Sinotruk’s global ambitions laid bare

A leader in China’s local commercial vehicle market, Sinotruk also attaches significant value to the overseas market. The export business is one of the primary focuses of the company’s strategic vision of becoming a world-class full series commercial vehicle group. Part of this strategy involves showcasing the best trucks China has to offer to global commercial vehicle markets – including South Africa.

Sinotruk is already a frontrunner in the Chinese commercial vehicle export market, but has major plans to revolutionise its global footprint. One of its main goals, encompassing the next 14 five-year plans, is to make a breakthrough in the developed markets of North America and Europe, where no Chinese brands have yet managed to make an entry.

Sinotruk plans to change this lack of Chinese manufacturer representation in the world’s developed markets by capitalising on trucks that rely on “new energy”.

As of 2022, Sinotruk had exported over 500,000 units since this side of the business was initiated in 2004. The manufacturer ranked first for Chinese heavy truck exports in each one of these 18 years. Sinotruk makes up a staggering 50% of China’s truck export industry, and its Sitrak and Howo brands are particularly well-known in overseas markets, most notably Africa and South-East Asia.

Sinotruk already has a strong customer base of major global brands, many of whom are leaders in their fields. These include the likes of Shell, Castrol, and TotalEnergies in the petrochemical industry; Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in the mining sector; Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Heineken in the FMCG sector; and other global leaders like Maersk in shipping and Holcim in construction.

The versatility of Sinotruk’s commercial vehicles has been evident for all to see in various international construction projects, and it has become the number one vehicle supplier for Chinese-funded enterprises in their overseas construction projects. The manufacturer has supplied nearly 200 vehicles, including dump trucks and tippers, to the Kazakhstan highway construction project that began in 2021, as well as supplying over 300 vehicles including dump trucks, mixers, and special vehicles to Malaysia’s East Coast Rail Link project, slated for completion by 2027.

Over 500 vehicles were supplied to the China-Laos railway project completed in 2021, while 115 dump trucks serve the highly challenging Bolivian El Sillar highway project that started in mid-2018, and more than 700 heavy-duty trucks serviced the M5 motorway project completed in 2019 in Pakistan. The company also provided vehicles to the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway construction project in Indonesia that was completed this year.

Sinotruk currently exports to over 110 countries worldwide and services its international customers with over 400 overseas-based personnel in 80 representative offices.

It is able to offer quality after-sales service outside of China in its 261 service outlets that cover all sales areas, effectively ensuring the timeliness of services. Professional service engineers provide strong technical support to solve service problems for customers at the first time of asking, while the manufacturer offers a tailored service plan according to the customer’s needs.

Sinotruk also has 300 international distribution outlets, 252 parts outlets, and 26 KD plants. Its overseas training bases help with continual improvement of employees on the ground. Various forms of technical training are provided depending on the needs of each particular site, while the company also invites customers to Jinan, China, to participate in training programmes.