From interviews of the reporters and what they heard and saw at Busworld Kortrijk and in France, Belgium and UK, they personally felt the attitudes, attention and enthusiasm of Europeans upon Chinese buses, which sounded like "The Voice of China" reverberating on the European continent.
"Having entered the British market for 18 months, the sales volume of Yutong buses in UK is expected to reach 100 units in 2015, about the same as that of some European counterparts,” said Richard, head of Yutong’s dealer in UK, with pride while mentioning Yutong’s performance in the British market. Previously, Chinese people preferred to buy imported buses and now the European people like to purchase Chinese buses.
Such pride could also be seen on Mr. Pierre, head of Yutong’s dealer in France. “After signing the cooperation agreement in 2012, we have totally sold 250 Yutong buses. Among them, 240 units were sold in 2014. Nowadays, we can see an annual sales volume of 250 Yutong buses.” What does the “250 units” mean? France needs about 2,000 units of buses and coaches every year, so the number means one eighth of the annual demand.
As the saying goes in the automobile industry "the first vehicle is sold by the sales staff while the second vehicle is sold via the service." In fact, the sales data is only part of the reasons of these dealers’ pride. From the perspective of sustainable development, only the repeated procurement of customers is the absolute principle in the eyes of dealers. Now, the quality of Yutong buses can compare favorably with that of the second-tier European brands, and the after-sales service is becoming a key item to make the difference amid the competition.
“In order to make Chinese brands internationalized, the first thing we should do is to make them recognized by the global market. This is not merely a corporate brand image, but rather the national brand image!" said Tang Yuxiang, president of Yutong company. This has also become the guideline of Yutong’s overseas strategy. With this guideline, the customers in the overseas markets began to be familiar with the Yutong brand gradually. Obviously, in Europe, a place that represents the world's highest level of bus technology, the customers have known not only the Chinese products, but also the Chinese company – Yutong.