Zhao Hang: In the second half of the year, coaches or turning losses into heavy-duty trucks showed high growth.

The growth of the commercial vehicle market in 2010 is worth looking forward to.

On September 1, Zhao Hang, director of the China Steam Research Center, issued a forecast for the commercial vehicle market. He believes that the country's active adjustment of the macroeconomic structure, the overall slowdown in fixed asset investment and GDP growth, the accelerated construction of affordable housing, the advancement of urbanization, and post-disaster reconstruction all contribute to the development of the commercial vehicle market. It is expected that the commercial vehicle market will increase steadily in the second half of the year.

In the first half of this year, commercial vehicles achieved rapid growth due to rapid economic development and trade-in policies. Among them, bus companies turned losses into profits. In the first half of 2009, there was a net loss in Ankai Bus, Zhongtong Bus, Yaxing Bus and Jinbei Automobile. In the first half of this year, all these companies turned losses into profits. Ankai Bus, Zhongtong Bus and Yaxing Bus achieved a net profit of 26.7268 million yuan, 15.5885 million yuan and 714,600 yuan respectively.

In addition to the good performance of passenger cars, the development of heavy-duty trucks has also seen bright spots. The interim results announced by China National Heavy Duty Truck on August 31 showed that the company's turnover was approximately RMB 22.2 billion, an increase of 52.8% year-on-year, and net profit was RMB 840 million, an increase of 76.7% year-on-year. Another commercial vehicle leader, Foton Motors, achieved a revenue of 30.2 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 54%, a gross margin of 12.2%, and a net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 153%. This year's high performance growth is a foregone conclusion.

Tong Jingen, executive director of China National Heavy Duty Truck, told reporters that based on experience, the sales ratio in the first half and second half was roughly 6:4. The company expects sales in the second half of the year will still increase compared to the same period of last year and will reach the target set at the beginning of the year.

In addition, China’s heavy truck companies will usher in a major opportunity for the country’s development of the western region.

This year, the State plans to develop 23 key projects for the development of the Western Region, with a total investment of 682.2 billion yuan. During the entire “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the central government still has to continue to tilt toward the western region on major infrastructure projects, and it must continue to tilt toward the western region in terms of transfer payments and investment arrangements.

Jia Yongxuan, an auto consultant of Beijing Surong Management Consulting Co., Ltd. believes that with the advancement of the country's new round of western development strategy, domestic heavy truck companies will have a vast market in areas such as infrastructure construction in the west, especially engineering vehicles, dump trucks, and tractors. The heavy truck type will play an important role in the development of the western region, which means more business opportunities for domestic heavy truck companies.