China Bus Maker King Long Continues to Grow Robustly

This year marks the 40th founding anniversary of Xiamen Economic Special Zone and the 33rd founding anniversary of King Long. Starting from the scratch, King Long has so far manufactured over 500,000 units buses and delivered 120,000 units buses to 140 countries and regions in the overseas market.

At 2021 China Top 500 Brands Conference held in Beijing in June, King Long ranked the 115th place with a brand value of 59.285 billion RMB.

On December 4, 1988, Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd. was officially established. Since then, it has been committed to developing and marketing high-end buses and coaches. In 1990, the first King Long bus went off the assembly line; in 1991, the bus maker rolled out China’s first 11-meter luxury coach; in 1995, it successfully developed the first generation of luxury city buses.

In early 2006, King Long’s new production base located in Guankou, Jimei District, started operation.

On December 7 this year, 71 units King Long 7-meter school buses embarked on their journey to UAE. Despite a host of challenges posed by COVID-19, King Long’s exports have been growing steadily.

Among all bus makers in China, King is the first to enter the Middle East market by exporting buses to Iraq. It is also the first to enter the Western Europe by delivering buses to Malta.

In recent years, King Long’s total export volume in over 60 Belt & Road countries accounted for 50% of China’s total export volume in these countries.

King Long always attaches paramount importance to innovation. In 2012, King Long State-level Bus Experiment Center started operation; in 2018, by cooperating by Tsinghua University, it won China’s Technology Advance Second Prize for its Shared Automotive Intelligent Driving Assisting Technology; in 2021, King Long won Model Enterprise for Technological Innovation, State-level Industrial Design Center, etc.

In 2000, King Long started developing new energy buses; in 2010, it launched its autonomous driving technology development program; in 2018, King Long Apolong, the world’s first L4-level autonomous driving bus, celebrated a new milestone as the 100th unit went off the assembly line; in 2020, King Long officially signed a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement with JD Logistics. According to the agreement, the two parties will work more closely to develop the new generation of King Long Dido autonomous driving logistic vehicles. So far, 134 units Dido autonomous driving logistic vehicles have been put into service in 15 cities across China.

In 2021, a red-colored King Long autonomous driving city bus officially started operation in Yongchuan District in Chongqing.

In November, 2021, King Long revealed its latest achievements: King Long Cloud Innovation Digital Factory and its Smart GO Intelligent Transportation Solution.

Currently, King Long intelligent buses & coaches are working smoothly in 39 commercial bus operation venues in 32 cities across China. So far, it has provided more intelligent transportation services to over 140,000 passengers.

As one of the leading bus makers in China, King Long has served a number of high-profile events, including 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2010 World Expo, 2012 London Olympic Games, 2017 BRICS Xiamen Summit, 2018 World Cup and Papua New Guinea APEC conference.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, King Long has been working hard to help governments and cities across the globe to fight against the virus. It has rolled out negative pressure ambulances and CT scanning vehicles and other vehicles for medical emergencies, etc., all of which have played a vital role in safeguarding people’s health.