Volvo to be first company in China to import remanufactured engine

The remanufactured engine to be imported by Volvo Construction Equipment (China) will arrive in the country in late September, Chen Chaoping, the company's head of uptime and parts said in a media interview on Thursday.

The company will be the first to perform such an import in China. This move was made possible by the higher-level opening-up measures for China's free trade zones and free ports that the State Council released in late June. According to the measures, pilot programs for importing remanufactured products will be carried out in the FTZs or free ports.

Prior to the release of the new policies, used road equipment and engines were defined as old mechanical and electrical equipment and are banned from being imported into China.

The imported engine used in articulated trucks was remanufactured by Volvo CE's factory in Sweden. Compared to a new product of the same kind, the remanufactured engine represents cost savings of 50 percent and will result in a 60 percent reduction in energy consumption. The amount of materials used and emissions of air pollutants are also 70 and 80 percent lesser respectively.

Moreover, the quality of the remanufactured engine is of the same or even higher quality than a brand new product of the same model as more advanced technologies have be applied to the remanufactured version, he added.

Chen noted that the import cost is also 30 to 40 percent lower than a brand new engine. In general, the client will only spend 60 percent of the budget for a new product to acquire a remanufactured one.

Lu Qixing, deputy head of the commission of commerce for Pudong New Area, said remanufacturing can help to reduce carbon emission, which can facilitate the green and high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Remanufacturing is the process in which a previously sold, leased, used or worn product is turned into a newly produced one with a quality that is equivalent to or better than the previous version.

According to Fortune Business Insight, the size of the global automotive remanufacturing market was $60.78 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $65.49 billion this year. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.9 percent between 2023 and 2030 to hit $126.42 billion by 2030.

"The green light given to imports of remanufactured machines, which is first experimented in the Shanghai FTZ, has reflected the local government's continued efforts in improving the local business environment and the progress made in China's ongoing institutional opening-up. We are thus more confident to continue our investment in the Chinese market," said Chen.