Rapid growth

This shift prompted local enterprises to look abroad.

Last year, the district's total three-wheeler production and sales reached 400,000 units, with over 20 million parts sold, generating revenue of approximately 4.5 billion yuan.

In 2012, Yanshi's motorcycle and parts industry was recognized as a national foreign trade transformation and upgrading base, leading to rapid growth.

The base now houses over 380 motorcycle and parts manufacturing enterprises, employing over 20,000 people, according to Luoyang Municipal Bureau of Commerce data.

In the first quarter of this year, Luoyang's motorcycle exports exceeded 230 million yuan, up 48.4 percent year-on-year.

The government has encouraged enterprises to venture abroad and engage in more exchanges with foreign dealers. In recent years, local governments have organized companies to participate in international fairs like the Canton Fair.

This year's focus is "going global", targeting new overseas markets, especially countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

"We are planning to organize local businesses for a trade fair in Uzbekistan in September. Two companies have already set up production lines there, and Central Asian nations have great market potential," Guo said.

Niu Gang, vice-mayor of Luoyang, said, "Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, bilateral cooperation and infrastructure connectivity have brought tremendous opportunities for Luoyang manufacturing, including the three-wheeler industry."

Niu said that Luoyang's manufacturing products are more accessible to global markets, thanks to the China-Europe freight trains and rail-sea trains in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and Qingdao, Shandong province.

Last year, 178 China-Europe freight trains carried 25,000 containers of disassembled tricycles.

Yang from Zhufeng said that the export of tricycles differs from that of domestic sales.

"Domestic shipments are whole vehicles, but for exports, the cost of shipping whole units is too high, so we ship parts and assemble those three-wheelers after arrival."

Tricycle parts are usually shipped through Shandong's Qingdao port, reaching worldwide destinations in two to three months.

Container shipping gives Luoyang-made tricycles a delivery time advantage, which is recognized by foreign dealers.

Om Garg, an Indian automotive engineer, has been importing and exporting two- and three-wheelers with Chinese companies for 22 years. "One main advantage of Chinese tricycles is the quick production time. In India, production time could be double," he said.

In 2019, he began partnering with Luoyang Jiasi Trade Co, a startup tricycle exporter in Yanshi.

"We sell two-wheelers and three-wheelers from China to customers in Africa and South America," the engineer said. "We've imported 2,000 vehicles from Jiasi Trade Co annually and plan to increase the amount to 5,000 this year."

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted three-wheeler exports over the past three years, but since the second half of 2023, overseas demand has surged, said Yun Fubo, owner of Luoyang Jiasi Trade Co.

According to market research firm DIResaerch, the global electric tricycle market was worth 61.86 billion yuan last year and is expected to reach 149.89 billion yuan by 2030.The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market, with about 90 percent of the share in 2023, followed by Europe with around 5 percent.