CHANGCHUN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — In the guts of China’s industrial northeast, a producing titan is present process a quiet transformation. FAW Jiefang, the business truck behemoth that represents the very roots of the nation’s automotive business, is steering its large operations towards uncharted territories, far past the acquainted home markets that it has lengthy dominated.
The firm’s normal supervisor, Yu Changxin, describes this strategic shift with a way of historic mission. “Jiefang is the foundation of FAW and the origin of new China’s automotive industry,” Yu instructed Xinhua in an unique interview, pointing to the model’s over-70-year historical past. “In light of new challenges and objectives, we will accelerate our global expansion, building a second growth curve.”
This goes far past merely exporting extra vans. What’s underway is a elementary shift in how the Chinese industrial large goes world. Instead of merely delivery merchandise abroad, FAW Jiefang is transplanting its whole industrial ecosystem, partnering with suppliers, sellers, and even monetary service suppliers to construct a complete presence in new markets.
The firm’s home credentials are past doubt. In the primary half of this yr, FAW Jiefang held a 23.2 p.c share of China’s medium- and heavy-duty truck market, sustaining its main place within the business. Even throughout July’s conventional gross sales slowdown, the corporate achieved a uncommon double enhance, registering progress each month-on-month and year-on-year in gross sales and market share.
Yet it is the abroad efficiency that tells the true story of transformation. International gross sales of medium- and heavy-duty vans soared by 58.3 p.c year-on-year, pushed by notable progress in 9 markets, together with Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Mexico, the place gross sales greater than doubled.
A serious restructuring paved the way in which for this growth. In August 2024, the corporate shaped a devoted abroad subsidiary — FAW Jiefang Group International Automobile Co., Ltd. — to handle all its worldwide actions. This transfer offers contemporary impetus for the corporate’s world improvement, Yu stated, noting that it allows a shift from conventional exports to deeply localized operations.
The technique rapidly materialized via a collection of strikes, starting with an acquisition of an operational foothold in Africa, adopted by the board’s approval for eight new wholly-owned subsidiaries in markets together with Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Mexico, with a complete funding of almost 500 million yuan (about 70.5 million U.S. {dollars}).
Today, FAW Jiefang’s operations span 100 nations and areas, supported by a community of 127 major sellers, almost 300 distributors throughout 44 nations and areas, and 23 meeting vegetation in 14 nations. Yet this very tempo of progress has uncovered a essential problem.
Yu acknowledged {that a} scarcity of worldwide expertise has been a key problem within the firm’s world growth. To handle this, FAW Jiefang has adopted a two-track technique — requiring abroad expertise for its subsequent technology of managers whereas recruiting globally for key positions.
The firm can be re-engineering its merchandise from the bottom up for world enchantment. These “born-global” fashions at the moment are developed concurrently for home and worldwide markets, with options that meet regional wants integrated into the preliminary design.
A first-rate instance of this technique is the J7 4×2 long-haul tractor, launched for markets in Mexico, Australia and South Africa. The mannequin was developed by way of simultaneous engineering in all goal markets. It comes customary with superior security techniques, together with a sophisticated driver help system and electronically managed air suspension, whereas that includes region-specific choices like compliant cab roof lights for Mexico and anti-theft gas tanks for South Africa.
FAW Jiefang’s most progressive transfer could also be its technique in markets like Indonesia, the place it’s taking up established Japanese gamers. It competes not simply with vans, however with a whole bundle — in Yu’s phrases, a “Chinese solution” — that mixes automobile trials, knowledge verification and deep service integration.
The firm pioneered “follow-vehicle testing with full-process data recording” in Indonesia. By utilizing onerous knowledge to display benefits in payload, gas financial system and sturdiness, it offered the market with its first-ever systematic comparability of Chinese and international truck efficiency.
It has additionally constructed an built-in service community, deploying its personal technical specialists to key regional service facilities. For main initiatives, devoted groups present complete assist that features pre-positioned spare components, common gear inspections {and professional} driver coaching, Yu famous.
In Vietnam, the corporate raised service requirements by implementing a 48-hour restore assure that slashed common restore occasions by over 50 p.c in comparison with opponents.
As FAW Jiefang navigates this advanced world growth, Yu maintains a transparent philosophy about avoiding the “rat-race-style” competitors that plagues the business.
“The surest path out of it hinges on technological edge and build quality that delivers real value to users,” he stated. “We market Jiefang trucks as ‘money-making machines,’ a claim rooted in superior life cycle cost efficiency.”
This concentrate on long-term worth, quite than short-term good points, alerts a a lot bigger ambition — to forge a revered home model into a really world one.