China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Sinotruk”), formerly known as Jinan Automobile Manufacturing General Factory, was founded in 1930, which is the cradle of Chinas heavy-duty vehicle industry. In 1960, it produced Chinas first heavy-duty vehicle, the Yellow River JN150 8-ton truck, ending the history of Chinas inability to produce heavy-duty vehicles. On May 4, 1960, Chairman Mao Zedong inspected Jinan, visited the prototype and gave it high praise. On January 11, 1966, Chairman Zhu De inscribed “Yellow River” in his own handwriting. In the early stages of socialist construction, the “Yellow River” vehicle gained nationwide fame and made significant contributions to the development of the national economy and national defense construction, becoming one of the iconic achievements of the Chinese nations self-reliance and hard work. In 1983, under the care of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the Austrian Steyr heavy-duty vehicle project was successfully introduced, making it the first domestic enterprise to comprehensively introduce foreign heavy-duty vehicle manufacturing technology. “Steyr” once became a synonym for heavy trucks in China.
In 2007, Sinotruk successfully achieved a red chip listing on the main board in Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making it the first red chip stock in Chinas manufacturing industry to go public and initially establishing a platform for international development. In 2004, a new generation of independently developed heavy-duty trucks was born under the brand name of HOWO, which was introduced to the market in 2005, and achieved production and sales of more than 10,000 units in the same year, which set a new record in the history of Chinas heavy-duty trucks at that time. In 2013, SITRAK series products with independent intellectual property rights were formally introduced to the market, leading the development of China’s heavy-duty vehicle industry. In 2020, a new generation of high-end national brand “Yellow River” heavy-duty trucks was launched globally, leading Chinas heavy-duty trucks to become world-class.
Sinotruk mainly develops, produces, and sells various types of heavy-duty vehicles, special vehicles, specialized vehicles, engines, transmissions, axles, and other assemblies and automotive components. It has a full range of commercial vehicle brands such as Yellow River, SITRAK, and HOWO, and is one of the most comprehensive heavy-duty truck enterprises in Chinas heavy-duty truck industry in terms of driving forms and power coverage. It has three subordinate listed companies, namely Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited (Hong Kong red chip listed company), Sinotruk Jinan Truck Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen A-share listed company), and Zhongtong Bus Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen A-share listed company). Its products are exported to more than 110 countries and regions, accounting for half of Chinas heavy truck exports.
With the corporate vision of “building a world-class group of full series of commercial vehicles”, Sinotruk has accelerated the pace of independent innovation, continuously increased investment in research and development, introduced high-end technical talents, created a working and entrepreneurial ecology, and built high-end national independent brands. Sinotruk owns the first batch of nationally recognized enterprise technology centers, National Heavy Duty Vehicle Engineering and Technology Research Center, and National Heavy Duty Vehicle Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center, having all-round research and development and testing capability of vehicle, engine, parts, materials and technology, etc., and all kinds of high-precision and cutting-edge equipment of machining, experimenting, and testing, etc. The inspection and testing level of engine, vehicle and components such as vibration and strength testing has reached the world advanced level. The whole series of vehicles, key assembly systems and key technologies have reached the leading level in China, filling a number of gaps in the country and leading the technological progress of the industry. Sinotruk has been awarded the honorary titles of “Chinas Outstanding Innovative Enterprise” and “Chinas Quality Integrity Enterprise”, and the project of “Key Technology of Mechanical Auto-transmission Hybrid Powertrain Assembly for Commercial Vehicles and Its Industrialization” has won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award.
Since 2018, the new leadership of Sinotruk has led all the staff to conscientiously implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinpings important instruction of “Focusing on the main business without any distraction”, carried out a series of bold reforms, created a new ecology of passionate working, and entered the fast lane of high-quality development. In 2022, during the industrys downturn, it realized a counter-trend advancement, with vehicle sales of 249,000 sets and revenue exceeding 121.4 billion yuan, achieving the “double-first” in sales volume and market share, among which 89,000 sets were exported, creating a new record for the export of Chinas heavy-duty truck industry. In 2022, it ranks the 158th in the “Top 500 Enterprises of China”, the 69th in the “Top 500 Manufacturing Enterprises of China” and the 60th in the “Top 100 Most Valuable Brands of China”.
