access to highways in the next five years. Based on this, economy and medium-sized buses which are suitable for urban and rural transportation and buses which are 6-8 metres long and suitable for rural areas are in demand. With the rapid economic development in China and the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese bus manufacturers are preparing themselves for stiffer competition. Some like Higer, Yutong and King Long have upgraded their parts and accessories, as well as production lines. They are also keen on developing the bus export market. The other bus makers are busy adding to the variety of their products.

Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co. Ltd. expects its exports to double to 10,000 buses this year. King Long sold nearly 30,000 in 2007 compared to 24,000 units in 2006.

Competitive pricing has helped China’s models sell well in overseas markets, especially in Russia and the Middle East countries. China’s major bus makers like the Yutong Group and Zhongtong Bus Holding Co. Ltd. enjoy growing overseas demand, with their offer of 30-50 per cent lower cost as compared to models from global rivals such as Volvo AB and DaimerChrysler AG’s Mercedes-Benz. In the process, domestic competition among almost 100 manufacturers is getting intensified. China’s bus makers sold a combined 225,000 units last year compared to 191,000 units in 2006.

With Mercedes, Volvo and MAN having set high standards in product design, technology and service, Chinese bus manufacturers have constantly raised their product quality to such an extent as to prompt companies like Scania to sign contracts with many of them.

Interestingly, India could well be the next stop for Chinese bus manufacturers. Next to China, India has the largest potential for bus market expansion, given its huge population. The only Chinese company which has an Indian connection is King Long which has a tie-up with JCBL. If media reports are any indication, more tie-ups are in the offing. For instance, Ashok Leyland is reportedly working with Foton, a major bus manufacturer in China for city buses. Truck major Asia Motorworks (AMW) has been working with FAW of China for truck cabins and components. The company has already announced plans to enter the bus market and may join hands with a Chinese manufacturer for the bus project. A few more Chinese bus manufacturers are also aggressively scouting for partners.

Currently, Indian companies like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland do export buses, but they are more Vanilla products for use in public transportation in the Middle East and African countries.