With the successful holding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 2024, the economic and trade cooperation and humanistic exchanges between China and Africa have reached a new height. As an advanced representative of China's automobile industry, Dongfeng Motor is writing a new chapter in the African commercial vehicle market with its excellent products and services. Through a series of innovative initiatives and stable layout, Dongfeng Motor has not only enhanced its brand influence in Africa, but also further consolidated its position as an important player in the African commercial vehicle market.

01 Steady growth in commercial vehicle sales witnesses market breakthrough

This year, Dongfeng Motor has been performing well in the African. Among them, the sales in West Africa are particularly outstanding, and the annual sales are expected to increase by more than 30% growth year-on-year. This achievement not only demonstrates the strong competitiveness of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles in the African market, but also lays a solid foundation for its subsequent market expansion.

02 Events Receive Warm Response, Brand Building and Marketing in Two-Pronged

Dongfeng Motor is aware of the importance of brand power. In the first half of this year, Dongfeng successfully held an international trade fair and a large-scale launch event in Zimbabwe, which quickly attracted widespread attention through high-profile activities.

As the largest machinery exhibition in Zimbabwe, “ADMA Exhibition” attracted global attention. Through in-depth market research, customer interviews and benchmarking analysis with competitors, the commercial vehicle overseas marketing department of the company formulated a series of product launch plans. In this exhibition, they targeted to display a variety of models such as tractor, dump truck, garbage compactor and truck-mounted crane, etc. These models not only attracted many local customers to visit, but also won their highly. Customers gave positive feedback on the appearance design, driving comfort, engine matching and power performance of Dongfeng products.

In this regard, representatives of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Housing and Construction said, “Dongfeng's excellent products have brought more comprehensive models and more advanced technologies to the Zimbabwean market, which have strongly promoted local development.”

Representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe also attended the launch event and delivered a welcome speech, “Expressing great happiness to see more domestic models in Zimbabwe and feeling proud of the rapid development of automobile technology in our motherland, we look forward to a brighter performance of Dongfeng Motor in Zimbabwe.”

The product launch of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle in Zimbabwe has not only successfully opened up the local commercial vehicle market, but also greatly enhanced the popularity and influence of Dongfeng brand in the region. Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles will conduct sales and services in more than 20 outlets and service stations in Zimbabwe, providing local customers with more convenient and efficient services.

According to the official statistics, the two events attracted more than 5,000 industry experts, media reporters and potential clients to participate, with a warm atmosphere and frequent interactions. Through on-site demonstrations and personal experience, the excellent performance and advanced technology of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles have been widely recognized, and brand awareness has been significantly enhanced. In addition, Dongfeng Motor expects to organize key clients Day in the second half of this year in an innovative form, aiming to deepen the connection with customers through a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere and further consolidate its market share.

03 Customer Word of Mouth and Continuous Improvement of After-sales Service System

In view of the special characteristics of overseas markets, Dongfeng Motor has taken a series of innovative measures to improve the after-sales service system. In the absence of overseas parts warehouse, Dongfeng provides business support to major customers and agents, dispatched additional professionals, conducted training and other means to ensure that clients can obtain parts and technical support in a timely manner. This all-round after-sales service mode not only enhances customers' trust and satisfaction, but also lays a solid foundation for the long-term development of Dongfeng in the African market.

As a large multinational automobile group, the Zimbabwean partner has 10 years of friendly trade relations with Dongfeng, however, the agent complained frequently due to the heavy damage of the vehicles arriving at the port. In order to solve the customer's problems quickly and efficiently, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle's Southern Africa regional marketing team made concerted efforts to break down the problems one by one from the source of the problems and investigated in detail the links of production and dispatch, transportation routes, arrival at the port in Africa, and storage of vehicles. In the field of products, in order to adapt to local regulations and policies, user habits and other issues, the regional marketing team has been stationed on the front line for a long time, and has had in-depth exchanges with the core management of the partners in all aspects, sorted out the commodity information and user needs, and adaptively adjusted the product configuration. By changing the exhaust arrangement, tire selection specifications, reflective markings, and optimizing the up-loading configuration, etc., we have made every effort to adapt to the local market customers' using habits. In the field of service training, in order to let customers understand the problems of “how to buy parts” and “how to find parts catalog faster”, Dongfeng professional team patiently trained local staff to learn about the parts system of Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles, vehicle maintenance methods, and provided three automobile service manuals, etc., and took customers' feedback suggestions to make sufficient pre-sale and after-sale service preparations. Through a series of initiatives to reverse customer evaluation, laying a solid foundation for subsequent deepening of cooperation.

04 Future Planning｜Deepen Plowing and Lead the High-end Market

In the future, Dongfeng Motor will continue to deepen its layout in the African market, especially in the field of commercial vehicles. In the second half of the year, Dongfeng will establish an independent network in Zimbabwe and introduce new trucks, continue to expand the sales channels, and meet the diversified needs of local and Chinese clients in the form of “dual-line operation” of local agents and Chinese agents.

In the coming years, the Commercial Vehicle Division plans to establish more sales and service outlets in major African countries to better meet the needs of local customers. At the same time, Dongfeng Passenger Vehicles will also actively introduce its high-end electric vehicle brands such as VOYAH and MHERO to bring a greener and smarter traveling experience to African customers. By continuously improving product quality and service level, Dongfeng Motor is confident that it will continue to lead the African commercial vehicle market and become a trusted and favorite automotive brand of African people.

The convening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) provides a new opportunity and platform for cooperation between Dongfeng Motor and African countries. Dongfeng Motor will make full use of this opportunity, continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with its African partners, and jointly promote China-Africa economic and trade relations to a higher level. Through a series of measures such as continuously plowing into the African market, enhancing brand influence and improving after-sales service system, Dongfeng Motor is gradually becoming a leader in the African commercial vehicle market.