Heavy Truck Industry Restructured as Large-power and NG Products Grow Fast

www.chinatrucks.com: In 2013, the sales volume of heavy trucks reaches 774,000 units, up 21.7% over last year. The figure vitalizes the slump market which suffers continuous decline in the past two years.

To be specific, how is the performance of each product type, tractors, cargo trucks and dumpers? Is there any thing new in each segment market? Combining opinions from industrial experts and information from each enterprise’s annual business conference, the following conclusions are made.

Tractor sees a rise of 4.7% in market share

Tractor segment grows fastest, altering the structure of heavy truck industry

According to General Manager of Marketing Division of SAIC-IVECO HONGYAN Cao Zongqiang at the year-end business conference, in 2013, the sales volume of cargo truck market is around 247,000 units, rising by 8% over last year; that of dumper market is around 258,000 units, up 19% over last year and that of tractor market is 265,000 units, soaring 39% over last year.

It is easy to find from the above data that the tractor market grows fastest in the heavy truck industry in 2013. “The demand for tractors is expanding every year due to the macro economic control and economic transformation,” a heavy truck expert says.

With the increasing proportion of tractors, the heavy truck industry will definitely encounter some changes. In 2013, the proportion of tractor rises by 4.7%, from 29.7% in 2012 to 34.4% in 2013, reversing the ranking from last to the first. By contrast, proportion of dumper drops to 33.5% from 34.5%, while that of cargo trucks declines to 32.2% from 35.8%. The phenomenon reflects the fact that tractors are replacing cargo trucks with the tow transport further promoted.

Tractor segment: light weight 6x2 products grow fast and large-power and LNG products are increasingly popular

Cao Zongqiang also points out that the tractor segment tends to be more lightweight, “seen from the first 11 months of 2013, the sales volume of 6x2 tractors is around 77,400 units, soaring 54% over the same period of 2012. The growth rate is much higher than the rate of the whole tractor segment.”

The heavy truck expert also agrees the above and says that the growing trend of 6x2 tractor complies with the market changes caused by macro economic control and trends of heavy truck market.

By analyzing the detailed horsepower, in 2013, vehicles with 390hp and above grow 192%, 330hp-380hp vehicles grow 19% and 320hp and below vehicles decline 6%, according to Cao Zongqiang, “in 2013, the tractor segment sees a very clear trend that large-power and displacement and medium & high-level products are more and more popular.”

Hongyan Genlyon M100 380 LNG tractor

Apart from that, Cao Zongqiang says in the tractor segment, NG products grow at a double pace.

The heavy truck expert further analyzes that NG tractors see an approximate 150% growth rate, much higher than the growth rate of the tractor market. 6x2 vehicles see big rise while 6x4 vehicles see decline.

“The NG vehicles drive the demand turning to 6x2 tractors. For diesel engine vehicles, there is demand for high-level ones, while for NG vehicles, there is demand for low-level ones,” the expert concludes.

Large-power dumper sees dramatic growth while cargo truck market sees growth at both polarized ends

Cao Zongqiang says the dumper segment in 2013 sees such a trend: 250hp and below vehicles decline 8%; 260-320hp vehicles grow 3%; 330-360hp rise 31% and 370hp and above vehicles soar 43%. “340hp and above vehicles see a large growth rate and the market tends to develop towards large power, large displacement and medium & high level.”

The expert believes the dumper segment encounters a few changes: “on the whole, based on data of first 8 months of 2013, 6x4 dumpers decline and its proportion drops by 2.4 percents; 8x4 dumpers rise and its proportion grows by 2.5 percents.” Such a trend reflects the huge demand for large-power dumpers.

“From the point view of fuel, in 2013, the growth rate of diesel dumpers is lower than the overall rate of dumper segment; 8x4 dumper’s proportion rises a little bit; 6x4 dumper sees a decreasing proportion; NG dumper’s growth rate is much larger than the overall rate of dumper segment, especially 8x4 NG dumper which sees a dramatic rise in proportion”, the expert says, warning “8x4 NG dumpers will continue to grow as the road vehicles increases and become the second key NG vehicle.”

Regarding the cargo market in 2013, the expert says “4x2, 6x2 and 8x4 cargo trucks have growth.” This indicates that medium & short transport and heavy-cargo haulage are increasing.