The heavy-duty market in the first quarter of this year has caused industry experts to surprise themselves. Who could have expected that heavy trucks rebounded rapidly after a severe dive in the second half of 2003. Some heavy-duty car manufacturers increased their growth rate by more than 50% in the first quarter.
In response to the hot sales situation, heavy truck OEMs have increased daily production. In January this year, Jinan Heavy Duty Truck sold 1,500 units; in March, Jinan Heavy Duty Truck produced 3,800 units and sold 4,000 units, which sold more than the output. In the first quarter, Jinan Heavy-Duty Automobile produced and sold heavy-duty vehicles and broke through 8,000 vehicles.
In February of this year, sales of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck increased by 132.6% over the same period of last year. In March, Shaanxi Zhongqi sold nearly 2,000 vehicles. In the first half of this year, Shaanxi Heavy's sales target was to strive for 8,000 vehicles.
North Mercedes-Benz will produce 700 vehicles in the first two months of this year. As of March 27, Inner Mongolia No. 1 Machinery Manufacturing (Group) Co., Ltd. has released 1000 vehicles of the North Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks this year. Its output is equivalent to the output for the six months of 2003 and the whole year of 2002.
In terms of China Card, Chengdu Trump produced 1300 vehicles in the first two months. The performance of Chengdu Trump was honored as the largest dark horse in the quarter by the industry.
Beiqi Futian brought its outstanding performance in 2003, and production and sales continued to rise in the first quarter of this year. In 2003, the number of Beiqi Foton stock cars was more than 3,000. In the first quarter, Foton heavy trucks sold well. Last year's inventory was basically digested. Beiqi Foton sold 3,851 heavy trucks in March. Currently, Foton heavy trucks produce 200 vehicles per day. In March of this year, Beiqi Futian Auman Automobile announced that the adjustment of Auman’s automobile prices across the board, including large-horsepower high-end tractors, has been reduced to a maximum of 20,000 yuan. With this price adjustment, Auman trucks set off a new round of sales in the country.
At the beginning of 2004, the production and sales of Chongqing Hongyan continued to advance steadily. From January to February, the company produced 2,343 heavy trucks and sold 2098 vehicles, a cumulative increase of 23.64% and 37.84% year-on-year. In March, the company plans to produce 1,250 vehicles and sell 2,000 vehicles; From January to March, the company will produce 3,593 heavy trucks and sell about 4,000 heavy trucks, an increase of 1% and 18.55% respectively year-on-year. It is understood that Hongyan’s plan in 2004 is to ensure sales of 20,000 vehicles, an increase of 25% over the same period last year, and strive to reach 25,000 units; market share will increase by one percentage point. Among them, the dump truck chassis and truck chassis sold 13,000 vehicles.