On June 25th, the new Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicles Dalian plant was completed and put into operation, which also marks the 20th anniversary of Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicles' localization in China.

　　 What role has Knorr-Bremse played in the development of commercial vehicles in China? How will it empower the domestic commercial vehicle industry in the future?

　　 With these questions in mind, Transportation People conducted an in-depth interview with Dr. Jürgen Steinberger, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CTO of Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems Europe, and Xu Baoping, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Knorr-Bremse Asia Pacific.

　　Achieving comprehensive localization and promoting high-quality transformation of the industry

　　 In Dr. Jürgen Steinberger's opinion, China's commercial vehicle market is undoubtedly undergoing a period of great change.

　　 He points out that while there are similarities between China and Europe in terms of truck architecture, Europe requires a high level of efficiency and reliability to ensure stability during operation. In contrast, China has focused more on cost control in the past, but this is changing. He cited the example of braking systems for tractor-trailers and dangerous goods vehicles, where China is moving towards electronic braking systems, which are integrated with European standards.

　　 Speaking about automated driving technology, Dr. Jürgen Steinberger expressed his surprise at the rapid development in this field in China. He emphasized that Knorr-Bremse's focus on highly automated driving is on the actuators for highly automated driving, which is the area of redundancy, including aspects such as redundant brake control, redundant steering systems and redundant power management to ensure safe driving. In China, Knorr-Bremse is already working closely with a number of companies and truck manufacturers to advance the development of highly automated driving.

　　 In the face of changing market demands and the rapid growth of commercial vehicle technology in China, Dr. Jürgen Steinberger emphasizes that Knorr-Bremse still has core strengths in the areas of quality, safety standards and highly reliable software development.

　　 The company has significantly increased the number of software staff and doubled its investment in research and development in recent years in order to meet the challenges of the market,” he says. At the same time, Knorr-Bremse's localization strategy in the Chinese market has yielded significant results, with almost all of its products already produced locally, and the next step being the introduction of the production of the EBS system to further satisfy the needs of commercial vehicle users in China.”

　　 Dr. Jürgen Steinberger pointed out that Knorr-Bremse's achievements in the Chinese market not only highlight its own leading position, but also contribute to the booming development of China's manufacturing industry. In the future, Knorr-Bremse will continue to increase its investment in China and promote the localization of more products.

　　Witnessing the speed of catching up and looking forward to continuing to lead in the future

　　 Knorr-Bremse's first step towards localization in China began with the establishment of Dalian Hengde in 2004. Xu Baoping pointed out in an interview that Knorr-Bremse has witnessed the great progress of China's commercial vehicle industry over the past 20 years.

　　 He mentioned that China's trucking industry has gone from a “low tech” state to one that is now equipped with EBS safety systems, a level of technology that is almost comparable to that of the trucking industry in Europe and the United States. This braking system technology not only reflects the maturity of China's commercial vehicle industry, but also Knorr-Bremse's leading technological strength in supporting the development of commercial vehicles in China.

　　 Due to the similarities in vehicle architecture and legislation between Europe and China, Knorr-Bremse has been able to easily introduce European technologies into the Chinese market and work with its customers to improve the safety and maturity of Chinese trucks and buses. Xu Baoping proudly points out that Knorr-Bremse has established a solid supply chain base in China, not only serving the Chinese market but also exporting components to Europe, contributing significant value to the global commercial vehicle industry.

　　 Xu Baoping and Dr. Jürgen Steinberger share the same view on the subsequent development strategy. They both believe that Knorr-Bremse's investment in the Chinese market is a strong indication of confidence in its long-term strategy. Even in the face of market volatility, the trend of technological upgrading in the Chinese truck market remains solid, and the market size still matches the combined output of Europe and the United States.

　　 At the same time, Xu Baoping firmly believes that China's commercial vehicle industry will not only be satisfied with the domestic market, but also aggressively expand into overseas markets in order to realize rapid technological upgrades.

　　 To this end, Knorr-Bremse has not only invested heavily in manufacturing and R&D, but also actively recruited and cultivated talents. It has attracted many engineers and software engineers to join the team and work globally to contribute wisdom and strength to the commercial vehicle industry in China and the world.

　　 Xu Baoping mentioned that China's position in new technologies has changed fundamentally. Today, China is not only a recipient of new technology applications, but also a leader in new technology innovation.

　　 For example, in the field of highly automated driving, Knorr-Bremse's technology was first applied from China, a trend that will continue over the next 20 years. He looks forward to seeing more of the world's leading technologies realized for the first time in China, driving China's commercial vehicle industry to new heights.

　　 Looking back at Knorr-Bremse's development in China, from the initial introduction and production of a full range of products in Dalian Hengde and Knorr-Bremse Dalian one after another, to the completion of Knorr-Bremse's Shiyan plant in 2021, which will push forward the synchronized development of its traditional mechanical products and electronic and electrical control systems. By 2022, the establishment of Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems China (Suzhou) R&D Center will mark the further deepening of Knorr-Bremse's efforts in the field of intelligentization. Today, Knorr-Bremse has significantly increased its production capacity with the opening of its new plant in Dalian.

　　 As China's localization process enters the next two decades, Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicles has the ability to rapidly introduce advanced European technologies into the country, and with its close cooperation with many domestic component suppliers and OEMs, and with the advantage of China's rapid development of high technology, it is not only driving its own growth, but is also able to feed back into and lead the development of the global market.