Five Chinese Commercial Vehicles Enter the Global Top 15

(September 8th), AlixPartners, a business consulting company, announced the outlook for the 2010 global commercial vehicle industry. According to the report, among the 15 largest medium and heavy truck manufacturers in the world, 5 are from China, followed by Dongfeng, FAW, CNHTC, Futian and Shaanxi Auto.

The report also included Daimler, Tata, and Volvo. Among them, Daimler produced 259,000 vehicles last year, and Dongfeng and FAW, which ranked second and third respectively, produced 191,000 and 181,000 vehicles respectively.

Luo Bo, managing director of Arrow, told reporters that the main reason for the short-listing of China's autos was the large increase in China's auto sales, which was related to the large-scale decline in sales in Europe and other major international markets.

Affected by the country's 4 trillion investment plan, China's heavy truck production in 2009 was 0.99 million, an increase of 22% year-on-year, accounting for 49% of global production and becoming the only growth market in the world. Among them, heavy trucks grew at a faster rate, with sales of 640,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 13%.

As a result of increased production and lower cost sharing, Chinese automakers’ EBIT margin has increased significantly, from less than 4% in 2008 to 5%. The EBIT margin of European heavy truck manufacturers has dropped from 8% in 2008 to 3% in 2009.

Luo Man predicts that China's heavy truck production in 2010 will reach 1.1 million vehicles. "We expect the global economy to recover next year, the European and American markets will be out of the economic crisis in the next five years, but China will still maintain its leading position in China and heavy trucks."