Mini Bus
1, The Definition and Origin of the name of “Minibus”
Crossover passenger minibus is generally referring to vans. The van refers to the front and rear without a prominent engine compartment and luggage compartment, just like bread as a general name of the vehicle.
In the late 1970 and early 1980, China imported from Japan some “tools vehicle”. While China mainland does not have one, people feel the shape of the vehicle seems like bread. Moreover, there are no prominent positions before and after the vehicle, like a narrowing of the bus. While “Minibus” pronunciation is similar to “bread” in Chinese. And the nickname of “minibus” gradually replaced
There are many classification methods of Passenger Minibus, usually by function and set number classification.
6-8 seats: This is a very normal passenger minibus. It is used for passengers or cargo.
9-12 seats: The traffic law requires that the student shuttle bus must be a 9 seater or more-seat vehicle passenger minibus. Therefore, it is often used for the student shuttle bus, station wagon, or commercial vehicle.
13 seats or above: This vehicle is a little bit special as it is close to a bus. But it also used for minibus or cargo. Meanwhile, it could be transferred to a recreational vehicle. Those who want to purchase a recreational vehicle but with a limited budget could buy a passenger minibus to modify. This would be a good choice no doubt.
Commercial minibus: Commercial minibus combined the characteristics of minibus and commercial minibus, but on the use and the exterior. It is more like a minibus. Compares with traditional passenger minibus, the commercial minibus is more official and commercial.
2, Output of the Passenger Minibus
Data from the “Report on the Market Status Quo and Future Development Prospect of China’s Crossover Passenger Vehicle Industry (2020-2026)” released by Intelligent Research Consulting Group. It shows that passenger minibus is cheap, diverse, economic, and practical, and can be widely used in many industries. In modern society, the passenger minibus as an important member of the automobile family. From 2014 to 2019, the production of crossover passenger minibus in China decreased year by year. In 2018, the production of crossover passenger vehicles in China was 420,100 units. China produced 402,000 crossover minibus in 2019, down 4.31 percent at the same period of last year.
3, Export of Passenger Minibus in January to March in 2020
According to the data from the China Automotive Industry Association, the export unit of the minibus is only 2,583 units in March 2020. While compares the same period of the previous year declined 14%, from January to March 2020. It has declined 17.9% compared to the same period of the previous year. Also for the reason of COVID-19, the export of passenger minibus declined to a very low point.
4, Export of Passenger Minibus in January to February in 2021
Data from China Automobile Industry Information Network, from 2017, China automobile export performs well, China automobile has a positive increase of 6% in the year 2018 and 2019. It declined 13% from January to December in 2020. But it has been increased 85% from January to February in 2021, the export pressure has been released gradually.
The core power of export market growth continues to be passenger vehicles, particularly in many countries. Such as the Middle East and Africa where exports have been relatively strong, and markets such as Europe and Mexico where exports have been relatively strong recently. The new energy vehicles overall performance great, although the export of new energy low-speed vehicles decreased a lot. And the export of new energy vehicles to Europe grows rapidly.
New energy performs well in 2020. While the plug-in and hybrid models should also be return products of the joint venture. New energy passenger minibus units turn better. Average of 26,000 units in January and February of 2021, the percentage reaches 25% which much higher than domestic.
5, Overseas Marketing Pattern of Automobile
a, Analysis of regional trend
Exports from 2017 to 2020 are on a gradual recovery trend, mainly contributed by the African and European markets. Recently the market share of Europe have an outstanding performance, and the export to North America in the past two years has formed a trend of continuous and substantial increase. It has fallen recently. Africa and South America have recovered slightly.
b, Vehicle export monthly trend
The main vehicle export is mainly Chile, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and other markets, Russian market, Sweden and Australia market are relatively strong performance. Moreover, even this time the Belgian market has become the incremental core market
c, New energy export characteristics analysis
China’s new energy vehicles export are mainly expanding in the European market and South Asian market. In particular, the European market increased by 50,000 units. Western, Northern, and Central European markets are all doing well.
6, The Export of Chinese Passenger Minibus
The export of passenger minibus and minivan is mainly at 1.5L to 2L. This is also the comprehensive advantage of the Chinese passenger minibus. Major increasing markets are European and American developed countries during the COVID-19 period in January to February in 2021.
The main export markets of passenger cars are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other markets. It has small capacity, large fluctuations, and high trading risks. A sharp contraction in demand in Vietnam and fluctuating export performance in Angola and North Korea in the past few years are also characteristically complex trading patterns. The export of minibus to developed countries is less, which does not reflect the real advantage of passenger minibus.