Chinese bus manufacturer First Yutong has been allowed to enter the Israel passenger transportation market. The manufacturer will be competing with the more established brands such as Mercedes or MAN.

In a festive ceremony a Yutong tourist coach was greeted by Yisrael Katz, Israel’s Transportation Minister, and Gao Yanping Chinese Ambassador to Israel, on its arrival from the port of Eilat. The mayor of Eilat, Meir Yitzhak Halevi, was also in attendance to greet the coach.

Israeli businessman, Yitzhak Koifman won the franchise to import from the largest bus manufacturer in China and in the world. The company manufactured around 46,000 buses in 2011. The model that arrived in Israel is equipped with Western components. The importer will offer a three to five-year warranty.

“Our potential customers visited the factory in China and were impressed by the quality of the buses,” Koifman told local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.