King Long

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King Long (Simplified Chinese: 金龙客车; Pinyin: Jinlong Keche) is a bus production company in Xiamen, Fujian, People's Republic of China. It was founded in December 1988.

King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd. is one of the joint ventures with the longest history in coach manufacturing industry. The Company is now jointly owned by Xiamen Automotive Industry Corporation, Xiamen State-owned Assets Investment Co., Ltd and San Yang Industry Co., Ltd. from Taiwan, with the share proportion of each holder being 50%, 25% and 25% respectively.

The King Long facilities cover a total area of 200,000 square meters with over 1800 employees, of which 400 are technical engineers, 30 are postgraduates, who play a key role in different sections such as R&D, IT, production management, quality control, finance, sales and after-sales service of the company.

With the product policy of "full product category, high performance/cost ratio and fast development of new products", King Long has taken up a leading position among domestic coach manufacturers in the largest coach market in the world – China. King Long has been maintaining a close cooperation with a wide range of internationally well-known parts suppliers, including German companies MAN and ZF, American companies Cummins, Dana and Neway, French company Telma, and Japanese companies Nissan, Hino, and Mitsubishi. As a result of such cooperation, "King Long" has established itself as the synonym of top grade coaches as well as the symbol of marketization of coach manufacturing industry.

King Long currently offers 5 series of products, which are subdivided into 50-plus categories, covering various buses and coaches (6-13m), and winning popularity among tourism, passenger transport and city bus market. Additionally, King Long products are sold to overseas markets including Bulgaria, Singapore, Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Malta, United States, Argentina, Barbados, Hong Kong and Macau. King Long product also became the designated coach that served such significant national/international conferences and events as the National People's Congress, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Universiade, APEC, World Association of Chinese Entrepreneurs, CIFIT, etc. The Company passed ISO 9001-2000 quality certification in 2002, and "CCC Certification" in February 2003, making itself one of the first CCC-certified Chinese coach enterprises. The Company also passed VCA certification, winning the passport to European market. BAAB evaluated the Company as the "Bus Builder of the Year" in 2003, and the tourism coach series as the "Tourism Coach of the Year" in 2004. Driven by the tenet of "making world-class coach in China", King Long not only leads the efforts of the whole Chinese coach industry in upgrading technology of domestic brands, but brings the enjoyment of high-grade coaches more affordable to ordinary Chinese people as well. Therefore, Economic Daily published an article entitled "National Coach Made by King Long" in the front page, proclaiming King Long coach as the "national coach".

In June 2004, with the brand value of RMB4.908 billion yuan, "King Long Coach" was listed as one of China's 500 Most Valuable Brands released by World Brand Lab. In August of the same year, "King Long Coach" was evaluated as a "Famous Chinese Brand", becoming one of the most valuable brands in China’s coach manufacturing industry.

At the end of 2004, one of the key projects of Fujian Province and Xiamen City in 2005, relocating and technology upgrading project of King Long is formally launched. New plant site is located in Xiamen Automobile Industry City in Guannan Industrial Park, Jimei District, Xiamen. The project is to be constructed in two phases: Phase 1 covers an area of 25 hectares with the gross building area being 8.5 hectares, designed yearly production capacity being 6,000 coaches and buses. With a total investment of about RMB260,000,000 yuan, Phase 1 is expected to be completed and put into use by the end of 2005. Reserved area for Phase 2 is 15-20 hectares. Upon completion, the new plant will become one of the largest coach manufacture bases in China with an annual output of 13,000 coaches and buses of large and medium sizes.