Youngman (officially China Youngman Automobile Group Co., Ltd.) () was a Chinese manufacturer of

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and trucks located in

Jinhua Jinhua is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the east, and Shaoxin ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province. The company was founded in 2001 by

Pang Qingnian Pang Qingnian (; born 1956) is a Chinese businessman and owner of Youngman Inc. He was born in Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 ...

and also used to manufacture automobiles. However, its passenger car business appears to have ceased operation by mid-2015.

Name

"Youngman" is an English literalization of the name of the company's founder, Pang Qingnian.

History

Youngman was founded in 2001 by

. In the early-2000s the company formed joint ventures with two German companies - a bus manufacturing venture with

Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It became a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE in 2001. History Early days The company was founded by (1903–1993) in Stuttgart in 19 ...

(at the time known as ''Gottlob Auwärter GmbH & Co. KG'') and a truck manufacturing venture with

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

. After an increase of orders, the manufacturer has built plants in the cities of

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng ...

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

Quzhou Quzhou is a prefecture-level city in western Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the upper course of the Qiantang River, it borders Hangzhou to the north, Jinhua to the east, Lishui to the southeast, and the provinces of F ...

and some other places to meet the high number of orders. In September 2006 Youngman established a joint venture with the Iranian state-owned carmaker

Iran Khodro Iran Khodro (, ''Irān Xodro''), branded as IKCO, is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. IKCO was founded in 1962 as Iran National (, ''Irān Nāsionāl''). The public company manufactures vehicles, including Samand, Peugeot and Rena ...

for the manufacture of Iran Khodro's Samand and Soren models at Youngman's Tai'an plant, with parts supplied by

PSA Peugeot Citroën Peugeot S.A., trading as Groupe PSA () (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles and motorcycles under the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhal ...

. In October 2019, Youngman formally completed the bankruptcy process, with eight people in the group also being prosecuted for related crimes.

Proton

In November 2006, Youngman became the official Chinese importer for the British sports car maker

Lotus Cars Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles. Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...

. In another joint-venture with the Lotus Group which was closed in December 2008, Youngman assembled Lotus and

Europestar Europestar (, ) is a Chinese automotive sub-brand of the British Lotus Group plc. The brand is the result of the joint-venture with the Chinese Jinhua Youngman Vehicle Co., Ltd. The brand was also known as Qingnian Kuaile () or . The vehicles ...

branded cars in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

for the Domestic Chinese and export market. The units receive a Chinese independent brand to differentiate itself from the British sports car models. With the Lotus joint venture, Youngman is engaged in secondary activities as the exclusive importer of American automotive brand ZAP. Both brands had its China debut at the Beijing International Auto Show in 2009. In 2007, Youngman acquired the American electric car maker Detroit Electric (company), with the intention of manufacturing vehicles for the North American market. In May 2008 it was reported that Youngman had signed two major agreements with the Malaysian carmaker

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

. The first was for the import of 30,000

Proton Gen-2 A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an electron (the proton ...

models from Malaysia to China over two years, to be sold under the

marque as the RCR. The second was a licensing deal for Proton's Lotus-designed Campro engine, whereby Proton would sell 150,000 complete knock down units to Youngman over the subsequent six years. In June 2010 Youngman had announced that it would be making an investment of CNY 4 billion in the construction of new manufacturing facilities in Haining, Zhejiang Province, for the production of passenger cars, alternative energy powertrain systems, vehicle bridges, transmissions and inner and exterior auto components. It is unclear what has happened to this manufacturing site since Youngman exited the passenger automobile business. The Proton-Youngman joint venture contract expired in 2012, but Youngman continued to unofficially produce Proton's products up until early 2015. Between mid-2009 and February 2015, Youngman Lotus had reported total production figures of 196,234 rebadged CKD GEN-2 and

Persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

units, of which 189,872 were reportedly sold. However, by mid-2015, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) stopped reporting Youngman Lotus sales numbers because they were "way off" from registration numbers. Youngman Lotus had ceased production and sales altogether by mid-2015. In February 2015, Proton announced that they would revive their joint venture with

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

-based Goldstar, and would not renew their contract with Youngman.

Saab

On 28 October 2011 it was reported that Youngman and the Chinese automotive retailer Pang Da Automobile Trade Co had agreed a joint 100-million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

(

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

140 million) takeover of the Swedish carmaker

Saab Automobile Saab Automobile AB () was a automotive industry, car manufacturer that was founded in Sweden in 1945 when its parent company, Saab AB, began a project to design a small automobile. The first production model, the Saab 92, was launched in 1949. ...

and its

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

dealer network unit from

Swedish Automobile Spyker Cars (, ) is a Dutch sports car brand held by the holding company Spyker N.V. (formerly known as Spyker Cars N.V. and Swedish Automobile N.V.). The modern Spyker Cars company held the legal rights to the brand name. The company's mot ...

, with Youngman and Pang Da taking 60 and 40 percent stakes respectively. Both Chinese companies pledged to invest 610 million euros ($844 million), prompting a court to extend the manufacturer's protection against creditors. In December 2011 General Motors (GM) blocked the Chinese buy out, since GM has technology licenses in SAAB. Saab's restructuring process was granted, and the plan was that in 2014 the company would have had a positive equity. The restructuring process would have removed 500 employees from Saab, saving about €100,000.00, according to the restructuring plan.

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

rejected the deal with Youngman and Pang Da on 7 November 2011, although unsuccessful discussion to convince GM continued for a month. On 19 December 2011, chairman Victor Muller was forced to file Saab Automobile for bankruptcy following the failed buyout by a Chinese consortium, which was blocked by former parent GM to prevent technology transfer. On 6 March 2012 an Indian news paper reported that at least two companies have placed bids for complete SAAB Automobile buy out. These are

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Mahindra and Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra is an Indian automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group, M&M is one of the lar ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's Youngman. It is reported that these bids are in the range $300 million to $400 million. On 13 June 2012 it was announced that the

National Electric Vehicle Sweden NEVS AB (an abbreviated form of "National Electric Vehicle Sweden") was a Swedish electric car manufacturer which acquired the assets of Saab Automobile from a bankruptcy estate in 2012. After facing numerous financial difficulties, the compa ...

had bought Saab Automobile's

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

estate.

Spyker joint ventures

In August 2012, Youngman agreed to acquire 29.9% of the Dutch luxury sportscar maker Spyker N.V. for €6.7 million, and the companies agreed to form two new joint ventures. The Spyker P2P joint venture will focus on the development of a new luxury sports utility vehicle, with ownership split 75:25 between Youngman and Spyker respectively. The Spyker Phoenix joint venture will focus on the development of a range of premium cars based on Saab's Phoenix platform, with ownership split 80:20 between Youngman and Spyker respectively.

Products

Passenger cars

Youngman sold passenger cars in China under the Youngman-Lotus marque. Products included the L3 and L5 models, and are engineered with the assistance of the United Kingdom-based Lotus Engineering. Products are listed as below: * Youngman Lotus L3 Hatch * Youngman Lotus L3 GT Hatch * Youngman Lotus L3 Sedan * Youngman Lotus L5 Sportback *

Youngman Lotus L5 Sedan The Youngman Lotus L5 is a Compact car, compact sedan and liftback sedan (automobile), saloon produced by Europestar, a Chinese automotive sub-brand of the British Lotus Cars, Lotus Group plc. The brand is the result of the joint-venture with the C ...

*Youngman Lotus T5 File:Youngman Lotus L3 hatch China 2012-05-02.jpg, Youngman Lotus L3 Hatch File:Youngman-Lotus L3 GT hatch 3 China 2015-04-06.jpg, Youngman Lotus L3 GT Hatch File:Youngman-Lotus L3 sedan China 2015-04-18.jpg, Youngman Lotus L3 Sedan File:Youngman Lotus L3 as racing car 2013.jpg, Youngman Lotus L3 Rally Car 2014 File:Youngman-Lotus L5 Sportback China 2015-04-06.jpg, Youngman Lotus L5 Sportback File:Youngman-Lotus L5 01 China 2018-03-20.jpg, Youngman Lotus L5 Sedan File:Youngman Lotus T5 (23).JPG, Youngman Lotus T5

Coaches and trucks

Youngman produced coaches and trucks in collaboration with the German

MAN Truck & Bus MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, ) is a German automotive manufacturer and the subsidiary of Traton, one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MAN Truck & Bus produces v ...

. Coaches are sold under the Youngman and

marques. Trucks are sold under the Youngman and MAN marques. * JNP6120GR, JNP6120BEV1 and JNP6105GR - single deck buses based on

Neoplan Centroliner The Neoplan Centroliner is a series of low-floor transit buses which was first unveiled in 1997, and mainly built by Neoplan Bus GmbH for the European market. At the time when it was first released, it adopted contemporary technologies like Co ...

platform * JNP6120BEV1 - trolley buses based on

* JNP6250G - multi-articulate bus based on Neoplan Twinliner * JNP6180GM - single articulate bus based on Neoplan Twinliner * JNP6137S - double decker bus based on

Neoplan Skyliner The Neoplan Skyliner is a double-deck multi-axle luxury touring coach built by German coach manufacturer Neoplan. It was introduced in 1967. History In 1964, the founder's second son, Konrad Auwärter, developed a double-deck design for ...

File:JNP6120G.jpg, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6120G bus in Hangzhou File:Beijing Bus Rapid Transit.jpg, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6180G bus in Beijing File:Citybus1833 11.JPG, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6120GR bus in Hong Kong File:J2B-0023 at Tianmu E Rd, Zhejiang N Rd (20151004100740).jpg, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6120BEV1 trolleybus in Shanghai File:JNP6137.jpg, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6137 Skyliner double decker bus near Incahuasi, Chile File:Youngman Bus 3-16E (139) (2).jpg, A Youngman-Neoplan JNP6120GC bus in Thailand

Explanatory notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Proton Companies based in Jinhua Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2001 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2019 Chinese brands Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers