Customer Corner : Zoomlion - Wildcats! - The Cummins Accountability Project

Changsha, Hunan province, China – a city choking on its own ambition, where the skyline bristles with cranes and the air hums with the stench of industry. This is no postcard paradise; it’s a gritty sprawl where progress wears a hard hat and doesn’t give a toss about who gets crushed underfoot. And right in the thick of it sits Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., a hulking beast of a company that’s clawed its way to the top of the construction machinery game.

The Rise of Zoomlion

Since 1992, Zoomlion’s been churning out concrete pumps, cranes, tractors – you name it. They’re China’s biggest player in this racket and the world’s fifth largest, with a reach that’s snaked its way into Italy and the U.S. through some ballsy acquisitions. But don’t let the shiny stats fool you – this isn’t a fairy tale of honest graft. Zoomlion’s got a shadow side, and it’s uglier than a back-alley brawl.

Scandals and Controversies

Back in 2013, a plucky Chinese rag called New Express had the guts to call bullshit on Zoomlion, alleging fraud – dodgy books, inflated sales figures, the works. The claims weren’t vague either; they accused Zoomlion of faking sales worth hundreds of millions of yuan, puffing up their numbers like a cheap balloon. Zoomlion didn’t just shrug it off; they flexed their muscle, denied it all, and the reporter who dared to write it, Chen Yongzhou, ended up in a cell on some shadowy “economic crimes” charge. That’s not a scandal – that’s a fucked-up power play that’d make a mafia don blush. The paper folded under pressure, issuing a grovelling apology, but the stench lingered.

Then there’s their blood feud with Sany Heavy Industry, another Hunan bruiser. This isn’t corporate rivalry with polite handshakes; it’s a no-holds-barred slugfest. Spying? Check. Hacking? You bet. Kidnapping? Sany accused Zoomlion of snatching their chairman’s son in 2013, claiming it was a retaliatory hit in their war for market dominance. Zoomlion swatted it away like a fly, calling it “baseless,” but when shit like that’s even on the table, you know you’re in a cesspit of an industry. The two have been at each other’s throats for years, with Sany’s founder once accusing Zoomlion of planting moles to steal trade secrets – a claim that’s never been fully proven but fits the dirty playbook.

And it doesn’t stop there. Zoomlion’s been on a shopping spree, snapping up companies left and right. In 2008, they bought Italy’s CIFA, a concrete machinery maker, for €510 million, a deal that raised eyebrows but went through smooth as silk. Then, in 2012, they tried to acquire Terex, a U.S. crane manufacturer, for $5.4 billion, but the deal fell apart when the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment waved the national security red flag. Turns out, the government wasn’t keen on a Chinese firm with rumoured military ties getting its hands on sensitive tech. Zoomlion’s opaque connections to Beijing’s state apparatus didn’t help their case.

But perhaps the most damning scandal hit in 2017, when their Ghanaian subsidiary, Zoomlion Ghana Ltd., got tangled in a bribery mess. They were accused of greasing palms to lock down waste management contracts worth millions – a classic move in the global corruption playbook. Ghana’s government launched a probe, and while Zoomlion denied it all, claiming “misunderstanding,” the damage was done. Their rep took a nosedive, and it painted a picture of a company willing to play dirty anywhere they set up shop.

There’s more. In 2015, whispers of stock manipulation surfaced when Zoomlion’s Hong Kong-listed shares took a wild ride – a 40% drop in a single day, only to bounce back after some mysterious trading. Regulators sniffed around but found nothing concrete, though the episode left analysts muttering about insider games. And let’s not forget the labour lawsuits – workers in China and abroad have accused Zoomlion of wage theft and unsafe conditions, though the company’s brushed it off as “isolated incidents.”

Financial Woes

Money troubles? Oh, they’ve had those too. When China’s construction boom hit the skids in 2015-2016, Zoomlion was bleeding cash. They posted a staggering 929 million yuan loss in 2015, a gut punch after years of riding high. The next year wasn’t much prettier, with profits razor-thin and debt piling up like dirty laundry. To stop the hemorrhaging, they flogged their environmental unit for $1.7 billion in 2017 – a desperate move to keep the lights on. Even titans take a knee sometimes, and Zoomlion was damn near flat on the mat.

Context matters here. China’s construction boom was a steroid-fueled frenzy – ghost cities popping up, cranes everywhere, a bubble begging to burst. Zoomlion rode that wave hard, gorging on state-backed loans and fat contracts. But when the party ended, they were left with a hangover of overcapacity and a balance sheet that looked like a crime scene. The environmental unit sale trimmed the fat, but it also showed how shaky their empire had become.

Cummins: The Enabler

Enter Cummins, the U.S. engine maker who’s been slipping Zoomlion the juice for their machines. It’s a simple gig on paper: Cummins builds the engines, Zoomlion slaps ‘em in their cranes and pumps, and the cash flows like cheap beer. But when you’re powering a company with a rap sheet like Zoomlion’s, you don’t get to play the innocent bystander card.

Cummins isn’t just a supplier; they’re in deep. Since 2007, they’ve run a joint venture with Zoomlion – Hunan Cummins Engine Co., Ltd. – churning out custom engines for Zoomlion’s gear. This isn’t a handshake deal; it’s a long-term pact that’s tied Cummins to Zoomlion’s hip. They’re fuelling Zoomlion’s expansion, and that means they’re knee-deep in China’s industrial overcapacity mess. You know the drill: China pumps out more gear than the world needs, floods markets with cut-price shit, and screws over workers from Birmingham to Baltimore. Zoomlion’s a cog in that machine, and Cummins is keeping it spinning.

But Cummins has its own dirt. In 2019, they coughed up $1.6 billion to settle a lawsuit over defective engines – ones they allegedly knew were pumping out extra pollution and guzzling fuel. Sound familiar? It’s the same ethical sidestep Zoomlion’s been accused of, just with a different flavour. Two peas in a pod, these two, teaming up to dominate the global market, consequences be damned.

The Bigger Picture

This isn’t just about one dodgy partnership. It’s a window into a nastier truth: American firms cosying up to Chinese giants, ethics be damned, all for a quick buck. Cummins isn’t alone, but they’re a glaring example – a U.S. outfit helping China, their economic arch-rival, bulk up while the suits in Indiana count their bonuses and whistle past the graveyard.

It’s a vicious cycle: U.S. cash fuels Chinese dominance, Chinese firms drown global markets, and the little guy back home gets shafted. Meanwhile, execs on both sides clink glasses of overpriced whisky, oblivious to the wreckage. China’s industrial overcapacity isn’t just Zoomlion’s problem – it’s a global shitstorm. They’ve been churning out steel, cement, and machinery at a rate that swamps demand, tanking prices and choking out competitors. It’s not just business; it’s a power play. Flood the market with cheap goods, and you’ve got everyone else by the balls, dependent on Chinese supply chains.

Cummins and their ilk are handing them the rope. By propping up firms like Zoomlion, they’re building China’s industrial muscle, even as it threatens to gut manufacturing in the U.S. Short-term profits, long-term pain – and the only winners are the fat cats at the top.

Conclusion

So where’s the exit? Fuck if I know. Maybe it’s time to stop swallowing the corporate line and ask why Cummins is fine bedding down with a player like Zoomlion. Maybe it’s time to care about more than the bottom line.

This isn’t about engines or cranes – it’s about what we’re willing to stomach for a profit. And right now, it tastes rancid as hell. Nothing changes unless we force it. The suits at Cummins and Zoomlion won’t grow a conscience overnight. It’s on us – consumers, workers, voters – to say, “Enough with the bullshit, let’s do this right.” Until then, we’re just choking on their fumes, watching their bank accounts swell.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

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Customer Corner : Zoomlion – Wildcats!