Search History
Popular Searches
English
Dealer Login / Sign Up
Golden Dragon is a core bus manufacturing enterprise under Fujian Automotive Industry Group Co., Ltd. Xiamen Golden Dragon Travel Vehicle Co., Ltd. was established in 1992, headquartered in Lihu District, Xiamen City. It is a national-level automobile complete vehicle export base enterprise wholly controlled by Xiamen Golden Dragon Automobile Group, primarily engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and sales of large, medium, and light commercial buses. The company owns three major production bases: Xiamen Lihu, Xiamen Haicang, and Zhangzhou Longchi, with a total land area of approximately 650,000 square meters, a modern factory building area of about 310,000 square meters, and nearly 4,000 employees, of which professional R&D personnel account for about 13% and engineering technical personnel account for about 32%. As of 2024, the brand value of Golden Dragon reached 506.52 billion RMB, ranking 209th on the "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" list.
Golden Dragon is well known in the industry as the "Little Golden Dragon" and is one of the dual core brands of Xiamen Golden Dragon Automobile Group, alongside the "Big Golden Dragon" (Xiamen Golden Dragon United Automobile). The company has an annual production capacity of 23,000 large and medium-sized buses and 20,000 light commercial vehicles. Its products cover full-size models ranging from 4.5 to 19 meters, spanning multiple scenarios including passenger transport, tourism, public transit, school buses, and special vehicles, while offering multiple powertrain options such as conventional fuel, CNG/LNG, hybrid, pure electric, and hydrogen fuel cells. As a first-tier enterprise in China's bus industry, Golden Dragon has served the National Two Sessions for 17 consecutive years and participated in major state events, including the Beijing Olympic Games and the vehicle service support for the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War in 2025.
Golden Dragon's development history can be divided into four key stages.
Starting from Light Commercial Vehicle (1992–1996)
In March 1992, Xiamen Golden Dragon Travel Vehicle Co., Ltd. was officially established, and the Lihu production base was laid out on May 1st of the same year. The company started with the manufacturing of light commercial vehicles, achieving an initial pilot production of only 13 units with an output value of 2 million RMB. After several years of market development, Golden Dragon gradually established itself in the light commercial vehicle sector, laying the foundation for its position in the bus manufacturing industry.
Full Series Product Layout (1997–2007)
In 1997, Golden Dragon began producing medium and heavy commercial vehicles and entered the large commercial vehicle manufacturing field in 1999. That same year, the company introduced Toyota Coaster technology, gradually forming a full-series product layout. With an annual development rate of nearly 20 new products, Golden Dragon adapted relatively quickly to changing market demands. Around 2000, its products gradually covered the full range of large, medium, and light commercial buses, propelling the company into the first tier of China's bus industry, with products sold in over 50 countries and regions.
Manufacturing Upgrade (2008–2019)
In 2008, Golden Dragon built the country's first large commercial vehicle cathodic electrophoretic coating workshop, greatly improving the body's corrosion resistance and making it one of the first enterprises in China's bus industry to adopt full-load technology and whole-vehicle cathodic electrophoresis technology. In 2010, the company achieved commercial operation of new energy buses. Around 2013, the company successively built new bases in Zhangzhou Longchi, driving continuous improvements in production line automation. After ten years of accumulation, Golden Dragon gradually completed its capability leap from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, and its export volume remained at the forefront of the domestic industry between 2016 and 2019. In 2020, Golden Dragon was selected for the "Fujian Provincial Leading Enterprise List for Industry and Information Technology."
Global Expansion (2020–Present)
In 2022, Golden Dragon's export volume ranked second in the domestic industry. In 2023, Golden Dragon won the China Design Gold Award. In 2024, the company's operating revenue exceeded 6.3 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 18.67%, while net profit increased by 2.47% year-on-year. In October 2025, Golden Dragon launched the new generation high-end bus QianTu (GC15) and the new QianTu platform at the Belgium Busworld Expo, marking the brand's full advancement toward "high value-added, internationalization, and high quality."
Golden Dragon's product line covers all categories of large, medium, and light commercial buses. In recent years, it has built a complete product system centered on modularization, universality, and series production, guided by the four core principles of "universalization, seriesization, platformization, and standardization." The core product matrix can be classified into the following categories according to vehicle usage:
QianTu Platform and Next-Generation Buses
The QianTu is a new modular platform launched by Golden Dragon in 2025, achieving full coverage of the product spectrum. It spans different specifications from 8 to 15 meters, meeting diverse needs such as public transit, passenger transport, and tourism commuting, while offering multiple powertrain options including pure electric, diesel, and natural gas. The GC15 is the flagship model of the QianTu platform, equipped with CATL's 704kWh high-performance batteries, dual motors delivering a peak power of 500kW and peak torque of 4800N·m, and a range of 600 kilometers under standard conditions. This platform serves as the core vehicle for Golden Dragon's high-end and global strategies.
Pure Electric Large Bus "KaiXuan"
KaiXuan is Golden Dragon's new-generation pure electric large luxury bus, powered by a third-generation high-efficiency rare earth permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum efficiency of 97%, and energy consumption reduced by 6% compared to the previous generation. Since its launch in mid-2024, KaiXuan has received over 600 cumulative orders and won the "Business Reception Pioneer" industry award in 2025. In June 2025, 40 Golden Dragon pure electric buses (including the KaiXuan and Coaster pure electric versions) were delivered to Shouqi Group, featuring a range of over 400 kilometers and supporting both fast and slow charging modes.
Micro-Circulation Bus "ChiRui"
ChiRui is a micro-circulation bus developed by Golden Dragon for scenarios such as urban short-distance transfers and scenic spot sightseeing. It features a 16.6 square meter ultra-large transparent window and 1200mm ultra-wide electric sliding doors, and has achieved normalized L3/L4 level autonomous driving in multiple scenarios. This model has won the honor of "Micro-Circulation Bus Star" and is popularly known as the "Baby Bus."
Pure Electric Light Commercial Vehicle GECKO
The GECKO is Golden Dragon's new-generation new energy light commercial vehicle, featuring a bullet-nose streamlined low-drag shape, a skateboard chassis architecture, and modular design. It offers L2 level combined assisted driving functions and is capable of stable all-weather operation in temperatures ranging from -35°C to 55°C. Golden Dragon has cumulatively sold 25,000 pure electric vehicle units in the light commercial vehicle segment.
PIVOT Pure Electric City Bus Series
The PIVOT series has been operating stably in 25 cities across eight EU countries, including Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, with a cumulative deployment of over 400 vehicles and an average operational mileage of more than 350,000 kilometers per vehicle. The series has undergone multiple iterations to adapt to the harsh Nordic climate and represents Golden Dragon's pure electric bus product with the longest operating history and widest coverage in the European market.
Other Models
The LongYun E80 wide-body pure electric light commercial vehicle and the Golden Dragon LingTu luxury mid-size bus are aimed at tourism and business reception scenarios. In 2025, Golden Dragon completed the batch delivery of 600 LongYun GLE850 pure electric logistics vehicles, with cumulative deliveries of new energy logistics vehicles exceeding 7,000 units. The Coaster pure electric version continues to maintain stable sales both domestically and internationally. In addition, multi-category products such as school buses, natural gas buses, and hydrogen fuel cell buses are also supplied simultaneously to the Chinese and international markets.
2025 was a year of comprehensive growth for Golden Dragon's global market. According to data from the China Commercial Vehicle Statistics Network, from January to April 2025, Golden Dragon's total export sales reached 3,887 units, a year-on-year increase of 127.04%, with a market share of 18.12%, securing the top spot in the industry and achieving "four consecutive titles" for cumulative export sales since January. For the full year of 2025, Golden Dragon's exports of various vehicles are expected to exceed 9,200 units, with export value breaking through 3.45 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 16%, once again setting a new historical high.
From a financial performance perspective, in 2024, Golden Dragon Passenger Vehicles' operating revenue exceeded 6.3 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 18.67%, while net profit increased by 2.47% year-on-year. Entering 2026, the growth momentum continues. In January 2026, Golden Dragon successfully delivered 462 buses to Tunisia—this represents the largest government public vehicle procurement order in Tunisia's history, and marked a "good start" for Golden Dragon's overseas business. In the February 2026 new energy bus export market, Golden Dragon achieved explosive growth alongside companies such as BYD and Yutong. In the first half of 2026, Golden Dragon continued to maintain a leading position in bus export sales volume. Its overseas sales ratio has exceeded a considerable proportion of total sales, and its KD (knocked down assembly) sales ratio broke through 50%, surpassing complete vehicle exports for the first time.
Golden Dragon's market share in China is also steady. In the market for new energy buses above 7 meters, the company's share remains firmly in the forefront, with new energy products covering mainstream scenarios such as public transit, tourism, and commuting. According to multiple rankings released by industry institutions such as the China Commercial Vehicle Statistics Network, Golden Dragon continues to rank in the top three among domestic brands in both total export volume and new energy bus export categories.
Golden Dragon's core technology system is systematically structured around dimensions such as new energy three-electric systems, modular platform architecture, intelligent manufacturing processes, intelligent driving, and digital connectivity, forming a complete technical closed loop within the enterprise—from the underlying platform to upper-layer applications.
Electric Powertrain: Golden Dragon's independently developed new energy platform has been fully applied to its pure electric and hybrid models. The KaiXuan is equipped with a third-generation high-efficiency rare earth permanent magnet synchronous motor, achieving a maximum efficiency of 97%, with energy consumption reduced by 6% compared to the previous generation. Through the collaborative application of new materials, Golden Dragon has achieved a 30% reduction in vehicle energy consumption, reaching the highest standard in the bus industry. The battery system primarily uses CATL lithium iron phosphate batteries, supporting both fast and slow charging modes, with pure electric bus ranges generally exceeding 500 kilometers, and some models reaching 700 kilometers. The GC15 flagship model is equipped with a CATL 704kWh battery, achieving a range of 600 kilometers, with dual motors delivering a peak power of 500kW.
QianTu Modular Platform: The QianTu is a brand new generation modular platform built by Golden Dragon based on the "Four-Ze" concepts (universalization, seriesization, platformization, and standardization). This platform achieves a unified design of the vehicle body skeleton structure, significantly improving the parts commonality rate while optimizing production efficiency and after-sales service experience. This marks the first time Golden Dragon has integrated platformization concepts into its entire product lifecycle management, representing the brand's leap from traditional product development to systematic platform capability.
Intelligent Driving and Digital Cockpit: The micro-circulation bus "ChiRui" has achieved normalized L3/L4 level autonomous driving operations across multiple scenarios and is currently deployed and operating in locations such as Zhaoqing, Wuhai, Longyan, Mianyang, and Wuxi. The GC15 adopts central security gateway protection and a domain controller design, fully meeting the latest EU regulatory certification requirements and achieving comprehensive vehicle information security protection. Golden Dragon is also partnering with other companies to develop autonomous vehicles with broader model coverage and higher vehicle speeds, promoting the formation of new intelligent transportation operation models.
Cathodic Electrophoretic Coating and Body Process: Golden Dragon owns the country's first large commercial vehicle whole-vehicle cathodic electrophoretic production line, achieving 100% automated coating at the Longhai new base, with robot spraying greatly improving paint film thickness and flatness. For the vehicle body skeleton material, the GC15 adopts Q700 high-strength steel, resulting in a more than 13% increase in overall vehicle strength and a 10% increase in lightweighting. Golden Dragon continuously pursues body dimensional chain accuracy, enabling the vehicle to reach leading international levels in stability, sealing, and quietness.
Skateboard Chassis Architecture: The pure electric light vehicle GECKO adopts a skateboard chassis architecture and modular design, allowing flexible adaptation of powertrain configurations and body forms according to different market demands. The introduction of the skateboard chassis has significantly enhanced Golden Dragon's expansion capability in the light commercial vehicle field.
Golden Dragon is one of the most globalized enterprises in the Chinese bus industry, with the widest overseas footprint. As of the end of 2025, Golden Dragon products have been exported to more than 80 countries in total, with CKD factories established in countries such as Kazakhstan, and its export volume ranked second in the domestic industry in 2022. Its overseas strategy presents three major characteristics: deep penetration into Belt and Road markets, breakthroughs in the high-end European market, and a dominance of KD (knocked down) assembly models.
Europe: Golden Dragon positions Europe as a "strategy within a strategy." The company has over 450 pure electric vehicles operating continuously and stably in European countries including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Bulgaria, with sales in the European market ranking among the top domestic bus brands. In 2025, Golden Dragon secured the largest bus order in Israel's history, totaling more than 300 units, of which 270 were pure electric buses. In Norway, it won an order for 93 high-end pure electric buses, with a unit price as high as 3 million RMB. Golden Dragon's natural gas buses have also been exported in batches to Serbia, opening a new channel in the Eastern European market.
Africa and Middle East: Golden Dragon has shown significant growth in the African market. In 2025, Golden Dragon delivered 130 pure electric buses to Ethiopia, marking the largest new energy bus order ever placed by a Chinese bus company in Africa. That same year, Golden Dragon delivered 200 BRT buses to Tanzania, setting a record for the largest single batch export to Africa for that year. In the Middle East, since first entering the Saudi Arabian market in 2008, Golden Dragon has cumulatively delivered over 5,000 buses, with products covering school buses, public transit buses, and high-end passenger vehicles across all segments. In January 2026, 462 Golden Dragon passenger vehicles were delivered to the Tunis Bus Company, representing the largest government public vehicle procurement order in Tunisia's history.
Global Production: Golden Dragon is the Chinese bus company with the most extensive overseas production capacity cooperation. Its KD sales ratio exceeds 50%, surpassing complete vehicle exports for the first time. CKD factories have been established in countries such as Ethiopia and Kazakhstan, while the company is actively promoting localized cooperation in Europe, including the construction of after-sales service networks and parts supply centers, with the ultimate goal of forming a tripartite operational system covering R&D, manufacturing, and services in Europe.
From January to September, Golden Dragon exported nearly 1,000 pure electric products to 28 countries, with sales volume increasing by 13% year-on-year and sales revenue increasing by 49% year-on-year. Sales revenue from pure electric products accounted for nearly 30% of Golden Dragon's total overseas sales revenue. For the full year, Golden Dragon's exports of various vehicles exceeded 9,200 units, with export value increasing by 16% year-on-year.
Golden Dragon's long-term strategy has been clearly outlined under the "15th Five-Year Plan" framework, with its core directions being high-end development, new energy adoption, and deep penetration into global markets. Golden Dragon General Manager Lai Zhiyi pointed out: "The '15th Five-Year Plan' period is a critical window for Chinese buses to enter the global high-end market." Golden Dragon Passenger Vehicles will closely follow national strategies and continuously improve the "green content," "gold content," and "smart content" of its products.
QianTu Platform Full Implementation and Product Offensive: As Golden Dragon's new-generation modular platform, the QianTu will complete its main model access certification and begin accepting orders in the first half of 2026, followed by a 12-city tour exhibition nationwide in the second half of the year. Overseas, QianTu prototypes in key regions such as Northern Europe and Israel have already rolled off the assembly line. The 14.8-meter pure electric model has secured its first batch of 22 orders, with scaled delivery to be achieved within 2026.
European Localization and Global Service System Upgrade: Golden Dragon is actively promoting localized cooperation in Europe, including the construction of after-sales service networks, the establishment of parts supply centers, and adaptation research on new energy technologies. "In the future, we hope to form a tripartite operational system covering R&D, manufacturing, and services in Europe." Golden Dragon will also deepen the development of its "Digital Overseas" platform, improve its global KD (knocked down) assembly layout, and further reduce overseas service response times.
New Energy and Intelligence Continuous Deepening: Building on its existing pure electric and hybrid product lineup, Golden Dragon plans to steadily increase the proportion of new energy models. On the basis of having cumulatively sold 25,000 pure electric light commercial vehicles by 2025, the company will fully expand the scaled application of the GECKO model and skateboard chassis technology. Golden Dragon is also partnering with other companies to develop autonomous vehicles with the broadest model range, widest lane coverage, and highest speeds, creating a new autonomous driving operational model that leads both domestically and internationally.
Digital Transformation and Manufacturing Upgrade: The company is advancing a five-year digital intelligence transformation plan, with the Longhai Intelligent Factory achieving visualized production process control. With the goal of improving labor efficiency, Golden Dragon is continuously enhancing production efficiency through fixed staffing and job assignments, skill matrix development, and other measures, while reducing manufacturing costs via process improvements and workflow optimization. Golden Dragon's objective is to achieve systematic innovation and raise its global high-end bus market share to an even higher level by 2030.
© 2024 Bitauto.com. All Rights Reserved.
Bitauto (www.yiche.com and www.bitauto.com) is one of the most visited automotive websites in China. We provide detailed info on Chinese car brands available in your area. Please note that the information provided on this website is based on publicly available data and is for reference only. It may not be fully updated or accurate at all times.
