Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1608 Volvo Heavy Truck

It is quite difficult to develop domestic heavy trucks.

In the 90s, domestic heavy-duty vehicles were mainly concentrated in the four companies under China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Corporation, namely Jinan Heavy Duty Truck, Shaanxi Automobile Manufacturing Factory, Sichuan Automobile Manufacturing Factory (now SAIC-IVECO Hongyan) and Hebei Changzheng Automobile Manufacturing Company ( too procrastinating). The products of the four companies occupied most of the domestic heavy truck market at that time.

However, in the early 90s, the only heavy trucks in China that could mass-produce heavy trucks were the Steyr heavy trucks from Jinan Automobile Factory and the Taituo heavy trucks from Hebei Changzheng Automobile Factory. The former was expensive and had a high failure rate, while the latter had a small output and poor reliability. , So from this aspect, China's heavy truck industry in the early 90s was too weak and not very competitive. Duan Yun wanted to make some achievements in this area, and the difficulty of the project would be much less than that of light trucks and medium and heavy trucks.

The heavy trucks of the Soviet Union are still very powerful. Although their mechanical technology is not as good as that of Europe and the United States, they have their own unique design, and they are also the best in the world in terms of vehicle load capacity and performance in adapting to extremely cold environments.

In the Soviet Union, there are many factories capable of producing heavy trucks over 12 tons, and 6 of them are particularly famous.

The six companies are Belarusian Minsk Automobile Plant, Ulyanov Automobile Plant, Ural Automobile Plant, Gorky Automobile Plant, Frunze Automobile Assembly Plant, Lvov Automobile Plant, and Kryminy Zug Automobile Plant .

The annual output of these heavy-duty automobile factories can reach about 10 to 15 vehicles, the largest of which is the Belarusian Automobile Factory, which accounts for almost 1/3 of the heavy-duty truck production in the Soviet Union.

In addition to the huge output of heavy trucks in the Soviet Union, the load capacity is quite amazing. Some models can even reach a rated load capacity of about 20 to 40 tons, but the limited load capacity far exceeds this figure. Some are used for military weapons vehicles, while others are All are used to transport minerals.

Many of the Soviet auto experts who were invited to China by Duan Yun’s Tianyin Group were technicians and senior engineers from Soviet heavy-duty truck production plants, and two of them were core technicians from the Minsk Automobile Plant in Belarus. Duan Yun has already expressed his willingness to work in China, and Duan Yun also promised him a high salary and benefits.

In addition, there are dozens of technicians from other heavy truck manufacturers in the Soviet Union who have expressed their willingness to work in China, and signed a work contract with Duan Yun in private. It is estimated that they will be able to handle the matter after a while. After completing domestic affairs, he officially became an employee of Tianyin Group.

The arrival of these Soviet engineers and technicians will allow Duan Yun to quickly master the core technology of Soviet heavy trucks, and on this basis, develop heavy trucks that are more suitable for domestic demand.

However, although Duan Yun can introduce Soviet experts on a large scale, Soviet factories and equipment cannot be imported, because the Soviet Union is a socialist country after all, and several large-scale heavy truck manufacturers are state-owned. , Compared with Europe and the United States, it is also slightly behind, so it is very difficult to introduce Soviet automobile production lines and equipment, and the value is not high.

Therefore, if Duan Yun wants to quickly have a production line capable of mass producing heavy trucks, he must introduce production lines from other countries.

Among them, Volvo, which was founded in Sweden, became Duan Yun's first choice.

At the beginning of the birth of Volvo trucks, trucks were only a supplementary form of transportation such as wagons, railways, and sea transportation. However, today, trucks have developed into the main means of transportation for transporting goods. The development of Volvo trucks has always been, and countless It can be said that the development history of Volvo trucks is the development history of the current trucks. This Volvo truck has become the most powerful heavy truck company in the world.

Compared with Soviet trucks, Volvo trucks have strong advantages in terms of safety, reliability and the convenience of improving the driver's working environment. In the 70s, Volvo launched F10 and F12 trucks, setting a new industry standard, such as in the cab Installing a base with coil springs improves seating comfort and simplifies the driver's backrest. The new F-Series trucks also feature large windows that expand visibility for enhanced active safety. In addition The engine is upgraded to a turbocharged type, which makes the truck more powerful.

In the summer of 1985, with the launch of FL6, FL7 and FL10, Volvo really started to test its skills. These two new truck series included many innovative technologies. The powerful 10-liter 7-horsepower engine can be described as a standard in trucks. In the 10s, truck technology was seriously improved, and engine technology was further developed. The power was stronger and the impact on the environment was smaller. With the gradual application of air suspension devices , trucks do less damage to road surfaces, and much less damage to fragile cargo.

Until now, this new model of Volvo is still very popular all over the world, but the F-series trucks, which were born in 1978, have undergone several facelifts, but they still look old. The production cycle of more than ten years has already It made him unable to adapt to the transportation requirements of the new era, so since 1985, Volvo has formulated a truck plan for the 90s and began to launch a new generation of new flagship models, which were officially born in 1993. And he was named the International Truck of the Year twice later, which is enough to prove his strong strength.

At present, the Volvo Group does not have any business organization in China. In fact, until 1994, the Volvo Group established its first Chinese office in BJ.

The main reason for this is that in the 80s and early 90s, Japanese cars were the most popular imported models in China, followed by the German Volkswagen Santana. Other foreign car companies had very little business in China, and At that time, the Chinese market was not valued by European and American countries.

However, it is not easy for Duan Yun to buy a Volvo heavy-duty truck production line. The latest car production line is not willing to sell even if it is rich. Transfer, even if it is transferred, the price will be very high, which may cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Even Tianyin Group, the largest private enterprise in China, can hardly afford such a price.

However, if it is an automobile production line that is too backward, it does not mean much to Duan Yun. Many backward automobile production lines in Europe, America and Japan have been introduced in China before, but the technology of the produced automobiles is backward, and the sales volume is very poor. It is difficult to recover the cost. ...

(End of this chapter)