New coach of King Long: Impressed and Overwhelmed

Not long afterwards the 5th generation mid-size luxury coach, the JG 5- King Long new mid-sized coach was unveiled at the Bus & Truck Expo in Beijing, where it has won the “2020 Tourist Bus Innovation Award”. This achievement is the authentication of a two-year design combination between DCA and King Long. In which, DCA took the responsibility for both the exterior and interior design of the new coach, whose name is fully meaning “Champion”. Besides that, this product was also the remarkable milestone of King Long, the mid-sized coach market accounts significantly for the Chinese Bus market, including domestic and international sales.

New model of King Long bus – JG5

The King Long’s headquarter in Xiamen witnessed the kick-off event of this project in 2018. According to DCA’s Human factors and Ergonomic skill leader Lisa Baker, both corporates had strived and coordinated to assess their current passengers and driver seats, observe and interview passengers, drivers, operators and maintenance staff during the coach journeys. “Seat comfort is central to a great experience on-board but goes further than just the seat”, said Lisa.

She added that these activities coupled with the research into shifting travel behaviors and passenger expectations, which carried crucial insights and laid the foundations for later design work.

Exterior and Interior of new King Long bus model

The exterior of this bus depicted King Long’s existing brand langue, not only key design elements but refining King Long’s brand language going forward, injecting a sense of precision, simplicity, and energy. The custom-designed LED headlights and other active safety features such as automatic collision detection and adaptive cruise control of which its sensors and radar units have been integrated into the design of the front facia all help make this King Long’s safest coach recently.

About the interior, the seats was redesigned by team of designers and ergonomic experts. This is the thing that boosts the passenger’s touch point and leads to a better on-board experience. The controls for the air vents and reading lights traditionally sit near the window making them hard to access for the passenger in the aisle seat. In addition, the luggage racks were remade so the internal air ducts move further towards the aisle allowing for the air vents and reading lights to sit directly above each passenger making them easily accessible for both.

Together with King Long’s suppliers, the seat was developed with a modular design, what helps expand the conveniences of passengers such as a tray table, USB charging ports, tablets and phone holders. Light grey and dark blue were the chosen colorway throughout the interior. The contrast of 2 separate tones made the interior visually not only neater but also more spacious. The iconic King Long blue was reinterpreted and combined with a special hard-wearing metallic-like finish. This material is being used on high-impact areas and helps reduce damage, keeping the interior looking fresh.

This new mid-sized coach symbolizes the next generation of King Long Bus in the world, and becomes the inspiration for the innovation of vehicles in the passenger transportation industry. Recently, King Long has been selling more than 1500 models through years, and this famous brand is available now in Vietnam, please check the models here.