An Analysis of the Sales Data of Zhengzhou Yutong from Jan. to Apr. 2009

First, let’s take a close look at how the whole bus & coach industry was faring from Jan. to Apr. in China.

Table-1: Sales Volume of Buses on the whole

Table-1 shows that the sales volume of buses was down by 32.7%. Buses of different lengths have experienced varied declines for four consecutive months. 12-meter-above large-sized buses plummeted by 62% while buses of 7-8-meter category took a nosedive by falling 46.6%. The ongoing economic crisis has adversely affected the bus & coach market to a large magnitude.

Table-2: Sales Volume of Intercity Buses

Table-2 indicates that only 12-meter-above intercity buses were on a rise from Jan. to Apr. in 2009 while the intercity buses of other lengths all witnessed downward movements of varied degrees.

Table-3: Sales Volume of Public City Buses

Table-3 reveals that the public city buses were hardest hit in the whole bus & coach industry in the first four months. The only bright spot of the market goes to buses measuring between 6 to 7 meters, whose sales volume jumped by a staggering 200%, suggesting that the rural public transport sector is now growing robustly. 

Table-4: Sales Volume of Sleeper Coaches

From Table-4, it can be seen that the sleeper coach market was also adversely affected by the ongoing economic crisis, but to a much lesser degree.  

Now, let’s take a look at Zhengzhou Yutong’s performance in the first four months in 2009.

Table-5: Sales Volume of Yutong Buses on the whole

Bar Chart-2

Table-6 and Bar Chart-2 indicate that the sales volume of Yutong intercity buses was down by 30.3%, 2.8 percentage point less than the industry average. Given that the company’s overall sales volume was down by 29.3%, the intercity buses were the chief cause of the company’s falling business volume. It also has to be noted that the majority of the intercity buses went down sharply except 6- and 7-meter long intercity buses, whose sales volume was up by 7.2% from Jan. to Apr. in 2009.
　

Table-7: Sales Volume of Yutong Public City Buses

 
Bar Chart-3

Table-7 and Bar Chart-3 reveal that the sales volume of Yutong public city buses was falling by 33.8% y/y, one percentage point more than the industry average. The sales volume of 11- to 12-meter long Yutong public city buses was 501 units less than that in the same period last year, down by 51.8%, three percentage point less than the industry average. Its above-12-meter long public city buses sold 14 units more than that of last year, up by 18.7% y/y, which is in sharp contrast with a 77.49% downfall of the industry average. The sad news is that Yutong public city buses measuring 8-9 meter long and 10-11 meter long were experiencing sharper downfall than the industry average. 

Table-8: Sales Volume of Yutong Sleeper Coaches

Table-8 shows that Yutong sleeper coach was holding a dominant position in China. Its sales volume of the first four months combined reached 379 units, accounting for 57.8% of the whole market. In the same period last year, its sales volume stood at 312 units, accounting for 40.6% of the whole market. Given a staggering 17% rise, Yutong has been well strengthening its dominant position in China’s sleeper coach market. Moreover, this type of coach kept a fast rising momentum despite of the declining trend of the industry average. Its above-12-meter sleeper coaches were up by 950%, reaching 21 units, Sleeper coaches less than 11 meter long has already out of the company’s production list.