OREANDA-NEWS. In the presence of customers, trade associations, government officials and media, Scania and Higer inaugurated a new, state-of-the-art bus and coach factory in Suzhou, China. The new factory will exclusively build Scania Touring and Scania-Higer dual-branded high-end buses and coaches.

In his speech to the invited guests, Scania´s President and CEO Henrik Henriksson referred back to the start of the Scania-Higer cooperation ten years ago, when he was a newly-appointed manager of Scania´s bus operation – and how he had been convinced back then that such a cooperation would be of great benefit to both parties.

“Now, ten years later, we can see that this cooperation has grown into a successful project, although it has developed differently from what we first thought it would be. I think both parties expected that China would be the main market for our cooperation, but as it has turned out that most of our joint products have been sold overseas. To date, we have sold close to 2,500 premium coaches to over 40 overseas markets, and we are the leading exporter of premium coaches out of China,” Henriksson explained.

Growing demand

Demand for high-end coaches vanished in the Chinese market due to the financial crisis in 2008, a trend reinforced by the extensive investments in high-speed trains over the following years. But with a growing and increasingly resourceful Chinese middle class, demand for long-distance travel by high quality buses and coaches is on the rise again.

The unique relationship between Scania and Higer is seen as one of the most successful commercial vehicle cooperations in China.

Scania´s newly-appointed Senior Vice President Buses & Coaches, Karin Rådström, believes the new factory could be key to a comeback for high-end buses in the Chinese market.

“China is developing very fast, and we expect the premium coach and bus operator market to re-emerge soon here in China. When it does, the customers will be asking for world-class quality. And as we already today build the best coaches ever produced in China, I´m totally convinced that the market in China will soon take off,” Rådström said.