Group poised to become heavyweight player

Founded in 1968, Shaanxi Automobile Group Co Ltd has developed into a large automaker with an annual capacity to produce 60,000 heavy-duty trucks, 30,000 medium-duty lorries, 3,000 buses and chassis and 200,000 sets of vehicle axles.

Headquartered in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the group can turn out more than 1,000 products per year.

It has a competitive edge in the production of military-purpose offroad vehicles, heavy-duty commercial vehicles and high-grade buses and chassis.

Shaanxi Automobile Group is the only designated supplier of heavy-duty military-purpose offroad vehicles for the People's Liberation Army, with its SX2150 and SX2190 series participating in the military parades to celebrate the 35th and 50th anniversaries of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1984 and 1999 respectively.

The group has 20 subsidiary companies at present, including the Shaanxi Heavy-Duty Automobile Co Ltd and the Shaanxi Hande Vehicle Axle Co Ltd.

Covering a land area of 3.89 sq km, Shaanxi Automobile Group has fixed assets of 2.37 billion yuan and 16,000 staff members, including 1,600 engineers, technicians and management staff.

It has a complete manufacturing system covering product development, manufacturing, testing and marketing, and has obtained certificates such as 3C, GJB9001A-2001, ISO9001, ISO14001 and GB/T18000.

Through its long-term cooperation with Germany-based MAN Corp, Shaanxi Automobile became the first automaker in China to introduce MANF2000 heavy-duty truck technology, which has led to the development and production of the Delong F2000, a competitive heavy-duty truck model in the Chinese automobile market. The truck has won many awards in the domestic market, including that of best heavy-duty truck in terms of customer satisfaction.

With its products exported to several countries and regions in Asia, Europe, the Americas, Oceania and Africa, the group was designated by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission as one of the nation's first batch of automobile exporting bases in 2006. During the first nine months of this year, the group's export value surpassed $100 million, ranking it among the nation's top five heavy-duty truck exporting enterprises.

With average annual growth rate of 50 percent in recent years, Shaanxi Automobile Group has become one of the well-known enterprises in China's automobile industry. It has been on the list of China's top 500 enterprises for many years and now ranks 37th among China's top 500 machinery companies.

Last month, its Shaanqi brand heavy-duty truck and Hande brand vehicle axle were rated China's top brands by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

To further expand its industrial chain and operational scale, the group launched a commercial automobile industry park in Xi'an. Covering a land area of 180 hectares and involving an investment of 1.98 billion yuan, the first phase of the park was put into operation at the end of 2005. Incorporating internationally advanced technologies, the project's first phase is designed to produce 60,000 units of heavy-duty trucks annually.

The second phase of the project, including an engine plant that can produce 50,000 units of 11-liter ISM Cummins engines annually; a vehicle axle plant with an annual production capacity of 280,000 units; a vehicle frame plant with an annual capacity of 60,000 sets; a State-level enterprise technological development center; and a sales and service building, is now under construction and will be completed by the end of 2008.

Shaanxi Automobile Group's strategic goal is to build itself into a super-large enterprise within the next 10 years.

It is predicted that the group's production and sales of heavy-duty trucks will reach 60,000 units this year. In 2010, the figure is expected to reach 100,000 units, generating sales revenue of 30 billion yuan. In 2012, it is expected to produce and sell 100,000 units of heavy-duty trucks, 60,000 units of medium-duty lorries, 5,000 units of buses and chassis, 100,000 units of mini-vans, 50,000 sets of engines and 280,000 units of vehicle axles, while its sales revenue is projected to hit 50 billion yuan, making it a super-large commercial vehicle enterprise in China.

(China Daily 10/23/2007 page19)