The 2018 Beijing Summit
of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has come to an end. This summit has
pushed China-Africa cooperation to a new stage and injected strong impetus into
the economic and social development of Africa. Chinese President Xi Jinping
said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the summit, "China
is willing to work closely with African countries under the guidance of
building a strong community of shared future for China and Africa and on the
basis of implementing the "Ten Cooperation Plans" and will focus on
the implementation of the "Eight Major Initiatives" in the coming
three years and in the further future" and comprehensively planned the
priority areas and key directions China-Africa cooperation. The cooperation
between China and Africa has set an example for South-South cooperation,
effectively safeguarding the multilateral trading system, and bringing new
opportunities for Chinese bus export and cooperation.
Africa is the second
largest continent in the world, both in terms of area and population, and is
the most concentrated region with the largest number of underdeveloped and
developing countries in the world. Most countries have weak industrial bases
and have no sound automobile industry chain, so the automobiles are highly
dependent on import. Therefore, they are the important export markets for
Chinese buses. As an outstanding Chinese independently-developed bus brand,
what kind of extraordinary journey has King Long gone through in Africa?
Precision Efforts to be a Pioneer
King Long has always been a pioneer of Chinese bus export. Especially, King
Long's mini van has taken the lead in Africa. Since 2008 when it entered the
African market, it has exported more than 36,000 buses accumulatively in
Africa, ranking the first place in the industry.
King Long's Minivan Running
in Tunisia, the "Pearl" of North Africa
In recent years, King Long's mini van has made an particularly impressive
achievement in North African market: In 2016, 255 mini vans were exported to
Tunisia for the first time, for which, a zero breakthrough was achieved for
Chinese mini vans in Tunisia and King Long became the only Chinese mini van brand
in this market. King Long's excellent quality and service won the recognition
of the Tunisian market. Since then, it has realized continuous mass export to
this market. In addition, King Long's mini van has
also successfully entered many large markets such as Egypt, South Africa and
Nigeria, where the accumulated export volume is over 2,000.
King Long's Buses Exported to Morocco
King Long's Buses for Transport of Soldiers in Morocco
The export business of King Long's large- and medium-sized buses to Africa is
also remarkable: In Morocco, hundreds of King Long's buses serve local international
passenger transport lines and daily traffic; In Angola, more than 400 King
Long's luxury buses serve local passenger transport business; In Kenya and
Zimbabwe, 85 limousines provide
comfortable and convenient travel for government departments. 200 luxury buses
travel through the streets of Eritrea and become a beautiful landscape. King
Long has become the favorite bus brand of the local people because of the
beautiful appearance, excellent performance, ride comfort and strong after-sale
guarantee of the buses.
Win-win Cooperation to Build a "Blue Sea"
At present, the overall economy in Africa is relatively backward, and the road
and operation conditions are relatively poor. In order to adapt to the local
environment, King Long has fully utilized its technological advantages to
rapidly carry out the adaptive development and adjustment of the products and
improve the product performance. In addition, King Long has made full use of
local endowments and resources to promote the cooperation projects and
continuously expand market share.
Since there was no automobile scrapping system in Egypt,
"rattletraps" could be seen everywhere, and the traffic accident rate
was extremely high. Moreover, the traffic congestion in Cairo, the capital, is
extremely serious. In 2012, Egypt began to restrict the import of used cars,
which brought opportunities for export of Chinese buses. However, the gasoline
quality in Egypt is poor and the price difference between 90# gasoline and 80#
gasoline is huge. After technical analysis and verification, King Long launched
Kingwin mini van equipped with carburetor engine and entered the market
quickly.
King Long's Mini van, a
Good Travel and Business Partner of Egyptian People
At present, King Long's light buses have become the main force of the
transportation of Egyptian people, including medium- and long- distance
intercity passenger transport, short-distance passenger transport, transport in
city, commute of employees, etc. King Long's HIACE products have become very
popular after entering the Egyptian market and the market volume has increased
significantly. It has effectively improved the transportation life of the
Egyptian people. Given the import tariff difference between vehicles and parts,
King Long decisively launched the CKD project to promote cooperation in
production with local enterprises, which not only reduces the tariff but also
promotes local employment.
Nigeria is the largest country in Africa in terms of population and economic
aggregate. It has a vast territory and strong passenger transport demand.
However, the operation conditions are extremely severe. The one-way distance
often reaches 500 km, which is a great challenge for performance of the
vehicles. Before introduction of the buses, King Long dispatched service and
technical personnel to be resident at the customers' sites for a long time to
collect and record the vehicle use information, adjusted the technical
configurations based on the actual problems and made improvement continuously
to meet the actual needs of the local operation. The existing HIACE products
with stable performance are well received by the customers.
King Long and its Dealers Jointly Build the KD Project in Nigeria
King Long's Buses Serve
African Games
Africa is a "Continent of Hope". For Chinese buses, it is also a
hopeful field. China and Africa will join hands to build a strong community of
shared future. Under the "Belt and Road" initiative, China-Africa
cooperation projects have been launched one after another. The future trade
environment is bound to be better. This is a new opportunity for the
development of bus business. In the future, King Long will continuously improve
product and service quality, and offer more professional travel solutions for
African customers to provide better travel experience for African people.