Foreign Firms Use MATS as Way to Enter U.S. Market

This story appears in the March 30 print edition of Transport Topics.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Companies from China and Taiwan, including China’s largest truck manufacturer, formed the biggest foreign contingent at the Mid-America Trucking Show here for the second year in a row, seeing the show as a good way to enter the U.S. market.

Some of the Chinese and Taiwanese companies expressed disappointment their booths attracted fewer visitors than they expected, saying the limited traffic might have been the result of the recession or their location in the Kentucky Exhibition Center here.

Most of the Chinese exhibitors had small booths in the exhibit hall’s vast West Wing, where many North American companies offering products for drivers were located. Because none of the Chinese companies came to sell major components or complete vehicles, they didn’t need the larger spaces allotted in the two main wings.

A few Chinese companies that have made inroads in the North American market, including Double Coin Tires — an option on International Trucks — and CIMC Vehicles Group Co. — owner of Vanguard National Trailer Corp. — displayed in the main halls, where most major U.S. truck industry suppliers were located.

But Peipei Chang, export manager of Cheetah Automotive Products Co. Ltd., Taichung, Taiwan, was somewhat disappointed. “We heard that this meeting was the biggest trucking show in America, but this week has not been so good,” Chang said.

“It is our first year here. We’re really interested in the U.S. market,” Chang told Transport Topics.

Yuhui Liu, project manager for truck manufacturer China FAW Group Import and Export Corp., said, “We know that America has a very big truck market, and we want more important action in this field, and that’s why we’ve come here for the first time.”

Liu said FAW also hoped to find distributors at MATS, “but we have seen mostly truck drivers at this show, looking for accessories for their vehicles.”

Liu works for the international arm of state-owned FAW Group Corp., which says it is the largest truck manufacturer in China. On its Web site, FAW said it sold 1.2 million vehicles in China in the first nine months of 2008, including 142,388 medium- and heavy-duty trucks — up 15% from 2007.

“FAW sells only to distributors or manufacturers, so that we have gone to other sections of the show to talk directly to exhibitors in our target market, and we have made contacts that way,” Liu said. “We won’t know until much later whether we’ll return next year.”

Toby Young, president of Exhibit Management Associates Inc., which organizes MATS, said that companies are located according to how they are booked.

“Different Chinese agencies ordered blocks of booths, with one, for example, asking for 18, and all asked that they be grouped together,” Young said. He said 54 companies from China and Taiwan were at the show this year; the next largest foreign contingent was from Canada, with 52 companies.

Cherrie Cai, export manager for privately owned Fuhe Automobile Industrial Fittings Co. Ltd., based in Foshan, China, said her company makes trailer axles.

“We’re still looking for a way to open up a path to the American market, and we’re here to look for opportunities,” Cai told TT. “We first heard about this show three years ago, that it’s the biggest and most professional in the country, and we studied truck shows for two years before deciding to come here.”

Cai said that she thought it was “somewhat unfortunate” that her company chose this year to attend because of the difficult economy, “where not many businesses are seeking new products.”

Cai and other Fuhe representatives were visiting American booths to find buyers and have developed contacts.

Kim Tsai, president of Mobiletron Electronics Co., said that his company, based in Taiwan with a manufacturing plant in China, makes spare parts for trucks, tire pressure monitoring systems and side-view mirrors. It employs 1,500 people.

“We sell now mainly to Taiwan and China, but we want to sell to the U.S. market, and for that, we need distributors,” he said.

Frith Zhou, sales manager for Yuhua Industrial Group, Ningbo, China, said the company produces “a wide variety of metal parts and joints for truck engines and frames.”

“We already supply original equipment manufacturers of trucks in Europe and now want to enter the U.S.,” Zhou said.

“This is our first time here. We want to have a look at this exhibition and see if it is a way to find a business partner that we want to supply,” Zhou added. “There are a lot of people attending this show but not a single buyer. I have gone to visit other parts of the show and did make contacts, though.”