Industry Reshuffling Ministry of Industry and Information Technology intends to implement admission system for school bus companies

School bus production companies must not have been warned or punished by relevant departments for product quality and safety issues within three years. Yesterday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the draft for the "Provision of Private School Bus Production Enterprises and Product Access Management Rules" (hereinafter referred to as the "Access Rule") to implement an admission system for school bus production enterprises.

According to the document, school buses will be divided into two categories. One is a light-dedicated school bus, which includes more than seven seats including drivers and escort seats. The length of the bus is greater than 5 meters and no greater than 6 meters. The other type is large and medium-sized private school buses, including more than seven seats including drivers and escort seats, with a length of more than 6 meters and no more than 12 meters.

In terms of access conditions and assessment of school bus production enterprises, the requirements of this document are very detailed, referring to 33 standards and conditions. For example, a school bus production company must have no record of warnings and penalties due to product quality and safety issues from the competent department of the State Council or the local provincial government agency within three years. The total production and sales volume of passenger cars (including chassis) for the first three years of application for the enterprise shall not be less than 3,000, or the cumulative sales volume of large and medium-sized passenger cars (including chassis) shall not be less than 1,000.

In terms of the design and development capabilities of school bus products, the documents have very detailed provisions on vehicle design, system design and so on. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology indicated that the deadline for the solicitation of comments for the solicitation of comments is June 1. Relevant companies and the public can submit proposals to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology within the period of soliciting opinions.

Special school bus enterprise access conditions (part)

Within three years, there is no record of warnings and penalties by the competent department of the State Council or the local provincial government department for product quality and safety issues.

The total production and sales volume of passenger cars (including chassis) for the first three years of production capacity application shall not be less than 3,000, or the cumulative sales volume of large and medium-sized passenger cars (including chassis) shall not be less than 1,000 units.

The development should establish a dedicated school bus product development department (institution), unified responsibility (coordination) product design and development of the entire process.

The product shall establish a complete product mark and traceability system from the key component assembly supplier to the entire vehicle. The product inspection and test data archive period is not less than 8 years.

After the sale, a computerized information system should be established to record school bus products and user information (the retention period should not be less than 8 years), and collect and record information on the quality, maintenance and use of school bus products.

â–  expert statement

1 School bus companies face reshuffle

The "Access Rule" is the first time that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set a threshold for the entry of a certain type of automotive product manufacturer. A person in charge of the brand management department of Xiamen Jinlong Bus Company stated that this shows that the country is continuously pursuing the management of the school bus industry, and will definitely exclude some school bus manufacturers with insufficient technical strength, marketing ability and service capacity.

“Originally there are at least 80 domestic school bus production enterprises, and at least half of the enterprises will be eliminated after the “Special School Bus Safety and Technical Conditions” comes out. Today, as the “Access Rule” is about to enter the implementation stage, the school bus industry will face further Shuffle.” The person in charge of the Golden Dragon Bus said.

Yutong coach a school bus technical person in charge said that before the country's management of the school bus industry is mainly directed at the product itself, there is no strict threshold for enterprise production qualifications, at present, many commercial vehicle companies are doing school buses. The “Access Rule” makes strict establishment of school bus production qualifications. Once the implementation of the industry's deterrence is still great, because the school bus production without qualified companies will not be able to go to the Ministry of Industry and Information Products Bulletin.

2 Modified cars may disrupt the school bus market

SAIC Datong, a marketing department official said, "This is lower than the discussion draft standards, the scope of production enterprises has been relaxed, modified car companies can also get school bus production qualifications, which will make school bus manufacturers in a disadvantage."

Relative to the production of large and medium-sized school buses, SAIC-Datong specializes in light-duty private school buses under 6 meters in size, which will allow it to face the competition of modified car companies. “The investment in R&D, technology, and quality management of school buses directly produced by OEMs is much higher than the cost of school buses made through refitting. Therefore, the market price will definitely be higher than that of refitted school buses, which may lead to future modifications. The school bus has disrupted the market with low price competition," said the person in charge of SAIC Chase.

In view of the implementation of the “Special School Bus Safety Technical Conditions”, many school bus manufacturers are currently improving their products to reapply for new school bus product announcement catalogues. Yutong, Jinlong and SAIC Chase officials all said that the school buses produced by themselves have reached new national standards in terms of safety standards, and they only need to fine-tune their size and configuration. However, the person in charge of the brand management department of Jinlong Bus stated that at present there are no new third-party certification agencies for school bus products.