Sales Analysis of Tourism Bus Markets in Jan.- May 2010 Ⅱ

www.chinabuses.org: 3. Customers have higher requirements on appearance and fineness of the bus. We found that customers have higher and higher demands on modeling, appearance and comfort, and they don’t have so many requirements on power ability as for intercity coaches. That is because tourism buses don’t always run for a long time and it is a kind of enjoyment to take a tourism bus. Sometimes some beautiful and cheap buses with low prices will be purchased. According to our survey, 79% (77% last year) customers have higher requirements on appearance and interior trimmings, 84% (79.3% last year) customers have moderate demands on prices, and only 37% (38% last year) customers have high requirement on performance. It means that target customers in tourism markets pay more attention on appearance and interior trimmings. 

4. In terms of segment markets, s buses pricing 250,000 to 350,000 RMB saw the biggest sales, and then it comes 500,000 to 600,000 RMB buses. That is for tourism buses valuing these pricing have the best cost performance and high rate of return on investment. 

Table 3 Comparison of tourism buses among different pricing Jan to May 2010 (Unit: ten thousand)

Figure 3 Comparison of tourism buses among different pricing Jan to May 2010

　　
It can be seen from above that:

Sales of tourism buses in the first five months are mainly 250,000-350,000 RMB (4,389 units, 29.61%), 500,000 to 600,000 RMB (3,624 units, 24.45%), 350,000 to 400,000 RMB (2,264 units, 15.27%). 13,275 buses with price lower than 600,000 Yuan were sold, taking 89.56% market share. And this can help bus builder to make a price on tourism buses.

　
5. Top grade tourism buses are still not the mainstream on tourism markets. Tourism bus above 700,000 Yuan took the least market share, and their target market is mainly top tourism spots, but the market is monopolized by some bus builders. Yearly needs for top grade tourism buses, above 700,000 Yuan, are about 300 units. There have been hundreds of top grade tourism buses in Jiuzhaigou, Changbaishan, and Wudangshan etc great tourism spots. And these customers usually have strict requirement on tourism buses, imported engine, transmission, air suspension, gate-type axle, imported steering system, SAX clutch, tubeless tire, luxurious interior trimmings and big windscreen with curved surface to meet customers’ needs on comfort, environmental protection and sightseeing. From Jan to May, 202 top grade tourism buses out of 14,822 tourism buses were sold, taking 1.36% market share. Top grade tourism buses cannot become the mainstream on the markets for two reasons; the first is that the price between 700,000 Yuan to 900,000 Yuan is too high for some customers, and the second is that target customers for top grade tourism buses are too narrow. Although the financial crisis has almost passed and operating profits of some tourism or chartered companies start to recover, their confidence and ability for purchasing top grade tourism buses are not the best.

　　
 6. Customers have diversified requirement on tourism buses in terms of power system and other configuration. In the first five months, customers had certain requirements on appearance and interior trimmings but different on configurations. Nearly all customers deemed that they have no so high requirements on grade which was different from coaches, but they have higher requirements in terms of environmental protection, comfort, as well as safety. For example, for 10.5m buses tourism buses ay equipped with YC6J245-30 engine and China made 145 axles, but for intercity coaches, they have to use YC6G270-30 engine and China made 153 enhanced axles with fine gear grinding. In terms of interior trimmings, there should be chairs for guide and speakers, flat floor sometimes, and open baggage rack. On the contrary, intercity coaches usually use comfort driver seat and hollow floor, double side baggage rack with segments and even aviation luxurious baggage cabins. In terms of tires, intercity buses usually adopt 295/80R22.5 tubeless radial tires to improve reliability and safety. And usual radial tires are enough for tourism buses.
　　

7. Sales concentration degree of tourism buses is low.