PANG Qingnian, a Man with Unending Entrepreneurship
14 May 2009
In China’s bus & coach building industry, the mere mention of PANG Qingnian could immediately make people stand in awe for this self-made businessman from Zhejiang. Currently as president of Zhejiang Youngman Automobile Group, PANG has led the company to grow into the first privately owned enterprise that boasts manufactories for buses, trucks and sedan cars at the same time in China.
Born in 1958, PANG Qingnian barely finished his elementary school education. However, he displayed intelligence and ingenuity from an early age. With a pair of sharp eyes which can often observe what other people fail to see, PANG Qingnian in his early teens was well aware that to succeed takes a creative mind and some guts.
In early 1980s when China started to open to the outside world, PANG Qingnian earned his first barrel of “gold” by running a factory producing rubber belts. In 1986, his small chemical factory involved in manufacturing tyres for bikes started operation. In less than four years time, the factory has developed into the largest of its kind in China. By then, PANG became the top leader sitting over RMB 100 million assets and taking command of over 2,000 employees.
In mid 1990s, PANG with an ambitious plan, entered luxury bus & coach building industry. Through cooperating with an internationally famed bus & coach builder, Neoplan Bus GmbH which is owned by Germany-based Man AG, PANG’s Youngman Group quickly took the dominant position in China’s luxury coach market. Karlheinz David, general manager of Neoplan was invited to China and he was greatly impressed by PANG Qingnian, who he described as “a robust entrepreneur”.
On Oct. 25, 2006, 545 units of luxury Youngman buses started their travel from their birthplace Jinhua city in Zhejiang to Beijing. The bus fleet was bought by BOCOG (Beijing Olympic Committee for Olympic Games) to add some “green element” to the capital’s public transport networks. Thanks to their high fuel economy and comparatively lower costs, BOCOG was able to cut its spending on new bus procurements by RMB 300 million (about USD 43.97 million).
While making staggering success in the bus & coach building sector, PANG Qingnian did not rest in ease. On the contrary, he was racing against time to enter high-end truck and sports car markets in China. By tying the knots with MAN AG, a well respected truck maker in Germany, Youngman rolled out its first MAN-branded heavy-duty truck in Jinhua Youngman Truck Production Base in Aug. 2004. In early 2008, PANG Qingnian finally lured British stylish sports car Lotus to China. At a press conference, PANG claimed again and again that he wanted Chinese people to buy the world’s best car with the lowest price.
PANG Qingnian, a trail blazer and a common entrepreneur with uncommon ambitions, is now leading Youngman Automobile Group to enormous growth year after year by standing on the shoulders of global giants while relentlessly pursuing self-innovation.
Source : english.chinabuses.com
Editor : Mark
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