Demand for remanufactured vehicles revving up

Nawej Makal Styno, an automotive business manager at Celeste Agency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, traveled to a vehicle remanufacturing park in Tianjin's Binhai New Area last month to inspect a batch of heavy-duty trucks that had just rolled off the production line and placed the first order.

The trucks that caught Styno's eye were not brand-new, but remanufactured vehicles. In March 2025, the Botian-Farizon Used Vehicle Remanufacturing Industry Demonstration Park began construction on an 11-hectare site in the modern industrial zone of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area in Binhai.

The park delivered its first batch of remanufactured commercial vehicles last month, a year after construction began. After passing comprehensive quality inspections, the 20 Geely heavy-duty trucks will be exported to Nigeria, Ghana, the DRC and other countries for long-haul freight and engineering construction.

"The DRC is a developing country, and we need these kinds of trucks," Styno said at the park. "We will order one for trial use, and if it works well, we will come back and place more orders."

For many consumers, remanufacturing remains a relatively unfamiliar concept. It is different from refurbished vehicles and offers a cost-effective transportation option that is in high demand in developing countries in Africa, Central Asia and beyond.

According to industry expert Zheng Zuochao, remanufacturing refers to the professional repair or retrofitting of old automotive parts that can be reused, ensuring that the quality, safety and environmental performance of the finished used vehicles is not lower than that of new models.

"The used vehicles we purchase are generally those with partial functional damage or technological obsolescence," Zheng said. "Unlike traditional repairs, which focus on fixing a single fault, remanufacturing requires fully disassembling the vehicle, inspecting, repairing or replacing each component, and finally reassembling it into a complete vehicle."

Zheng noted that the first batch of remanufactured heavy-duty trucks, for example, underwent a full-process standardized production chain — including recycling and sorting of old parts, deep disassembly, precision cleaning and repair, multidimensional inspection, standardized assembly and adjustment — before final delivery. Each step followed the original assembly standards of Geely commercial vehicles, and every component is traceable.

"Our core technology allows the performance of remanufactured key components to reach more than 95 percent of new parts, and the early failure rate can be kept below 0.5 percent," Zheng said.

Industry data show that compared with manufacturing new products, remanufacturing can save 60 percent of energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent. At the same time, remanufactured products offer significant price advantages, providing overseas customers with a highly cost-effective option.

"The price of remanufactured heavy-duty trucks is about 50 percent of that of new vehicles," Zheng said. "Although the park has not yet reached full production, we have already received inquiries from abroad, especially from countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. There is strong demand for cost-effective transport vehicles."

On the demand side, Africa is in a period of rapid economic growth, with strong demand for commercial vehicles in infrastructure, mining, logistics and other sectors. According to a research report by China International Capital Corp, mining investment demand remains strong in Indonesia, the DRC, Tanzania and other regions, and the growth potential for heavy-truck demand in Asia, Africa and Latin America is sustainable.

China's commercial vehicle market, characterized by a large existing inventory and a wide range of vehicles in use, has also created urgent market demand for the remanufacturing industry.

Chinese commercial vehicles have clear advantages in terms of cost performance. Last year, China's exports of heavy-duty trucks increased 12.5 percent year-on-year to 371,000 units, of which 149,000 were exported to Africa, up 60 percent year-on-year.

Zheng said the demonstration park is expected to be fully completed next year, with an annual production capacity of 10,000 vehicles and an output value exceeding 1.5 billion yuan ($217.9 million). It will become the largest used vehicle remanufacturing project in North China.

In the future, the park's remanufactured used vehicles will be mainly exported to countries and regions participating in the BRI, including Tanzania, Nigeria and Zambia in Africa, as well as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia.

"We support highly customized services. Depending on customers' actual operational needs, we can make personalized adjustments to power configuration, loading capacity and other aspects to precisely adapt to road conditions, transport scenarios and operational requirements in different regions," Zheng said.

However, the export of remanufactured used vehicles still faces challenges. Remote after-sales service is a widespread concern in the industry.

Zheng said the company will rely on centrally administered State-owned enterprise resources and Geely's overseas network to solve global after-sales service problems and provide overseas customers with timely and reliable maintenance and spare parts supplies.

Yue Yihong, director of the Northern Park Administration Bureau of TEDA, said the Binhai New Area has a multidimensional transportation network, including ports and roadways, as well as a well-developed warehousing and logistics system with strong regional reach.

These provide unique location advantages for the transport of raw materials and the export of finished vehicles for the commercial vehicle remanufacturing industry, Yue said.

"At the same time, the national strategic direction of vigorously promoting the circular economy and accelerating the achievement of the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals has opened up broad development space for the used vehicle remanufacturing industry," he said. "As remanufactured heavy-duty trucks head overseas one after another, what they carry is not just products, but also a green solution made in China."

Zhou Jianan contributed to this story.