60 Years of the Rise of China's Automobile: The Road to Struggle from Zero to the World's No. 1
This year, China's auto industry has reached a historic moment, with car exports exceeding 5 million units for the first time, ranking first in the world, and successfully surpassing Germany and Japan. The light of Chinese automobiles shines not only on Russia, but also penetrates into Brazil, Mexico, the European Union, the Middle East, Chile and other regions. Behind this victory is the magnificent journey of China's auto industry after twists and turns to finally move to the global stage.
Looking back at the history of China's automobile development, this is not an overnight success, but the result of generations of automobile practitioners who have worked silently and worked hard for decades. It took 55 years to go from zero to 1 million, 10 years to go from 1 million to 2 million, and only 1 year to go from 2 million to 3 million. The magnificent victory of the export of 5 million cars is the crystallization of unremitting efforts over a period of time and the result of the struggle of Chinese automakers.
China's automobile industry began in 1956, when the first car produced was called "Jiefang", which was produced by Jilin No. 1 Automobile Factory. During this initial period, China's auto industry relied on Soviet aid, with the Jiefang brand being based on Soviet military trucks such as the Gis-150 military truck, which in turn was derived from the US-6 trucks of the United States. China started from scratch in terms of automotive technology, but by imitating European and American technologies, it laid the foundation for the automotive industry.
China's first car was born in 1958 as the "Dongfeng" sedan, which was produced by FAW. Although the production line is not yet mature and the vehicles are basically built by hand, the design of the "Dongfeng" sedan is based on the German Mercedes-Benz 190, and strives to create a high-quality Chinese sedan. However, in that era without the support of the industrial chain, the hand-built "Dongfeng" car still faced many small problems. At the same time, the Chinese military jeep "Yangtze River Jeep" also began to be put into production, becoming the main force of military transportation.
China's first "Hongqi" sedan rolled off the assembly line in 1958, copied from the "Imperial" sedan produced by Chrysler in the United States. However, due to the imperfect industrial chain, China's first batch of cars were all handmade, and there were many quality problems. However, at the time, owning a car was already a luxury that most people could not afford.