Egged Group and Belilios Group’s Auto Chen Mobility today announced the formation of a joint venture to import, market and sell buses with Chinese transport giant CRRC. Egged says, the move is intended to build a full and long-term operation in Israel around CRRC products while working with the manufacturer to develop other markets and activities in European countries.
CRRC, founded in 2015 through the merger of CNR and CSR, operates in more than 100 countries through 46 subsidiaries and employs more than 150,000 people. 2025 revenue was about $38 billion, net profit $2 billion and investment in R&D was about $3 billion. Since entering the bus manufacturing sector in 2006, the Group has sold more than 85,000 buses, and in 2025 the company produced some 6,000 buses.
Added to the Pentagon's "blacklists"
However, there is also a cloud hanging over the group, which is owned by the Chinese government. In recent years, the US government has placed the group, and some of its subsidiaries, on the "blacklists" of the Department of Commerce and the Pentagon, due to ties to the Chinese defense industry. In some European countries and the US, there is a clear trend to keep these companies out of public tenders.
CRRC has also encountered difficulties in Israel in recent years. After winning a Red Line tender and supplying carriages for the Tel Aviv light rail, the group also bid tenders for the light rail’s Green Line and Purple Line, in consortia with various Israeli companies such as Shikun & Binui, and Egged. But heavy pressure was exerted by the US and the Israeli National Security Council to reduce Chinese involvement in critical infrastructure. Ultimately, the consortia in which CRRC was a member did not win the tenders for the Green and Purple Lines, and the projects were won by European and Israeli companies.
On the Jerusalem light rail Blue Line, CRRC was blocked from even competing in tenders following US pressure. Ultimately, the JNet group won the tender and, following difficulties, turned to China’s CRRC to supply the carriages. The US relented, with a compromise that production would be undertaken in a Western country.
Egged is not the only operator in Israel that is expected to work with CRRC products. The group's subsidiary, CRRC EV, manufactures a wide range of electric buses, from minibuses that have already been imported to Israel to an advanced, bi-articulated, 26-meter-long, high-capacity BRT vehicle, which will reach Israel soon as part of a call for tenders by the Ministry of Transport. These will be operated by the Superbus company on the Haifa metro service.
Auto Chen brings to this partnership experience in import, marketing and service. Over the past decade, the group has sold more than 4,000 buses manufactured by Golden Dragon. Egged brings an extensive operational infrastructure and many years of experience in operating diverse bus fleets in Israel and Europe.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 27, 2026.
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