Sinotruk prepares to move up a gear on Belt and Road

One of China’s top heavy vehicle manufacturers, Sinotruk has vowed to keep forging new paths into the international market along the Belt and Road, according to a senior spokesperson at the company.

The comments were made by Li Gonghai to reporters from South, Southeast and Central Asia during a fact-finding trip and tour of the manufacturer’s headquarters and production line in Jinan, capital city of Shandong province, on July 4.

Li said that Sinotruk is making great strides in the overseas market, particularly in the emerging economies of Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

In Central Asia alone, since 2011 the company has sold more than 8,000 heavy duty trucks in Kazakhstan, exported some 2,000 vehicles to Uzbekistan, and more than 3,000 of its HOWO heavy trucks are currently used in Turkmenistan.

Apart from vehicle sales and exports into Central Asia, Sinotruk also wants to develop local assembly lines in the region, particularly in Kazakhstan. The company is currently working to establish the assembly lines, with a memorandum of understanding being signed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Kazakhstan Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev during a visit to the oil-rich nation in December 2014.

Established in 1956, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, the parent company of Sinotruk, is today China’s third largest truck manufacturer. In 2007, Sinotruk went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a red chip company – a company based in the Chinese mainland that is incorporated internationally.

In keeping with China’s opening-up, Sinotruk agreed a strategic partnership with German commercial vehicle and heavy duty parts manufacturer MAN, in 2009, consolidating the company’s intention to compete in the international market.

In 2013, as the Belt and Road Initiative was introduced, Sinotruk was able to use its technological advantages to establish its first plant outside of China, construction a manufacturing base in Lages, Brazil at a cost of $300 million.

Li told the reporters that Sinotruk intends to continue to push its international development in line with the national Belt and Road strategy, so as to increase cooperation, customize sales and marketing strategies among countries, and improve financing and after-sales service networks.

A cab is lowered onto a heavy duty vehicle at Sinotruk’s Jinan assembly line on July 3. [Photo/China Daily]

A heavy duty truck undergoes final checks before rolling off the production line at Sinotruck’s manufacturing base in Jinan, Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]  

Reporters from South, Southeast and Central Asia tour an exhibition hall during their visit to Sinotruck’s headquarters and manufacturing base on July 3. [Photo/China Daily]