How did Ankai Bus start and how did it decline? Let’s talk today.

The history of Ankai Bus can be traced back to 1966.

In July of that year, the Anhui Provincial State-owned Feihe Auto Repair Factory was established. Its main tasks were to repair cars and produce simple auto parts (5 types). After three years of development, Feihe Auto Repair Factory has been able to produce 6 assemblies and 32 accessories for 5 models.

In 1970, the name was changed to Feihe Auto Parts Factory. In September of the same year, two JAC HF150 8-ton trucks were successfully trial-produced. At the end of the year, two AH360 dump trucks were trial-produced. The next year, JAC HF150 was included in the national plan, with an annual output of 200 units.

In the next ten years or so, the main job of Feihe Auto Parts Factory was to produce JAC HF150 trucks. The annual output in 1979 was 870 units, and in 1985 it had the annual production capacity of 1,500 JAC HF150s.

During this period, a lot of things happened at Feihe Auto Parts Factory. In 1975, it was renamed Hefei Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant and was incorporated into Anhui Automobile Industry Company in the same year.

In 1981, the production of HF680, BK651 and BK670 bus chassis began. The next year, based on the JAC HF150 chassis, we cooperated with Hefei Mining Machinery Factory to trial-produce the HF352 7-ton dump truck. It passed the provincial technical appraisal at the end of the year and was mass-produced in 1983.

Also in 1983, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant trial-produced the JAC HF150A long-wheelbase truck, and won the Excellent Design Award at the National Auto Show Review.

That year, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant produced 1,100 vehicles, completed an industrial output value of 41.82 million yuan, and profit and tax exceeded 10 million yuan, becoming the largest profit maker in the mechanical system in Anhui Province. In 1984, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant paid 10 million yuan in profits and taxes, ranked first in the national heavy-duty vehicle industry in three economic indicators, and won the Gold Cup Award for Economic Efficiency.

For a long time after that, the main business of Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant was the production of truck and bus chassis, and with the development of the times, bus chassis gradually occupied a dominant position.

In 1987, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant produced the HFF682 bus chassis based on Steyr 91 series technology; in 1989, it developed 11 types of high-end buses and special chassis for double-decker buses.

Later, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant was no longer satisfied with only producing bus chassis, but also began to produce buses on its own, including HFF6120KS double-decker buses.

In 1993, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Plant signed a SETRA (Setra) technical cooperation agreement with the German Case Bauer Company and introduced the S215HD luxury bus. The following year, the first domestic fully loaded luxury bus - Anhui Casebauer S215HD was launched.

It introduced toilets, televisions, telephones and other facilities into buses for the first time, becoming the most luxurious domestic bus at that time. Of course, the price of this car is also very high, more than 2 million yuan.

In 1995, Feihe Automobile Manufacturing Factory was renamed Anhui Ankai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. And Ankai is the abbreviation of Anhui Kesbauer.

Two years later, Ankai Automobile Group initiated the establishment of Anhui Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd., which was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in July of the same year, raising 328 million yuan. Also in this year, Ankai Co., Ltd. registered the Ankai trademark.

It is worth mentioning that during this period, Ankai Automobile Group also established Anhui Ankai Vehicle Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Basically all the bus chassis produced by Ankai Co., Ltd. are sold to this company. After restructuring in 2005, it began to operate independently from Ankai Automobile Group. Later it was renamed Anhui Xingkailong Bus Co., Ltd. and was later reorganized by Hefei AVIC New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

Let’s continue talking about An Kai.

In December 2001, Ankai reached a second round of cooperation agreement with Germany and introduced SETRA? S315HD luxury buses.

Also in this year, Ankai launched a new generation of luxury passenger cars such as 6890K17, 6892K18, and 6101K05, with 12-meter, 10-meter, 9-meter, and 8.5-meter luxury passenger cars.

The following year, Ankai built the luxury bus production base with the largest scale and the most advanced technology in my country at that time, and successfully completed the safety rollover test. However, also in 2002, due to a single product, fierce competition, and price reductions, Ankai lost nearly 40 million yuan.

Ankai adjusted its strategy in a timely manner, applied full load-bearing manufacturing technology to the field of urban buses, and developed GK50, GK15, GK61, GK63, GK64 and other series of urban buses. In addition, it has also developed operating buses such as K55, WK33, and WK62, and tourist buses such as K57, K58, and K59. As a result, Ankai turned losses into profits in 2003, with annual sales of more than 2,000 buses and chassis.

Since then, Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd. has undergone equity changes. In 2003, Ankai Group transferred 26 shares it held to Anhui Investment Group Co., Ltd., and in 2004 it transferred the remaining 28.118 shares to Jianghuai Automobile Group. At this point, Ankai Group and Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd. have completely drawn a clear line, and Jianghuai Automobile Group has become the largest shareholder of Ankai Co., Ltd.

However, Jianghuai did not bring "good luck" to Ankai. In 2006, Ankai suffered losses again, and the amount was as high as 118 million yuan. In the following years, Ankai's annual net profit hovered between 20 and 30 million yuan. It was not until 2010 that it finally reached a historic breakthrough of 80 million yuan. Also that year, Ankai Automobile's annual output exceeded 10,000 units.

From 2010 to 2016, Ankai Automobile's sales exceeded 10,000 units for seven consecutive years, reaching a peak of 12,400 units, ranking the highest among similar passenger cars at fourth place; the annual net profit once reached 119 million yuan, and the annual net profit once reached 119 million yuan. The average net profit was 53.6 million yuan. During this period, Ankai launched a number of new products, including HFF6127K46EV, HFF6903KZ-8, HFF6124K40, HFF6100LK10D, HFF6100G03PHEV, etc., and also won multiple awards, such as BAAV? Annual Environmentally Friendly Bus Award, AAV? Annual Comfort Bus Award, etc.

However, by 2017, due to changes in the market environment, increasing competition, and adjustments to new energy subsidy policies, Ankai's sales fell sharply, with sales falling to 8,717 units and a loss of 230 million yuan; it continued in 2018 fell, with sales of 7,337 units and losses as high as 893 million yuan. In 2019, with the help of 557 million yuan in new energy subsidies, Ankai finally turned a profit, with a profit of 33.62 million yuan, while sales continued to fall to 5,692 units.

Also in 2019, CRRC Investment acquired 21.30 shares of Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd. from Jianghuai Automobile Group and Anhui Provincial Toutou, becoming the new largest shareholder.

However, Ankai's situation still has not improved.

According to the performance forecast released by Ankai Co., Ltd., it is expected to lose 35-50 million yuan in the first half of 2020. And this is the figure after receiving government subsidies and transferring 40% of Anhui Ankai Foton Shuguang Axle's shares. Without these additions, Ankai's losses in the first half of the year would have exceeded 100 million yuan.

The former leader of China's luxury buses has pushed itself into a dead end. (Text/Che Totem)

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.