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Yuchai Engines Goes Overseas Markets

As the leading engines manufacturer, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yuchai”) put up an eye-catching performance in the first quarter of this year: 125,000 engines in total were manufactured and sold from January to March, a year-on-year increase of 35%. The steady growth of sales roots in the wisdom and courage of Yuchai in dealing with pressures.

At the recent 2017 China Beijing International Exhibition on Buses, Trucks & Components (hereinafter referred to as “the Exhibition”), Yuchai displayed its latest market-oriented main products, including Euro VI engines, engines for 6-meter below buses, hybrid power dedicated engines, pure electric systems, large parallel hybrid powertrain assembly and other products, showing the strongest voice of Yuchai to the bus market.

Overseas market is in a growing momentum

Looking for a new way is better than head-to-head competition in the fierce market. Fan Chaoqun, Marketing Director of Yuchai bus engines, told the reporter of China Industry News at the Exhibition that “The domestic commercial bus demand fell sharply, but in this instance, Yuchai had already prepared well. Our overseas orders this year can catch up on the loss of domestic market to a certain extent.” In the first four months of this year, Yuchai sold 21,000 bus engines for commercial use, declining more than 6,000 units over the last year. It was expected that the sales can reach 30,000 units till this May. Decreased amount of Yuchai engines was basically in line with the whole market trend due to the dramatic drop of bus market demand. However, market veteran Fan Chaoqun, instead of been surprised by this depression, took more into his account.

According to Fan Chaoqun, overseas orders of Yuchai are experiencing a gradual increase. Markets in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries have generated decent orders and 5,000 odd Yuchai engines were sold in these foreign countries in the first five months of this year. Saudi Arabia market now shows a great potential, so orders in there are expected to exceed 4,000 units if oil prices go up further. In light of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, China has tied an investment relation with Myanmar, by which 2,200 Yuchai engines have been ordered in this new market, and a follow-up order of 2,000 engines will come into being. At present, large-amount overseas orders of Yuchai are in firm control. Therefore, it is estimated that the overseas sales of Yuchai bus engines will reach 10,000 units, while that in the domestic market is expected to be 76,000 units.

So far, by leveraging the "Belt and Road" Initiative, Yuchai has carried out full-swing products transformation and upgrading, and is managing to go global for more market segments in a vaster field and making new breakthroughs. Exported engines in the first quarter of this year totaled nearly 12,000 units, among which 61.8% were sold to Southeast Asia, 12% were to Latin America, with a year-on-year growth of 83.9%, and the growth rate in Western Asia amounted to 265.8%. In Africa, Yuchai vehicle engines have stepped into many countries batch by batch with a 73.3% increase in year-on-year terms. West Africa, for example, witnessed 189.4% rise of general engines compared with the previous year. As of now, the export orders of Yuchai engines in May exceeded 5,200 units, for the first time that Yuchai witnessed a monthly sales volume over 5,000 units in nearly six years.

As for products usage, engines for trucks and buses accounted for the majority in export orders. When Vietnam upgraded emission standards, the export to Vietnam won a rapid recovery, becoming a main driving force of exported truck engines; while bus engines, entering Saudi Arabia and Kuwait by lot size, made a significant breakthrough in the engines market for pilgrimage vehicles in Saudi Arabia. In the next step, Yuchai will seize the strategic opportunities brought by the "Belt and Road" Initiative to perfect its overseas market layout and accelerate the pace of internationalization.

Tap into the engine market for 6-meter below light bus

Light bus is another significant domain with potential growth for engine manufacturers. According to Fan Chaoqun, in the first four months of this year, nationwide markets, except the northwest one kept a fast-growing sales volume, all showed slowdown declining in varying degrees over the same period of last year. But the whole market didn't show a sign of recovery in the first four months, so does in May. As light bus and commercial vehicle market is undergoing all kinds of risks and infightings, against this backdrop, market of light buses below six meters becomes the most coveted one for engine manufacturers. So it’s no wonder that Yuchai engines for commercial bus is confronting with more challenges and opportunities in 2017.

From the several classic products Yuchai exhibited, engines with emission standards of "Euro VI" for 6 meters below bus can give people more room for imagination and make up the losses caused by the descending demand of pure electric cars in this year.

Since 2013, Yuchai has put efforts on the layout of the engine market of light vehicles, and carried out several high-performance precise engines including YC4FA, YC4FB, YC4S and YC4EG in the next four years. YC4Y22-15050 bus engine at this exhibition equipped with 2.2L displacement and power coverage from 120-150Hp can reach the maximum torque 350N.m within the speed range of 1,600-2,400, boasting the capacity of upgraded Euro VI engines. In addition to the comfort like gasoline engines, by adopting four valves, VNT turbocharger, high-strength engine body of double spiral airway with stiffener, forging crankshaft and 300,000km+ B10 life, this engine also has the tractive performance and reliability of diesel engines.

According to the analysis of Fan Chaoqun, this year, Yuchai will drive the development of the terminal market of 6-8 meters light bus market, especially in the two or three tier cities. Besides, tourist market is also a growth point with potentials. Although YC4G series engines currently occupy the 8 meters bus market, with the launch of Euro VI engines, some of the existing hot-sale products may gradually withdraw from the market in the future. Yuchai will continue to focus on the market of 6 meters below buses.

Hybrid powertrain technology grabs the market

Fan Chaoqun asserted that “In the future, alongside the small-scale demand of about 40,000-50,000 buses, what Yuchai can do is to go after and remain a stable market share and keep exploring new areas. On one hand, we will beforehand set foot in the clean-energy vehicle market, where natural gas vehicles and urban light rails will play a vital part. Therefore, this market needs to be reckoned with. On the other hand, we have developed a pure electric system and will offer follow-up supporting components for sale such as motors.”

Compared with the sales volume of 18,000 engines in 2016, he anticipated that domestic hybrid engines will usher in a better turnaround, maybe mounting up to 20,000 units. Yuchai took up 70% of clean-energy engine market share last year, and it can sell 15,000 hybrid engines this year if keeping an unabated market share.

Tan Xuefeng, Deputy General Manager of Engine Development Department of Yuchai, indicated that “Yuchai is confident in the clean-energy engine market for its natural superiority of having the best expertise about engines.” Besides, Yuchai’s confidence also comes from its hybrid powertrain technology strength. Since Yuchai keeps the development of engines in step with that of motors, it excels its counterparts in powertrain technology.

For example, YC6J diesel-electric large parallel hybrid powertrain adopts international mainstream technologies: engine + clutch + motor + AMT single-axle parallel design; with compact structure, high strength and light weight; can handle complex road conditions like ramp and freeway and meet the requirement of large torque for vehicle starting; equipped with standard automatic mechanical transmission (AMT) and provides personalized configuration schemes. YC4EGN middle-sized series-parallel gas-electric hybrid powertrain is coaxial-integration designed of engine + FISG motor + drive motor; dual-motor coaxial scheme caters for the road congestion of low-speed and frequent-brake urban bus; ultrathin, small- inertia and fast-acceleration flywheels replace traditional flywheels and flywheel covers; high-integrated engine and FISG motor has a compact structure and can meet the installation requirements of rear-mounted engine buses at different lengths.

It is learned that Yuchai hybrid powertrain system features in five aspects: first, motor has high feedback efficiency, with a fuel saving rate exceeding 40% by the use of energy-saving electric accessories and engine standard electronic fan; second, the control system has automatic identification technology on urban congestion, frequent stop-start operation and other complex operation, so as to improve the fuel saving rate and reduce pollutant emissions; third, it boasts many functions, such as electric-only mode, engine-only mode, hybrid drive mode, automatic engine start and stop, limp home mode, battery self-balancing and non-equilibrium control mode; fourth, Yuchai has a better understanding of engines, thus providing a more comprehensive engine protection; fifth, incomparable advantages of Yuchai generator service network made the remote terminal control function realized.

High-end Euro VI products will debut in the second half of this year

Since engine manufacturers all give priority to constant innovation in marketing expansion, Yuchai is no exception. 2017 acts as a key year for Yuchai to carry out transformation and innovation and improve quality and efficiency, as well as a year of the greatest concern on products quality. In the words of Yan Ping, Chairman of Yuchai, the development of Euro VI and T4 is the No.1 project of Yuchai, and is a crucial step for Yuchai to rank among international advanced enterprises. Yuchai “Euro VI” series products have geared up for the debut in the latter half of this year, according to Tan Xunfeng.

He said that enterprises producing “Euro VI” products now all have enabled the brand-new producing platform. Accordingly, Yuchai made great efforts to change its platform since Euro VI products require strict emission standards and higher combustion pressure. In the future, Yuchai will keep Y, S and K three technical platforms. Y platform will develop 4Y30, 4Y24 and 4Y20 on the basis of 4Y22. S platform will further strengthen the emissions, based on the existing 4S, increasing to 4.2 liters from 3.8 liters. Moreover, it will greatly promote the powertrain and develop 6S engines. K platform will launch K5, K8, K9, K11 and K13 series products. These three platforms make Euro VI products more advanced on both appearance and performance than Euro V generation. S platform, for example, S06 lowered 200 kilograms of the engine weight, equal to the weight of three passengers of a finished vehicle. Tan Xuefeng pointed out that Chinese engines now are still at the middle or middle and low level, while Yuchai generator Euro VI engines basically reach the international advanced level. Positioned to global high-end products, Yuchai Euro VI engines show no differences between existing sample data and foreign products. Yuchai engines with “Euro VI” emission standards will create a strong competitiveness after entering the market. It is known that Yuchai “Euro VI” series of new products will be released at November and December of this year, good news to the engine industry.

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