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CNHTC short for China National Heavy Truck Corporation, and an alias of Sinotruck, has announced plans to restart the bus production, which the company cancelled a couple of years ago but reinstated in 2008. One of the CNHTC truck makes, Howo, has got the green light for a bus project in Jinan, which recently showed its first citybus rolling off the assembly line.
Sinotruck and her partners will jointly invest 77.624 million U.S. dollars in the Jinan Ho Yuk bus project, now that the plans have been accepted by the local government.
Sinotruck Howo citybus
The project will be mainly be engaged in the development and production of buses and bus chassis, using the skills of the Sinotruck truck engineers. The new CNHTC bus division is planning to start with the production of 2000 buses per year, increasing the number to 10,000 units per year. The Ho Yuk Bus company, as it is named, is jointly owned by the Hong Kong listed China Heavy Truck (Hong Kong) International Capital Limited and Heavy Duty Truck Group Jinan Power Co., Ltd. The new division will occupy a new plant in Shandong Zhangqiu, covering about 645 acres.
In the past the bus production by CNHTC was carried out by the China Heavy Duty Truck Group Jinan Bus Co., Ltd, which is still existing as a legal entity and is expected to get a new role within the company, though remaining active in the bus segment.
The first vehicle produced by the new Ho Yuk bus division will be a city bus, of which already 110 have been ordered by the city Of Jinan. The bus has a length of 12 meters and is powered by a Steyr engine. CNHTC is co-operating with MAN in the truck fiel, using among others MAN cab designs for a number of its models. In the future this co-operation could be expanded to bus and coach development, according to company representatives.