An Analysis of China's Bus Market in Q1 and its Outlook

www.chinabuses.org: In Mar., the production and sales volume of buses in China reached 52,266 and 52,603 units respectively, up by 69.79% and 70.41% respectively against the previous month, and up by 14.64% and 13.07% year on year. In the first quarter of this year, the nation's bus market registered a production volume of 123,665 units, up by 6.14% year on year, and a sales volume of 128,610 units, up by 10.55% year on year. In the segmented markets, only light-weight buses maintained a growing momentum, signifcantly boosting the overall growth of the bus market. In contrast, both production and sales of large- and medium-sized buses witnessed certain drop. On the whole, the bus market kept growing in both production and sales while the non-whole body buses saw some decreases in both their production and sales. In general, the bus market has delivered a good performance in the beginning of 2014, laying a solid foundation for the growth of the whole year.

Large-sized Buses

In terms of large-sized buses, the top ten players combined sold 12,868 units, down by 4.05% year on year. However, their percentage of the total market kept growing compared with that in the previous year, showing that they have further strengthened their market presence. Xiamen Kinglong, Xiamen Golden Dragon, Shanghai Sunwin and FAW all registered two-digit decrease in the first quarter.

Medium-sized buses

Medium-sized buses sold by the top 10 bus makers reached 14,063 units, slightly down by 0.05% year on year. Among the top 10, Suzhou Higer, Xiamen Kinglong, FAW Toyota and Xiamen Golden Dragon all experienced downward movement. Among the growing companies, Henan Shaolin has done the most impressive performance, up by 72.43%. Yangzhou Asia Star Bus came the second, up by 39.25%. Despite their decrease in sales in combination, the top ten have further expanded their market presence in the first quarter. Overall, the performance delivered by the top ten was satifactory in the first quarter, but other enterprises have put some downward pressure on the whole market.

Light-weight buses

The sales of Light-weight buses was up by 17.77% year on year, reaching nearly 90,000 units in the first quarter. Except Nanjing Iveco, Dongfeng Automobile, and Anhui Jianghuai, the rest seven companies all realized growth. Baoding Changan registered a 166.64% growth, the highest among the top 10. Next came Xiamen Golden Dragon, SAIC Commercial Vehicle, Jinbei and Xiamen Kinglong, all witnessing over 30% growth respectively. In addition, the top ten had a higher market share in the first quarter compared with that in the previous year, leaving less space for other competitors in this market.

Jinbei took a solid lead in the light-weight bus market, selling nearly 30,000 units in the first quarter and having further consolidated its market presence.