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On Nov. 2, 30 electric buses made by Foton were delivered to Huairou, Beijing for APEC meetings. Soon, another batch of 70 Foton electric buses will be put into operation. In the meantime, the auto maker has officially signed agreement with Beijing Public Transport Group for selling 700 units of electric buses.
According Zhao Jingguang, Deputy-Secretary of the CPC committee of BAIC Foton, the company has been developing new energy vehicles since 2003. To date, the total number of new energy powered vehicles branded Foton has reached 30,000 units, including trucks, buses, and passenger cars. In the bus sector, over 15,000 units Foton new energy buses have been put into operation. In the capital alone, the company boasts a bus fleet of 6,000 units. By the end of next year, Foton new energy bus fleet is expected to reach 8,000 units.
From Jan. to Sept. this year, Foton posted a net profit of 301 million RMB, down by 42.17% year on year. In the meantime, its earning per share stood at 0.107 RMB and its operating revenue totaled 25.592 billion RMB, which is down by 1.13% year on year. The downward trend is mainly attributed to the gloomy macro-economic conditions and the obstacles met in the process of promoting National VI Emission Standards, according to Mr. Zhao. The data from highly reliable sources indicate that the production and sales volume of China’s commercial vehicles stood at 282,700 units and 287,600 units respectively, down by 19.3% and 16% year on year. In the first three quarters, the production and sales volume of China’s commercial vehicles reached 2.8397 million and 2.8454 million units respectively, down by 5.7% and 6.2%.
Despite the downward movement of its performance, Zhao Jingguang from Foton remained confident in the fast development of China’s new energy vehicle industry. By upholding Developing Bus First strategy, Foton is striving to provide vital solutions for the increasingly worsening air pollutions faced by many cities in China. Zhao Jingguang also admits that China’s new energy vehicle industry has already entered a new phase of development and believes that the competition in this field will become even more intense in the near future.