‘'We are ready for Europe,' says Cairns Jiang, the general manager of Chinese bus manufacturers Zhongtong. The company aspires to grow here with European partners.
Zhongtong is still a rather strange-sounding name in the western world, but in China, Zhongtong buses are part of the street scene. The company, founded in 1958 with the Chinese government as its largest shareholder, is the immense country's leading manufacturer of buses and touring coaches. Zhongtong, a company with 4,600 employees, builds public transport vehicles from 5 to 27 metres long.
'From city buses to coaches with all existing drives such as electric vehicles, hybrid types, hydrogen buses, fuel cell cars and on CNG fuel: all types are produced by Zhongtong,' says Cairns Jiang. The manufacturer also assembles vehicles in Turkey and South America and is active in 107 countries, including Germany, Spain and Portugal.
The general manager sounds determined. 'We have all homologations for European standard norms. Eighty per cent of our production comprises electric buses. Our goal is to belong to the top class with more luxury and safety for passengers. In Europe, we want to grow with partners but they can be either manufacturers, banks or government institutions.'