原标题：Heavy-Duty truck manufacturers bullish on 2020 market outlook

UPDATE: Heavy-duty truck sales fell 50 percent year-on-year to 39,000 units in February, lowest since February 2016, according to preliminary data from manufacturers.

Leading heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers including FAW Jiefang, DFCV, CNHTC, Shaanxi Auto, SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan, CAMC Hualing, XCMG, Beiben and Weichai announced big sales targets for 2020 at their recent annual business conferences. Most of them were generally bullish on the market outlook for the New Year after another record 2019 that saw heavy-duty truck sales reach 1.17 million units. Following is a recap. – Editor

CNHTC targeting annual vehicle sales of 600,000 units by 2025

JINAN, Shandong – China National Heavy-Duty Truck Corp. (CNHTC), China's third largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer, is seeking to sell 600,000 vehicles annually by 2025.

The target was announced by Tan Xuguang, chairman and party secretary of CNHTC as well as chairman and party secretary of parent company Shandong Heavy Industry Group (SHIG) at CNTHC's 2020 Business Conference held on November 24 in Jinan, where the company is headquartered.

"The strategic target for CNHTC before 2025 is 'three 20,000 units'," said Tan. "Sales of 200,000 heavy-duty trucks, sales of 200,000 medium and light trucks and sales of 200,000 light vans."

In order to achieve these targets, CNHTC plans to make positive efforts in four areas, according to Tan.

First, it plans to offer more competitive high-end products by putting into play its resources advantages. SHIG is expected to provide more superior resources for CNHTC following the alliance of the two companies, CNHTC will continue to pour investment into R&D to transform itself from a sales & marketing driven company to a product and technology driven company, and push ahead its point order mechanism for engines, transmissions and axles that will benefit sales.

Second, it plans to focus on a customer-centric model and continue to optimize commercial policies and response mechanism.

"The future of the truck market is no longer what it was 20 years ago," said Tan. "Annual sales of one million heavy-duty trucks represent a threshold. But we still have about 3-5 years of opportunities as trucks are upgraded to China 6 emissions standards. This will be won by the product. Competition used to be on who could carry more, but it now hinges on who runs faster and uses less fuel. Our commercial policies must adapt to the changing market demands."

Third, it plans to optimize its sales & marketing network to create an integrated ecosystem. About 10 percent of the so-called "zombie" channels will be eliminated while 15 percent of superior channels will be brought in.

Last but not least, establish an efficient, agile and complete service system through measures such as increasing service stations in western and weak operating regions to shorten service radius and increase promptness, optimize service model and policies, increase parts warehousing capabilities and invest resources into regions where growth potential are high.

"We are going to guide our service partners to move into the western regions where high-speed rail lengths are high. Shandong Province is our glass ceiling. We have to be close to where the market is," Tan said.

Reflecting on 2019, Tan said that CNHTC did four things: breakthrough in corporate reform; feduced costs and increase efficiencies through survival of the fittest tactics, resulting in 40 percent reduction in logistics costs and consolidation of about 4,500 suppliers; transformed from a price-driven company to a product driven company; and optimized its employee ecosystem.

Shaanxi Auto wants to sell 300,000 trucks a year by 2025

XI'AN, Shaanxi – Shaanxi Auto has set a strategic target to sell 300,000 heavy-duty trucks a year by 2025, according to Tan Xuguang, chairman of Shaanxi Auto as well as chairmen of parent company Shandong Heavy Industry Group (SHIG) and Weichai Power.

Tan made the comments at Shaanxi Auto's 2020 Business Conference here on November 28.

Yuan Hongming, chairman of Shaanxi Auto Holding and president of Shaanxi Auto, declared at the event that his company plans to sell 180,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020.

"With a strong foundation achieved in 2018 and 2019, we are confident in our sales target for 2020," said Yuan.

Shaanxi Auto is expected to sell about 135,000 civilian heavy-duty trucks this year, for a market share of 14.5 percent.

Yuan forecasted at the event that heavy-duty truck sales in China in 2020 will remain above 1 million units with the China 3 emissions standards trade up market an important growth driver.

"Through several years of focusing on strong products, Shaanxi Auto's product platform has been completed, including the much welcomed X5000 and China 6 natural gas products," said Yuan. "But there remain regional markets for us to break into. Shaanxi Auto must capitalize on the market opportunities provided by the China 3 emissions standards upgrade and continue to strengthen our product competitiveness."

The company has a target to sell 150,000 civilian heavy-duty trucks in 2020, or 83 percent of total sales target.

It will launch the X6000 high-end truck and increase supply for the X5000 in the long-distance logistics market. It also plans to upgrade its M and X series dump trucks to solidify its leadership in that segment. It received 10,000 orders for its China 6 natural gas heavy-duty trucks within two months this year and wants to further benefit from the China 6 emissions standards upgrade.

Wechai targets sales of 1 million engines in 2020, annual revenues of ¥1 trillion by 2030

XI'AN, Shaanxi – Weichai Power, China's leading diesel engine manufacturer, wants to sell one million engines in 2020 and achieve annual revenues of ¥1 trillion by 2030.

The ambitious plans were announced by the company at its 2020 Business Conference held here on November 30.

The one million sales target in 2020 includes 450,000 heavy-duty engines, building on about 400,000 units that Weichai will have sold in 2019. In addition, Weichai wants to sell one million units of off-road engines for industrial applications.

In 2019, the 400,000 heavy-diesel engines to be sold are expected to account for nearly two-thirds of the heavy-duty truck engine market.

"The year 2020 will be the first key point of our 2020-2030 strategy," said Feng Gang, vice president of Weichai Power. "We face new challenges but also huge historical opportunities. We have already come up with a target to sell one million road engines and one million off-road engines building on our next generation N+H+M high-end engine platforms as well as our traditional product range."

The company expects heavy-duty truck sales to reach 1.15 million units this year and fall only slightly to 1.1 million units in 2020.

Based on this expectation, it has set a target to achieve annual revenues of $100 billion by 2025 and ¥1 trillion by 2030, with core business ranking among the top three globally and solidify its position within the top 100 among global 500 companies.

FAW Jiefang wants to sell 300,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks in 2020

NANCHANG, Jiangxi – That was the target announced at the 2020 Business Conference held on December 12 here by China's leading medium and heavy-duty truck manufacturer.

FAW Jiefang, China's prerenal leader in medium and heavy-duty truck sales for three consecutive years since 2016 and the country's top selling heavy-duty truck manufacturer for four years since 2015, wants medium and heavy-duty truck sales to account for a quarter of the segment. That would mean a total market size of 1.2 million units.

The company, which also owns the world's top selling truck brand in Jiefang for two consecutive years, sold 326,000 vehicles in the first 11 months of 2019, including 277,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks. It was No. 1 in tractor and cargo truck sales, moved up a spot in dump truck sales and was the top growth gainer in light truck sales. It expects total medium and heavy-duty truck sales in 2019 to exceed 280,000 units, which means the 2020 sales target would represent a 7 percent year-on-year growth.

In order to reach realize its 300,000-unit sales target, FAW Jiefang announced a "232" tactic for 2020.

First, solidify its leadership position in tractors and cargo trucks. It plans to sell 170,000 tractors in 2020 focused on the natural gas, sand aggregate, hazardous material transport and AMT sub-segments, and sell 75,000 cargo trucks banking on new products such as the 2020 model year of the J6L Leader edition and upgraded edition of the Dragon VH.

Second, expand its coverage in the dump truck and special-purpose vehicle segments and in the western markets. In 2020, it plans to sell 35,000 dump trucks, 20,000 special-purpose vehicles and 60,000 trucks dedicated to the western markets.

Third, it plans to speed up coverage of the J7 and overseas sales. It wants to sell 7,000 J7s in 2020 focused on the express delivery, hazardous material and cold chain segments, through creating five logistics companies each with a fleet of 100 J7s and four regional markets each with 1,000 J7s. For the overseas markets, it plans to export 13,000 trucks.

FAW Jiefang will continue to aim for the ultimate goal of "No. 1 in China, world class" in 2020 and implement nine empowerment plans, according to Wang Zhicai, assistant to president and head of sales of FAW Jiefang. Those nine empowerment plans are: market insight, online sales & marketing, channel management, VIP customer development, customer management, communications and promotion, service transformation, aftermarket added value and telematics operation.

The year 2020 will also be a big year for FAW Jiefang in terms of new energy vehicles. It is expected to launch eight variants of the J6L electric medium truck chassis, two variants of electric J6L medium logistics vehicles and two variants of electric JH6/J6P heavy-duty dump trucks, as well as several hybrid and fuel cell trucks.

A total of 49 vehicles, 8 engines, 4 transmissions, 3 axles were exhibited at the conference.

Hu Hanjie

Hu Hanjie, chairman of FAW Jiefang, told the media in an interview that his company's longer-term target is to become the No.1 commercial vehicle manufacturer in the industry in 2025, with total vehicle sales of 550,000 units, sales revenues of ¥150 billion and profit before tax of ¥10 billion. It also wants its share in the NEV market to be higher than that in the traditional vehicle market by then and become a global leading commercial vehicle brand.

FAW Jiefang will therefore focus on the five major sub-brands of J7, JH6, J6, V and J6F, as well as introduce the JE new energy sub-brand and FAW brand for overseas, according to Hu.

XCMG sets 2020 heavy-duty truck sales target at 30,000 units

WUHAN – Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), which moved into the No. 9 spot in the ranking of top heavy-duty truck manufacturers by volume in China, plans to sell 30,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020.

The target was announced at its 2020 Business Conference in Wuhan on December 24, following a year in which sales are expected to reach 21,600 units, up about 26 percent from 2018, according to Luo Donghai, vice president of XCMG and president and party secretary of the company's Automotive Business Division.

XCMG ranked No. 1 in terms of sales growth among the top 10 heavy-duty truck manufacturers, as sales revenues grew 38 percent to ¥7.01 billion. XCMG had cracked into the top 10 in 2018 and moved up another spot in 2019, which marked the 11thyear since XCMG moved into heavy-duty truck production. In 2017 it sold more than 10,000 heavy-duty trucks for the first time ever,

Luo predicted that heavy-duty truck sales in 2020 will fall slightly to about 1.05 million units considering the current economic and policy environment as well as past experience and future product mix trends.

"Demand will remain stable driven by mainstream models buoyed by the greater macro economy, while policy wise, favorable factors outweigh unfavorable ones but it will be tough to offset negative effects from the economic downturn," said Luo.

Luo was confident that China's GDP will surpass that of the U.S. around 2030, which provides a foundation for stable and healthy development of all industries including the heavy-duty truck segment.

Under this backdrop, XCMG has set a sales target of 30,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020, striving for 33,000 units and sales revenues of ¥10 billion.

To do so, XCMG will focus on drivers including better corporate mechanism, products, channel, aftersales, business model, financing and brand. In the next three years, it plans to increase the number of dealerships from the current 220 to 380 and have online sales account for about 10-30 percent of total sales.

Beiben wants to sell 15,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020

BAOTOU, Inner Mongolia – Beiben Heavy-Duty Truck, which fell out of the top 10 ranking in heavy-duty truck sales this year, wants to sell 15,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020.

The target was announced at the company's 2020 Business Conference held here on December 12.

It includes 13,400 units of civilian products for the domestic market and 1,600 units for export and military applications.

The company sold more than 10,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2019 as of December 12, according to Fan Zhiping, party secretary and chairman of Beiben, who announced the 2020 targets. It turned around its product mix to match that of the overall market, with tractor sales up 90.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for 56 percent of total sales. It sold 2,200 trucks in the Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province coal transport market, and sales in the Eastern China logistics segment were up 21.75 percent to 2,600 units.

Beiben was able to rebound a bit in 2019 thanks to several initiatives implemented during the year, according to Fan.

First, it completed a ¥4 billion debt to equity swap and a new investment of ¥2 billion, giving it a healthier financial condition.

Second, it readjusted and upgraded its product mix toward a more durable, safer, more affordable, comfortable and smarter lineup. It reduced the dead-weight of its tractors to within 8.125 tons and launched China 6 emissions standards natural gas tractors, with sale exceeding 1,000 units.

Third, it offered more support for its customers in service and financing. Financing support rate for end user sales increased from 20 percent to 46 percent.

Guo Pingxiao, president and deputy party secretary of Beiben, said at the event the company will introduce six measures to reach its sales target for 2020: adjust sales & marketing tactics, actively expand new energy vehicle markets, improve network, elevate market promotion capabilities, improve service assurance capabilities and elevate spare parts assurance.

Fan emphasized that Beiben will focus on product competitiveness, team combat effectiveness, precision management and service targets. In 2020, Beiben will introduce 30 core products including China 5 emissions fuel vehicles and China 6 emissions natural gas vehicles.

DFCV eyeing sales of 220,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks in 2020

The plan was announced at DFCV's 2020 Annual Dealership Conference held here on December 20.

DFCV expects its medium and heavy-duty truck sales to reach 186,000 units in 2019, hitting another historical high. The company launched new products including the Kinrun KR and Kinland KL part of what the company claims as the most comprehensive product platform covering China 6 emissions standards.

The company was No. 2 behind FAW Jiefang in heavy-duty truck sales rankings for the year but was No. 1 for a few months during the year.

SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan wants to sell a quarter more HDTs in 2020 than in 2019

BO'AO, Hainan – SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan, China's sixth largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer by sales, has set a sales target of 72,000 units for 2020, up nearly a quarter from 2019.

The company announced the sales target at its 2020 Sales & Marketing Business Conference held here on January 6.

In 2019, SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan sold 58,077 heavy-duty trucks, up 5 percent year-on-year. Sales of tractors topped the 10,000-unit mark for the first time, gushing 67.3 percent to 11,669 units, accounting for about 2.4 percent of that segment. Sales of cargo trucks grew 41.7 percent to 7,668 units, accounting for 3.5 percent of that segment. Hongyan dump trucks accounted for a fifth of that segment, including sales of 23,966 units of the 8X4 dump truck. Sales of mixing trucks ballooned 165 percent to 5,400 units, leading the segment in terms of growth.

According to Yang Peiqiang, vice president of SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan, China's total heavy-duty truck sales in 2019 reached a record 1.17 million units. Sales of tractors grew 19 percent to 477,057 units, those of trucks fell 4.7 percent to 221,340 units, while those of dump trucks dropped 19.5 percent to 188,769 units.

In terms of different segments of the market, the company did well in tractors including sand aggregate and port transport as well as long-haul trucking and coal transport. In the cargo truck segment, it performed well in passenger car and commercial concrete transport and showed a lot of potential in mid- to short-range transport and express delivery logistics. In the dump truck segment, it performed well in muck, sand aggregate, coal transport and had room for improvement in engineering construction and mine mouth applications.

Yang expects heavy-duty truck sales to reach 1.05 million units in 2020 due to several factors. First, China will allocate ¥2.7 trillion in infrastructure investment in 2020. Second, the elimination of China 3 emissions vehicles and replacement of port tractors will provide an additional demand for about 100,000-150,000 trucks, including about 20,000 units alone for port tractors replacement in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Third, the clamp down on lover loading and reduced single vehicle power will mean additional demand for 30,000-50,000 units, as light weighting and standardized loading continue to become key development factors in the market. Fourth, the proportion of natural gas trucks is expected to grow more than 13 percent due to the right of way economic regulations, meaning additional volume of 30,000-40,000 units. Fifth, multi-modal transport and tolls based on axles will change product mix.

As such, SAIC-IVECO-Hongyan has set a sales target of 72,000 heavy-duty trucks this year, including 69,000 units in the domestic market and 3,000 units exported. It plans to sell 40,600 engineering vehicles and 21,000 tractors, accounting for a fifth and 4.6 percent of the two segments, respectively. In the special-purpose vehicle segment, it will focus on mixing trucks, refrigeration trucks, environmental sanitation trucks and firetrucks.

The company will launch 158 variants of new products in 2020, put in quantity operation of its 5G+L4 smart trucks, begin development of its 7 th generation global truck model, solidify its market position in the Yangtz River Delta Region, compete in the Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei markets and protect its market share in the southwest region, expand special-purpose vehicles and export markets.

CAMC Hualing wants to sell 35,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020

WUXI, Jiangsu – CAMC Hualing, China's 10 th largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer by sales, wants to sell 35,000 heavy-duty trucks in 2020, up more than 35 percent from 2019.

The bullish plan was announced by Liu Hanru, party secretary and chairman of CAMC Hualing at the company's 2020 Business Conference held here on January 7.

Despite a downward pressure from both the global and Chinese economy and unstable factors in the global markets, Liu doesn't expect China's commercial vehicle market to experience a huge drop in 2020.

"Many opportunities remain in China's heavy-duty truck market in 2020 and we are optimistic about the market," said Liu.

CAMC Hualing's goal, therefore, is to ensure sales of 30,000 heavy-duty trucks and strive for 35,000 units. Individual segment targets include 10,000-12,000 tractors, 12,000-15,000 mixing trucks, 6,000-8,000 dump and muck trucks, and 2,000 cargo trucks, according to Ge Xiaosheng, assistant to president of CAMC Hualing.

CAMC Hualing will focus on the promotion of six major product types in 2020: tractors for logisitics, port tractors, lightweight mixing trucks, lightweight semi-trailers, city muck trucks and other segment vehicles.

In terms of efforts to grow regional markets, CAMC Hualing will focus on four key areas: solidify its southern market leadership, expand investment in Southwest and mid-South markets, expand channel and aftersales footprint in Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi markets with longer-term potential, and seize opportunities provided with the expansion of the Xiong'an New Area.

Last year, CAMC Hualing received 20,184 orders for heavy-duty trucks, down 7.2 percent. But special-purpose vehicle orders grew 10.7 percent to 10,563 units.

Even though it was a tough year overall for CAMC Hualing, it did achieve some positive results, according to Ge. First, mix trucks continue to lead the segment. Second, the Hanma H9 low-floor tractor successfully entered the market. Third, sales of Hanma H7 tractor grew rapidly. Fourth, city muck truck sales saw significant growth. Fifth, battery electric heavy-duty truck sales progressed smoothly. And sixth, natural gas truck sales grew significantly.

In particular, CAMC Hualing's battery swappable electric heavy-duty truck, the first of its kind in China, entered the Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Liu told the media in an interview that tractors with engine horsepower of above 500 will not become mainstream products in China, rather those with engine horsepower of 400-480 or 400-500 will become mainstream products.

"The market has overestimated demand for 500 hp and above heavy-duty trucks," said Liu. "Because of clamp down on overloading, sales of engines of 13L and above have drastically fell, and was pretty apparent in Q4 2019. There is no need to equip heavy-duty trucks with huge displacement engines because they have high energy consumption, are heavy, costly and not really suitable for end customers."

Liu believes that mainstream powertrain for China's heavy-duty trucks will be dominated by 9L, 11L and those below 13L and 500 hp.

This article appeared in the January 2020 (Vol.15, No.1) issue of China Automotive Review (CAR), our monthly publication in English exclusively focused on the Chinese auto industry. If you would like to read this information-packed monthly report on the Chinese automotive market (in PDF format on a paid basis), please send your subion to us at: sub@cbuauto.com.cn

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