The "Hardcore" Overseas Expansion of Chongqing's General Machinery Industry Belt: Exports of Mechanical and Electrical Products Exceed 450 Billion Yuan | Frontline News

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Peng Xiaoqiu

In the factory workshops in Chongqing, numerous mini-tillers, generators, and energy storage devices are being packed and shipped to various parts of the world. Behind these seemingly ordinary mechanical products lies an unknown figure: the annual production and sales volume of Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industrial belt exceed 14 million units, accounting for half of the national total. Among them, the output of mini-tillers accounts for two-thirds of the national total. These products are not only sold to traditional markets such as Eastern and Central Europe but also shipped across the ocean to Southeast Asia, South America, and other regions.

Chongqing, once known as the "Capital of Mini-tillers in China," a southwestern manufacturing cluster, is now undergoing a profound transformation - from an "invisible champion" in OEM and private-label manufacturing to a "global innovation highland for general-purpose machinery" with its own brands going global.

"Previously, we were always at the bottom of the smile curve. Now, we need to extend towards both ends," said Zhao Ming, the deputy general manager of the General-Purpose Machinery Division of Loncin Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Loncin General-Purpose Machinery"), describing the changes in Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industrial belt.

The "smile curve" he mentioned vividly outlines the typical dilemma of Chinese manufacturing: being stuck in the low-value-added processing and manufacturing stage for a long time, while high-value-added R & D and brand marketing are controlled by foreign enterprises.

Actually, the development process of Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industrial belt is quite representative, having gone through four stages of transformation: "technology foundation (Third Front Construction) → scale expansion (rise of private enterprises) → integration with foreign capital (technology upgrade) → intelligent upgrade (green manufacturing)."

Now, Chongqing has formed a complete industrial chain from component manufacturing to complete machine assembly. In the field of agricultural machinery equipment, Chongqing is known as the "Capital of Mini-tillers in China," and the city's mini-tiller output accounts for about two-thirds of the national total; in the field of general-purpose machinery equipment, the annual production and sales volume exceed 14 million units, accounting for half of the national total.

This advantage of the entire industrial chain is being transformed into strong international competitiveness. In 2024, the export value of Chongqing's mechanical and electrical products reached 454.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, among which general-purpose machinery products accounted for an important share.

As durable industrial products, the logic of general-purpose machinery products going global is completely different from that of fast-moving consumer goods, and the road to the international market is full of challenges. "It's unlikely for us to create a blockbuster product with thousands of orders a day," Zhao Ming admitted. "The unit price of general-purpose machinery is not low, and customers buy them out of necessity."

In addition, a greater challenge comes from after-sales service. Xie Fuman, the person in charge of the Intelligent Terminal Division and E-commerce Marketing Center of Shenchi Electromechanical Co., Ltd., told Yingke that "our products belong to the mechanical category, which requires users to have certain basic knowledge." Different from the "plug-and-play" feature of electronic products, generators or mobile energy storage devices require users to know how to add engine oil and gasoline, as well as basic maintenance methods.

"After-sales issues are even a matter of life and death," emphasized Zhao Ming. "A high return rate will directly erode profits." This has prompted Chongqing's general-purpose machinery enterprises to elevate the construction of service networks to a strategic level.

In response to this pain point, Chongqing's enterprises going global have shown their unique skills, including video guidance, establishing a second-hand transfer mechanism, and building a third-party service network.

Currently, in the new round of global industrial transformation, Chongqing's general-purpose machinery enterprises are actively planning for technological upgrades.

On the one hand, "Generators below 2000 watts are gradually being replaced by energy storage products," said Zhao Ming. Compared with traditional generators, energy storage devices have advantages such as low noise and zero emissions. With the progress of battery technology and chip technology, their charging speed and battery life are constantly improving.

On the other hand, the integration of general-purpose machinery products with AI will become the mainstream of industrial development. Although currently limited by the imperfect big data, the intelligent performance has not reached the ideal state, but the industry generally believes that this is an inevitable direction. "In the future, energy storage products will be a more suitable uninterrupted energy supply for household needs," Xie Fuman described. "Users won't even notice a power outage, and the power will be automatically restored."

As a representative enterprise of Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industry going global, Shenchi Electromechanical Co., Ltd. achieved sales of over 40 million on Amazon in 2024. Among them, the business growth rate of Amazon Business exceeded 20%. Loncin General-Purpose Machinery launched on Amazon in 2024 and achieved a sales increase of 4 million yuan in about three months at the end of the year. Among them, B2B orders from French, Spanish, and Italian sites accounted for more than 10%.

Facing the future, Chongqing's general-purpose machinery enterprises show clear strategic thinking. Zhao Xin, the general manager of Haimaitong, believes that "within the next five years, there should not be new products that can directly disrupt the existing pattern in the general-purpose machinery field." This means that the direction of competition needs to be more focused on user needs, avoiding "closed-door" development and truly feeding back market needs into product design.

Xie Fuman believes that there are still many unique usage scenarios in the general-purpose machinery market that have not been explored, and these niche market segments may become new growth points. At the same time, brand building needs to be strengthened, and customer loyalty should be cultivated through high-quality products and after-sales services, so that customers are willing to buy new models or accessories.

The path of Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industrial belt going global is not an overnight success, nor does it rely on marketing gimmicks. Instead, it has won the recognition of global consumers step by step through solid process accumulation, keen market insight, and persistent innovation investment.

As Zhao Ming summarized, "When we truly establish the awareness of independent innovation, the products that are originally made by us will naturally go global." Perhaps this is the most valuable experience of Chongqing's general-purpose machinery industrial belt going global.