Xiamen King Long United Automobile Industry Co, a major bus maker in China, aims to generate one-third of its bus sales from overseas within three to five years, up from the current 15 percent, a senior executive said yesterday.

King Long, with two holding companies in Suzhou and Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province, has been pushing aggressively beyond its home market, which has grown crowded with powerful rivals such as Yutong Group, Ankai Auto and Volvo AB's local ventures.

"We plan to raise the export ratio to 30 percent in about three to five years as we strive to achieve 20 percent this year," said Richard Zhang, general manager of King Long's overseas business, at yesterday's Busworld Asia 2007 industry expo.

The Shanghai-listed company, which holds less than one-fifth of China's bus market, sold roughly 24,000 buses in 2006, with exports hitting 2,400 units, in contrast to its 11 percent of bus sales generated overseas in 2005.

"Our target for the overseas market is 1.7 billion yuan a year in the next three to five years from the current 1 billion yuan," said Zhang.

It plans to press further into Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America and particularly Europe. King Long is currently the sole Chinese player in the European market, thanks to the VCA certification the key to entering Europe granted by the British authorities in 2005.

Domestic bus manufacturers are racing around the globe to seek opportunities as China's bus market, where sales topped 130,000 units last year, is crowded with more than 100 manufacturers.

Yutong Group, German truck maker MAN AG's Chinese partner, also plans to generate one-third of bus sales from outside China in three to five years, a jump from the current 8 percent.

"The domestic market is large but growth is slow, so we will make efforts in this regard as well," Zhang said.

He also said that King Long, like most other Chinese manufacturers pushing sales overseas, is doing its utmost to lower production costs to offset the disadvantage triggered by the appreciation of the yuan.

Bus makers are also investing heavily in innovation and competing to roll out new models.

King Long, Yutong, Ankai, Foton and Anyuan Industrial Co were among those unveiling new models at yesterday's expo, which had 180 exhibitors including 18 manufacturers.

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