Automaker Story
The Big Read – Pickups & SUVs (2/5) – Foday, the copycat that became part of Xpeng
Have you ever wondered why so many Chinese pickups used to look the same? Well, blame our protagonist of today, Foday. The Guangdong factory...
The Big Read – Pickups & SUVs (1/5) – Qingling, the source of Chinese pickups
Pickup trucks, are they passenger cars? In the United States they certainly are, but elsewhere probably a little less so. And anywhere in the...
The Big Read – JAC (3/3) – The new era
So far, JAC Motor's path of development has been mostly independent. For a state-owned car factory in China that's quite rare, the industry is...
The Big Read – JAC (2/3) – The passenger cars
We left Jianghuai last week at the point that it was a small truck maker and had moved successfully into the bus market. Forty...
The Big Read – JAC (1/3) – The early years
JAC is one of the later entrants in the Chinese car market. The company secured a passenger car permit in 2007, when the Chinese...
The Big Read – Dongfeng (6/6) – Sokon, a family business
Our final visit to the Dongfeng Group brings us to Chongqing. This city in central China, on the banks of the Jialing river, is...
The Big Read – Dongfeng (5/6) – Nissan conquers China, but Yulon fails
Last week we unravelled the complicated lead up to the Dongfeng-Nissan joint venture (DFL). Now it's time to see how DFL developed since 2003...
The Big Read – Dongfeng (4/6) – The many roads that lead to Dongfeng-Nissan
Nissan is the most important foreign partner of Dongfeng. Both companies are so much intertwined that it's hard to see who is who in...
The Big Read – Dongfeng (3/6) – Joint venture king: Honda, Kia and Renault join Dongfeng
Around 2015 Dongfeng held seven joint ventures with international brands (Nissan, Infiniti, Peugeot, Citroen, Honda, Kia and Yulon) and one domestic brand (Sokon), making...
The Big Read – Dongfeng (2/6) – 80’s trucks, 90’s Citroens and 21st century Fengshens and Voyahs
We left Dongfeng last week when it just established itself with a formal corporate structure. We will further track the development of the company...