Those sound similar but they're not. The first is reading a spec sheet. The second is doing the math. The customers I've seen actually make money with their trucks are almost always asking the second question.
Factory bench numbers are worth looking at, of course. Weichai rates its B10 life at 1.8 million km, and in a lab that figure is real. But the lab burns standard fuel, carries rated loads, and controls temperature and humidity.
Put that same engine in a dusty mine, feed it sketchy fuel, run it overloaded uphill every day-the bench number and the mileage you actually see are separated by several layers of reality. So experienced operators glance at the spec and put it down. They don't use it to decide when to trade in.
What actually keeps owners up at night usually isn't when the engine needs an overhaul-it's parts. I remember a fleet contact in West Africa running a handful of Sitraks. The trucks themselves weren't failing, but one sensor going bad meant waiting for a part from China, ten days to two weeks. Eventually he sold them off at a discount and switched to used HOWOs. Not because HOWO is better than Sitrak, but because HOWO has been selling there for nearly twenty years-filters, brake pads, leaf springs are all within reach at roadside workshops. A truck parked waiting for a part hurts more than burning extra fuel or overhauling early.
So when someone asks how long a Chinese truck lasts, there's really no single answer. The same tractor unit running rated loads on an eastern China highway and the same unit running a West African mining route are two different lives. The first might not need an overhaul until 800,000–900,000 km. The second might have the owner thinking about selling at 500,000–600,000 km. The difference has less to do with the truck itself and more to do with the road, the fuel, and how easy it is to get it fixed locally.
There are plenty of exporters here in Liangshan, and Liangshan Shark International Trading Co., Ltd. is one of them-dump trucks, tractor units, tankers, mixers, semi-trailers and construction machinery, new and used. When I talk to customers, I usually don't push a truck first. I'd rather ask where they plan to run it, what they'll haul, and what the repair situation looks like locally. Get those clear first, then look at condition and spec. That's more useful than starting with brand comparisons and spec sheets.
