Made in China, conquer Qatar!
A World Cup has allowed the people of Qatar to see the power of made in China in addition to football. Recently, the prince of Qatar, who looks like the mascot of the World Cup, opened a Tiktok account at the request of Chinese fans. On the first day, he just posted “Hello”, and then he gained tens of millions of followers. The total population of Qatar is 2.658 million. In less than one day, his fans exceeded the total population of Qatar.
Moreover, Yiwu products shocked Qatar again. As small as horns and whistles, as large as footballs and jerseys, Yiwu manufacturing has directly taken over 70% of the market share of the entire World Cup products. During the World Cup, the shuttle buses that transport officials, media staff, and fans to and from the stadium are Yutong buses from China. In 2020, Qatar imported 1,500 buses from China, including 888 electric buses, setting a new record for the largest overseas order of electric buses by Chinese bus companies. As early as 2016, Yutong Bus accounted for 15% of the global share and was exported from China to France, the United Kingdom, Israel, Venezuela, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. Yutong’s road to global domination is due to the entrepreneurial spirit of its boss Tang Yuxiang.
1. The early days of Yutong Bus
Before the establishment of Yutong Bus, 37-year-old Tang Yuxiang had worked in the bus factory for nearly 20 years. At this time, he was just a manager. At that time, Chinese-made buses had a product weakness: the technology was not perfect, and the comfort was extremely poor. Tang Yuxiang immediately led a team to develop China’s first sleeper bus. This sleeper bus became famous as soon as it came out. In 1994, the total sales of buses in China dropped by 11.17%, while the sales of Yutong buses increased by 98%, which was 109% higher than that of the bus industry in China. Since then, Yutong Bus has been on a smooth journey, reformation has been smooth, and in 1998, the largest bus production base in Asia was built. At the same time, Tang also reached the peak of his career and became the chairman of Yutong Bus in 2001. Under his leadership, the sales of Yutong Bus increased 19 times from 1997 to 2003. In 2003, Yutong was the top in the Chinese bus industry. In 2008, China’s first long-nosed school bus was born in Yutong. Since 2017, Yutong’s annual revenue has exceeded ¥30 billion.
2. Yutong goes global
After becoming the top in China, Yutong decided to go abroad. Previously, other colleagues tried to do, but they all failed and left a bad impression on the local area. Tang decided to change this situation. He pointed out that they must first build up the reputation of Chinese buses and make Chinese brands dignity in the world. In 2006, Yutong sold more than 1,000 buses in Cuba, but more than a year later, more than 200 of them could not be driven. As a result, Tang found out that because the warranty period of the car expired, Cuban customers had no money to buy accessories. He immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss solutions with his employees. In the end, Yutong quickly established a maintenance station and a service station in Cuba. Once the car breaks down, maintenance personnel can rush to the scene at any time. By 2008, such problems had been completely resolved.
Winning the respect of other countries is not as easy as just relying on products. During the economic crisis in 2008, auto companies such as Japan and Germany left. At this time, only Yutong did not leave, but also increased investment. With this incident, Yutong’s market development in Cuba became smooth, and by 2016 its market share exceeded 90%. In the Venezuelan market with a weak public transport background, Yutong not only sold buses but also established six repair stations in the local area. Many Chinese after-sales service engineers and 10 Venezuelan after-sales service engineers are on call at any time, and a training system has been established. Now, Yutong has successfully done business in more than 50 countries including France, the U.K., Israel, Venezuela, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia.
3. Good reputation of Yutong Bus
There is another reason for the good reputation of Yutong Bus. In the face of the growing industry, Tang Yuxiang did not forget his employees. Tang specifically proposed guarantees for the life, medical care, and education of employees and their families. When developing the Cuban market, living conditions were difficult. When he learned about this incident, he immediately asked people to buy a lot of food that was convenient for transportation and brought them to Cuba. In Yutong Bus’s 2020 financial report, there are two surprising data: one is the company’s employee expenses. The employee expense of Yutong Bus will be as high as ¥2.66 billion in 2020. The other is that R&D staff salaries account for half of the R&D expenses. Yutong spends more than one billion yuan for R&D every year. Yutong is willing to spend money on talent. Not only that, Yutong Bus’s dividends are very crazy. When the net profit is ¥3.5 billion, it distributes ¥3.3 billion to shareholders.
Conclusion
From the beginning of this World Cup, there was a joke: “Except for the Chinese football team, everyone else has come.” The irrigation and maintenance of the lawn of the World Cup football field are provided by Chinese University. Qatar’s first solar power station was built by China. In order to receive millions of fans, Qatar has set up 6 fan villages across the country. These more than 10,000 sets of container houses were also built by Chinese companies. Tang Yuxiang of Yutong Bus said that he would rather sell hundreds of buses than break the brand on the market. The Chinese football team did not come, but the “national team” has come.
