Chinese trucks are mainly used to transport steel. (Photo : Getty Images)
Ma Chunji, chairman of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co Ltd, also known as Sinotruk, said, "The level of globalization will decide the future of our company."
He said that his company is not only focusing on truck sales, pre-sale and post-sale servicing, but also on on-site assembly. They also plan to sell high-end units aggressively in New Zealand and Ireland.
Sinotruk sells internationally by making partnerships with other companies, but they intend to do direct investments to boost sales.
In spite of the company selling 158,000 units last year, China's overall truck sales have dipped from 2011 to 2015.
The slow pace is due to the low growth of the country's economy. Trucks are less in demand because the mining industry is taking a slower pace.
There were 550,000 vehicles sold domestically last year. About 50,000 to 60,000 were exported to countries in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Jiang Yuxiang, vice-president of Shanxi Dayun Group said, "The whole industry is in trouble. The competition is rather severe, and everyone wants to export."
He added that the development of the high-speed rail is affecting the truck industry and a decrease in real estate projects.
Truck manufacturers are all looking at the international market to sell more units, but with so many truck builders, the competition becomes tighter, said Jiang.
Robert Perkins, senior global business consultant of Americas Commercial Transportation Co., said, "Domestic demand for China commercial vehicles will remain subdued for the foreseeable future until changes in both the country's economy and the evolution of its transportation industry have stabilized."
The expert added that China's truckers should look into developing more quality and higher capacity vehicles.
Aside from improving truck technology, the industry in China will have to do dramatic upgrades until 2020 when the Nationwide VI emission standard for heavy-duty truck and bus engines is implemented.
Zhang Yu, managing director of Automotive Foresight (Shanghai) Co., said that even overseas trucking manufacturers will have to adjust to fit this upcoming government standard.
