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Due to Russia’s severe crackdown on grey customs clearance and its adoption of the latest Euro III emission standard certification, the prospects for Chinese heavy truck companies to export to Russia this year are not optimistic. Last year, Chinese heavy truck companies once occupied half of Russia’s heavy-duty trucks with more than 20 tons.
“This year, up to now, we have not exported a heavy truck to Russia. The same is true for many other automobile trading companies and automobile manufacturers. The main card is in the Euro III certification.†March 24, Xibili Automotive Export (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Chairman Zhu Jingcheng said. Hibili is a trading company that mainly exports cars to Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe.
According to statistics compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on national customs auto imports and exports, the number of passenger cars, cars and trucks showed a deceleration in comparison with the previous month in January 2008, of which 22,300 were exported, which was a decrease from the previous month. 26.26%.
Add to the frost
According to Russian local media reports, the Russian government has stipulated that starting from January 4, 2008, it will carry out a comprehensive inspection of imported cars of non-Geneva-parties (mainly China) and raise the threshold for receiving Russian automobile quality certification. For example, in terms of vehicle safety testing, the number of cars detected increased from 3 items to 10 items, trucks increased from 2 items to 9 items, and body strength and brake inspections also increased the demand. At the same time, one year's small batches were suspended (150 units). Following) Import. This summer, it will further introduce policies to increase the number of automobile inspection projects to 105.
In addition to the increase in testing items, the cost of testing has also increased significantly. The cost of testing a vehicle has increased from 70,000 euros in 2006 to 150,000 euros now. Russia will implement the Euro IV emission standard in 2010. This means that the three-year quality certification that has been effective for only three years is only valid for two years. By 2010, new quality certification must also be carried out.
China National Heavy Duty Truck Marketing Minister Ni Guixiang told this reporter that on March 8, the company obtained relevant quality certification with the assistance of its Russian partner. The entire certification process is more difficult. So far, other companies have not yet obtained certification.
In a subsequent interview, the reporter learned that several companies such as Shaanxi Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and FAW Group also stated that they have obtained the Euro III quality certification from Russia. However, these certifications were obtained by local Russian distributors. Domestic trading companies and vehicle companies using these certificates to export heavy trucks to Russia must pay 5000-10,000 yuan to local dealers for each vehicle.
China's automobile exports Russia generally adopts three kinds of authentication methods: large-scale certification valid for 3 years, small batch certification of 150 or less, and used car exports that do not require certification. In an interview with the reporter, it was discovered that before this time, domestic heavy truck companies generally did not attach importance to Russian quality certification. Due to the high cost, time-consuming and complicated procedures of large-scale certification, many companies have obtained small-batch certifications through Russian dealers, or exported new cars to used cars. However, the Russian side's practice of stopping small-batch certifications and severely cracking down on customs clearance has undoubtedly worsened the Chinese heavy truck companies that have not received quality certification.
At present, several major heavy truck companies are actively striving to obtain Russia's Euro III quality certification as soon as possible, but according to Zhu Jingcheng, under normal circumstances, it takes 4-6 months for the Russian automobile inspection agencies to obtain the Euro III emission standard certification. At the end of last year, China's commercial vehicle companies that had gone to test had already queued up. The quality certification for several months allowed this year's export situation to be not optimistic.
In addition to the difficulty in obtaining Russia's quality certification in a short period of time, China's heavy trucks also face quality problems, spare parts supply problems and after-sales services in Russia.
In December 2007, Xibili Company conducted an inspection of the heavy truck market in Russia and concluded that there are certain quality problems and lack of spare parts supply for heavy trucks in Russia. For example: There are no specifications for cars, any increase, overload caused by accidents such as rollover; brake system problems; no spare parts reserves, failure of the vehicle can not be repaired. Even the majority of Chinese heavy trucks exported to Russia do not have Russian manuals and parts manuals, causing inconvenience to Russian consumers. Many improper operations have also led to quality problems in vehicles.
The reporter learned from the interview that many of the quality problems were not caused by the shortage of Chinese heavy truck technology and manufacturing capabilities. For example, a roll-over accident or a brake failure is caused by the random increase of carriages. At present, domestic heavy trucks are basically "semi-finished products" that are produced by vehicle companies, including cabs and chassis. Then the "top-loading plant" puts on the cars to become a complete vehicle. The “Filling Factory†can freely change the size of the carriage according to customer requirements. Each vehicle company has a number of “top-loading factoriesâ€, and the “top-loading plant†can also directly export heavy trucks to Russia.
Emergency response
In response to the problem of China's heavy trucks, Russia has begun to take measures. On August 16, 2007, the General Administration of Customs of Russia requested all localities to strictly inspect the quality certification of imported automobiles and severely restrict the import of new commercial vehicles in China that do not have quality certification. In December of the same year, the Russian government issued a supplementary clause in the Consumer Protection Act, which stipulates that consumers buy products including automobiles. As long as they discover defects within 15 days, the purchaser can request the seller to return goods unconditionally; within the prescribed warranty period, If the accumulated return time exceeds 30 days, you can also request a return and so on.
According to report, the national automobile export authority is currently studying countermeasures with major heavy truck companies such as Sinotruk, FAW Jiefang, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles, Shaanxi Automobile Group, Beifang Mercedes-Benz and Beiqi Foton to discuss how to solve the problem of China's heavy truck exports to Russia.
In view of quality and service issues, vehicle companies have proposed to abolish the export rights of “top-loading factories†and trading companies and export them directly from vehicle manufacturers to further standardize export orders. Heavy-duty truck manufacturers must produce heavy-duty manuals and spare parts manuals in foreign languages ​​(English or Russian). Otherwise, exporters will not be issued inspection certificates.
According to industry sources, since last year, the Ministry of Commerce has cancelled the eligibility of nearly 1,000 trading companies for auto exports. According to the regulations regulated by the Ministry of Commerce on the export of automobiles, vehicle companies can generally authorize the export of three companies, and continued compression is not conducive to the development of automobile exports. Therefore, the key to the problem is not to further reduce the main exporters, but how to standardize and improve vehicle quality and service. The entire vehicle company must also effectively restrain the "upload factory" from arbitrarily increasing the behavior of the carriage.
In addition, some companies have also proposed that heavy trucks must be configured according to the norms of domestic announcements and must not be arbitrarily increased. It should also regulate the behavior of the "upload factory." As for the gray customs clearance problem of the new car to second-hand car exports, because this is mainly the behavior of Russian local importers, the low-cost export of new cars will harm the interests of domestic enterprises. Therefore, domestic companies believe that cooperation with Russia should be implemented to eliminate gray customs clearance. .
Joint venture prospects
Although there are many problems, unlike the "boycott" that passenger cars have encountered in Russia, China's commercial vehicles, especially heavy trucks, are more popular in Russia. The key reason is that China's heavy truck technology is more advanced than Russian domestic truck companies' technology. I hope to carry out technical cooperation with China.
In fact, Russia has become the largest target country for Chinese auto exports, and China is also becoming the largest target country for Russian heavy truck imports. According to Russian customs statistics, from January to August of 2007, Russia imported a total of 8408 heavy trucks with more than 20 tons, including 4045 heavy trucks in China, ranking first.
In August 2007, Russia’s “Expert†magazine published an article by Russia’s machinery and equipment experts, stating that Russia should establish a joint venture with China to produce heavy trucks as soon as possible. This article points out that China’s heavy trucks are inferior to Russian domestic cars in terms of technical performance, and their prices are only half of those of international famous brands.
The expert said that Russia’s support for the domestic auto industry is very limited, and companies themselves do not pay attention to the upgrading of products. In view of this, Russia should establish a joint venture with China as soon as possible to produce heavy trucks in Russia. Russia and China have joined hands to fully utilize the advantages of the two sides in terms of technology, resources, funds, and human resources. This will prevent Russian and Chinese automobile manufacturers from snatching end customers in the market and confronting challenges from automakers from Europe, America and Japan.
China's heavy truck companies have also started to cooperate with Russian companies in capital. On December 7, 2007, Sinotruk signed an agreement with Russia’s Amorgil Motors AG to form HOWO-ZIL and sell and assemble HOWO heavy trucks of CNHTC in Russia, each with a 50% stake. This is the first heavy truck joint venture between a Chinese truck company and Russia. According to the reporter’s understanding, FAW Group has been assembling dump trucks in Russia’s Bisk for the past year. At present, it plans to cooperate with local Russian companies to establish a large-scale truck assembly plant in Russia.