Automaker Story

The Big Read – Dongfeng (1/6) – The longest conception in automotive history

The Second Automobile Works (SAW) started limited military production in the late 1960s and civilian production in the mid-1970s. This is contrary to China's...

The Big Read: Dayun

Lifan, Brilliance Xinyuan (Shineray) and BAIC Yinxiang, three companies that started as motorcycle companies and at one point decided to go into the car...

The Big Read – SAIC (6/6) – The Chinese-American friendship of SAIC and General Motors

In Europe, SAIC is often regarded as the extension of Volkswagen in China, but the company has actually a much more intimate relationship with...

The Big Read – SAIC (5/6) – Volkswagen, also China’s people’s car

The name Volkswagen literally means a "car for the people" and the brand achieved this successfully in the West with the Beetle and later...

The Big Read – SAIC (4/6) – Volvo buses, Iveco trucks and an old Seat Ibiza

With its own-brands and the joint ventures with Volkswagen and General Motors, SAIC is very successful in the passenger car market. The company is...

The Big Read – SAIC (3/6) – Becoming British, independent brands built on MG Rover and Maxus

The last two weeks we revisited SAIC's corporate history from a bird's eye view. Now we'll take an in-depth look at its several business...

The Big Read – SAIC (2/6) – The bigger, the better

Last week we explored the early history of SAIC, when it made one of China's iconic cars for a long time. Now we will...

The Big Read – SAIC (1/6) – Birth of a giant

SAIC is China's largest car manufacturer. The Shanghai based company achieves this feat through two of the most successful joint ventures in the country...

The Big Read – Human Horizons & HiPhi

The only car from a Chinese brand I ever drove (living in the Netherlands), was a Sokon K-series minitruck. One day the gardener at...

The Big Read – DearCC & Enovate

Dianka Automobile is a small electric car start-up and we probably wouldn't have heard much of it, when Jia Yueting's LeEco empire (see last...