Twitter headlines« UK Rental Car Company to Add CO2 Metric to Car Groups | Main | Transit Agency Finds Total Operating Cost of Its Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses 32X That of Diesel »
China Youngman Plans to Ship 1,000 CNG Buses to the US Within 12 Months
26 February 2008
A US-China bus distribution partnership between Youngman Automobile Group and ZAP plans to ship 1,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses based on technology from Germany-based Neoplan to the US within the next 12 months. Depending on the final vehicle specifications, ZAP expects to price these buses between US$175,000 to US$230,000, typically half the price of comparable buses in the US market. The partners project revenues of $200 million by 2009.
Following last month&rquo;s announcement, ZAP has been appointed as the exclusive importer and distributor for these buses within North America. Lotus Engineering Inc., the US-based subsidiary of Lotus Engineering, will lead the homologation and US certification process, which is expected to take a few months to complete. The Company expects to deliver its first shipment by fourth quarter of 2008 under the ZAP brand.
For the last fourteen years we have been building luxury motor coaches based on German standards of quality in partnership with Neoplan and we are number one in our domestic market. Now for the last four years we have managed to penetrate into the international market, selling in countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Europe and The Middle East. The US is one of the last and prize trophies for us. With Chinese-based economics and German-based quality, I believe our buses offer the best quality at half of the price.
—Pang Qingnian, Chairman and President of China Youngman Automobile Group
China Youngman Automobile Group and ZAP also plan to open an assembly plant to carry out the final assembly in California.
Youngman’s engineers shall be working with the engineering team from Lotus Engineering to ensure the products meet the certification requirement for the US market. The team will be working on a 12-meter CNG bus as their first product to hit the US market.
February 26, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: John H | February 26, 2008 at 01:51 PM
The above comment not brought to you by anyone working for ZAP. Honest.
Posted by: Hans | February 26, 2008 at 03:36 PM
Does anyone know if any of these buses have pre-determined locations as to where they will be operated?
Posted by: phronesis | February 27, 2008 at 09:18 AM
And recent legislation from both Houses indicates the general prohibition of import licenses for materials created by slave labor has passed through Committee. Those who trample human rights - will have no markets.
Posted by: sulleny | February 27, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Yes, a great company..
Another company using cheap chinese labor to import a product that was formerly made in the US with US workers. Also remember that Natural Gas (NG) is a scarce commodity like oil. Every bus and car using NG means more imported NG. It also means higher rates for home heating, in essence a regressive tax. NG also contributes to global warming. This is in every way worse than US built hybrid busses. Which are themselves worse than electric busses.
Something to think about: US manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of the US economy and supports up to 30% of the jobs in this country. Every imported product needs to balanced with an exported project or financial investment in the US. If not, the value of the US dollar drops. A drop in the dollar means everyday things like food, gas, and clothing are more expensive. The recent drop in the dollar is due to our trade deficit (500 billion +) cathing up to us. Cars and busses are one of the few products that can be bought made in America at a similar cost to imported products.
In Summary, buy American whenever possible or this recession will be longer and worse. Also, write Toyota and Honda to manufacture hybrids locally. Toyota only makes about half of their cars in the US. Honda makes nearly as much domestically as Ford or GM.
Posted by: Ryan Guffey | February 28, 2008 at 07:08 AM
to the above comment, remember that while Honda has a high domestic parts content, they still have most of their R&D taking place back in Japan -- so they support much less of the economy than GM, Ford, or Chrysler. Although I am not sure of this, I believe more of the parts that go into a GM/Ford/Chrysler vehicle are made here, whereas more of Hondas and Toyotas are made in Japan.
Posted by: James Masospaghetti | February 28, 2008 at 04:48 PM
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef00e5509685798834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference China Youngman Plans to Ship 1,000 CNG Buses to the US Within 12 Months:
This is great news. Zap! really is a great company, aren't they? First they start way back with electric scooters. Then they move onto electric cars. Now they are tackling mass-transit solutions too? That rocks! I already can't wait to see the Obvio 828e on the road and have been lusting over there Zap Alias