Based mostly in Shanghai, Sunny Leung, Head of Volvo Penta China, lately addressed a room of 60 yachting-industry professionals and boat homeowners in Hong Kong on the newest developments by Volvo Penta, the lauded Swedish engine producer. The presentation was pitched at dealerships, brokerages, service and upkeep yards, marinas and yachting affiliation members.
Leung’s occasion and a few conferences in Hong Kong had been coordinated by Grandtech Worldwide Engineering, which was based by Meme Poon and is the Hong Kong seller for Volvo Penta China.
An animated speaker, Leung was again in his residence city and used a mix of Cantonese and English to recap a few of Volvo Penta’s historical past. The corporate launched its first Inboard Efficiency System (IPS) in 2005, squarely targeted on use in leisure craft (the producer went on to supply a commercial-vessel model, in smaller quantity).
Final 12 months, it began rolling out the IPS40 system, a part of what it calls its skilled platform, with smarter tech. Quickly, it is going to be capable of be hooked as much as a person’s app to current management choices and monitor that every one’s nicely. The system can be usable with bio-fuel.
Learn Extra: Grandtech’s Meme Poon: Heading Volvo Penta in Hong Kong
Subsequent 12 months the IPS40 begins a bigger scale manufacturing, however preorders have stuffed its calendar to the extent that the primary supply 12 months for Larger China is in 2026. That’s reputation.
Yacht Type sat down with Leung, who supplied extra insights into Volvo Penta and its IPS propulsion techniques.
How would you describe your job in China, and the way a lot of it pertains to the IPS for leisure boating?
I’m chargeable for Volvo Penta, China, which is supplying options for all energy areas of Volvo together with for OEMs [original equipment manufacturer for other brands] and many totally different clients, off-road automobiles, and techniques for energy era. The IPS, although, has been an enormous development space.
In leisure energy boating, how do you view propulsion wants in Larger China, together with Hong Kong?
Growth in China is kind of totally different from different markets within the Asia-Pacific space. We now have an enormous market. Volvo Penta has been in China for greater than 20 years, and we now have accomplished extraordinarily nicely in all our areas.
Our merchandise are often known as being very environment friendly, dependable and environmentally-friendly, and we at all times put security as our number-one goal. All these qualities are additionally on the coronary heart of the IPS.
The brand new IPS40 is focused on the pleasure-boat {industry}. What different points make it interesting and suited to this phase?
It’s a singular product. Nobody else is providing a product prefer it, with such present know-how that can be utilized in diesel engines or hybrid energy. Plus, the IPS40 affords a cushty manner of controlling the yacht, which may be very totally different.
It’s being utilized by increasingly [yacht] producers all around the world – significantly within the European and American markets, due to its simple manoeuvrability and low gasoline consumption.
Are you proud of the service suppliers in Hong Kong and mainland China?
The shoppers appear to love the best way that we actively serve them and cope with their requests, and we solely use very dependable service suppliers.
Speaking about what the shopper needs, are you shifting in the direction of boat homeowners utilizing extra digital energy mobility or propulsion?
Sure, we now have accomplished this for some time, with different Penta techniques in different industries we work with, like mining and energy era, the place we already use digital energy mobility.
For yachts, we have to take a look at the precise state of affairs of the market. So, in Hong Kong, clients would wish to have extra availability of electrical charging factors or hydrogen-refuelling entry at jetties or piers for us to have the ability to transfer extra in that route. With our IPS proper now, it’s simpler for the shopper to alter from a diesel to a hybrid.
In 5 years or so we are going to supply extra hydrogen- or methanol-powered techniques, with a diesel combine. As governments take step-by-step approaches to scale back emissions in energy era, we hope to work with them collectively to prepared the infrastructure, shifting in keeping with that to supply new options within the subsequent two years.
Because the ‘China 5’ plans [for increasing renewable energy every five years] are occurring, we anticipate Hong Kong will observe the identical path. We have already got a product growth staff in [mainland China] for this. For brief-distance boats, the infrastructure must be prepared there in 10 years. We anticipate hybrid, hydrogen and methanol will likely be extra dominant in 10 years’ time.
Do you might have any additional forecasts in your China markets?
We do imagine that within the ‘9 Plus Two’ (9 cities in southern China and the 2 Particular Administrative Areas: Hong Kong and Macau), Hong Kong will grow to be much more of a ‘yachting centre’ within the space, with its lengthy expertise on this and its European and worldwide provide chain already arrange.
Yachting continues to be rising slowly in mainland China, however we now have rising curiosity for Volvo Penta IPS from the south, particularly in Hainan – and extra broadly throughout the nation.
For extra info go to grtech.com.hk
This text was first seen on YACHT STYLE.
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