Beijing officially implemented China Ⅳ emission standard on July 1, 2013. The rise of truck emission also means the upgrade of truck products. When other truck manufacturers stays at a R&D or production of China Ⅳ compliant products, Foton ROWOR medium truck compliant with China Ⅳ has come out and began trail sales in Beijing. Recently, our correspondent pays a visit to Beijing Rongcheng Guangye Automotive Trading Co., Ltd. and interviews its general manager Mr. Wang Zhijun regarding China Ⅳ standard and trucks.
In a complex market, the promotion of China Ⅳ trucks is inevitable
Entering Rongcheng Guangye, the slogan of ROWOR truck comes first into sight. "China Ⅳ-compliant ROWOR trucks are ready to the market. There are 18 units to be sold in Beijng," said by Mr.Wang.
Many dealers are selling the stock of China Ⅲ trucks. Why Rongcheng Guangye can sell China Ⅳ trucks?
Regarding these questions, Mr. Wang says: "China Ⅲ-compliant ROWOR trucks are unable to be sold in Beijng. Hence, as soon as the China Ⅳ-compliant ROWOR trucks come out, Beijing is the first city to start trial sales."
When it comes to the market promotion and user's acceptance, Mr. Wang says that even Beijing announces the notice of China Ⅳ standard, it is still hard to monitor the implementation, making the promotion of China Ⅳ trucks even harder. Especially when most dealers are selling the stock of China Ⅲ products, China Ⅳ trucks will not be sold out very soon. Seen from users, China Ⅳ truck doesn't mean the environmental protection, it means the increase in costs. "Taking ROWOR medium truck as an example, the cost is 30,000 yuan higher than before. The rise in costs will exert great impact on users. Different from passenger car, commercial car, as a profitable tool, will have direct impact on users' profits. For users, the lower, the better. So many of them are still holding watch-and-see attitude," said by Mr. Wang.
Despite of that, the implementation of China Ⅳ trucks is still inevitable. "Despite of hard implementation, in the long run, the promotion of China Ⅳ trucks will not stop based on the consideration of environmental protection. The process could be slow but remain to be forward. Many users have realized this so they choose China Ⅳ truck in case of future trouble. Therefore, ROWOR China Ⅳ medium trucks are sold in a certain amount," Mr. Wang says.
With improvement in details, ROWOR truck is targeted at high-level users
In the courtyard of Rongcheng Guangye, there are standing fashionable China Ⅳ ROWOR trucks, either in blue or red. According to Mr. Wang, "China Ⅳ ROWOR trucks are allocated with Cummins ISF3.8 engine, the lightest and smallest one of its kind. The engine has strong power with maximum torque reaching 600N.m, almost 50% higher than other brands. Plus good economy, computer-controlled fuel feeding system, accurate injection, full burning, the engine helps save at least 25,000 yuan on fuel consumption per year. The emission standard reaches Euro Ⅳ and is able to upgrade to Euro Ⅴ and Ⅵ. Thus it will not confront with the trouble of regulations on emission standard in ten years."
Except for the upgrading of engine, ROWOR medium trucks are also got improved in some details. It is learnt that the cab adopts semi-suspension with small wind resistance and high fuel consumption. The super driving room and excellent interior coupled with air bag damping chair make the truck more comfortable and safer, greatly lowering down the driving fatigue. The gearbos is Fastre 8 speed one, which is easily to adapt to hard road conditions and could save as much as 5% fuel in long-distance travelling. Its quality is also reliable.
"This time ROWOR is targeted at high level users, including government procurement, such as municipal road maintenance and landscaping, and medium and high level logistic companies," Mr. Wang says. Most users of ROWOR medium trucks are engaged in transportation of building materials, and sources of cargo are stable, so there is little influence on them if the cost if trucks is increased.
Our correspondent comes across a buyer Mr. Liu during the interview. After talking with him, we learn that he is very satisfied with the high allocation of ROWOR truck as he is dealing with bricks transportation in rural areas where the road conditions are really bad.
Pre-sales, sales and after-sales services are all ready for promotion
China Ⅳ-compliant ROWOR trucks are sold in six regions of Beijing, namely Changping district, Chaoyang district, Tongzhou district, Daxing district and Shunyi district. Regarding the market promotion, Mr. Wang says the company has been ready, and "a special training is conducted in order to improve the sales and after-sales service. On July 21, all distributors and service stations attend a training at Cummins where whey visit the plant and get training about Cummins China Ⅳ engines, what problems users will meet and how to solve these problems.
In addition to training, Mr. Wang also makes a detailed market promotion plan. He asks second-tier distributors to pay special efforts on key users who are able or potentially able to purchase China Ⅴ trucks. Account managers for key customers should pay a visit to key companies and logistics companies in their respective region. On September 11, Rongcheng Guangye also organizes a promotion activity to invite old customers and key companies as well as logistic companies.
Regarding the future truck market, Mr. Wang believes that in Beijing, trucks will be more and more concentrated and professional and raise higher requirement on quality and their users are more and more high-level. There is inevitable to see "survival of the fittest". Only users who have China Ⅳ and even China Ⅴ trucks can survive in the market.
