At a signal from Tan Xuguang, chairman of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (Sinotruk), the company's 30,000th SITRAK product (Shandeka in Chinese) rolled off the production line on April 1, marking a new milestone for domestic high-end truck manufacturing.

SITRAK is a joint truck brand of Sinotruk and MAN SE, a German mechanical engineering company. The brand is designed for China and other emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

The brand's first product, SITRAK T7H, was unveiled at the Auto Shanghai 2011 motor show. It appeared on the market in 2013 and has become a well-known high-end heavy truck brand with the largest sales volume in the Chinese market.

Sinotruk, the Shandong province-based manufacturer, sold 87,000 trucks in the first quarter of this year, more than 50,000 of which were heavy trucks. Sales of medium and light trucks reached 35,000, greatly outpacing peer competitors.

Sinotruk has been the largest heavy truck exporter for 14 years in a row. It has offices in some 70 countries and is selling its trucks in around 110 countries and regions.

The company expects that half of its total sales will come from outside of China by 2020, said Tan.  

The 30,000th SITRAK product rolls off the production line at Sinotruk's Jinan site on April 1. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

SITRAK trucks are seen at Sinotruk's Jinan site on April 1. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 300 people witness the launch of the 30,000th SITRAK product on April 1 in Jinan, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]