TBM, a manufacturing consultancy based in North Carolina, it is the truck industry that is successfully showing how to disintegrate car manufacturing.

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But what it doesn't make clear is that the truck is open in the back and sides.

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For all intents and purposes, the heavy duty truck market is a purely local affair in China, and it is likely to stay that way.

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At home, it is heavily geared to the weak truck and bus markets and has been slow to take on Toyota and Honda in the hot minivan and sport-utility sectors.

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But on a visit to the town of Fumel and Metaltemple, a truck components factory, where shifts has been halved in recent months, he concedes it is not the best time to run for the governing party.

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Terblanche says the truck has a great turning radius and a very low floor, making it is easy to get in and out of.

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