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Our reporter Wang Jinlong reports from Changzhi

There is an automobile manufacturing company in Changzhi City, Shanxi Province. It is little known in China, but it is well-known internationally for its excellent quality and good reputation.

It was the first to enter the UAE market to sell cars, and it ranked first in sales of similar vehicles in the UAE; in the first half of 2024 alone, its overseas sales of cars exceeded 8,000 units. This company is Shanxi Chenggong Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chenggong Automobile").

Among domestic automobile companies, although Chenggong Auto is relatively low-key, it is a veritable "veteran" in the entire automobile industry.

A reporter from China Business News learned that Chenggong Automobile was formerly the Huangyadong Arsenal of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains. It is affiliated to Shanxi Chenggong Investment Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chenggong Group"). Since its establishment in 2009, it has been deeply involved in the commercial vehicle market for 15 years. It has two major production bases in Changzhi, Shanxi and Zunyi, Guizhou. It can realize the full-link production and manufacturing of commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles. Its products are sold well in 46 countries and regions around the world.

It is understood that Chenggong Automobile has built overseas factories in Brazil and Myanmar, and obtained qualifications and certifications in 23 countries and regions around the world, forming an overseas market covering the four major markets of Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South America.

“Coal bosses transform into the automotive industry

"We will give away cars, one every day, and seven per week." On July 31, at the "Chengdu Auto Co-creation Conference" held by Chenggong Auto, Wang Jingyu, deputy general manager of Chenggong Auto, announced this news and called it a "super wealth creation plan."

This "bold" way of delivering cars is quite similar to the practice in the golden age of coal, which is mainly due to the Chenggong Group behind Chenggong Automobile. Chenggong Group was established in 1998. It first made its fortune in coal and mainly engaged in coal mining and transportation. As of now, Chenggong Group has 7 modern coal mines with a coal production capacity of 8.7 million tons, and 3 railway coal collection and transportation stations with a shipping capacity of 16 million tons.

The golden decade of coal, due to the huge profits behind high coal prices, some people once called coal "black gold". With such a profitable industry, why did the Success Group choose another track?

"This may be due to two reasons: first, with the end of the 'golden decade' of coal, transformation of coal enterprises has become a must; second, Chenggong Group is a 'machine fan', but also an enterprise with a sense of family and country." A middle-level manager of Chenggong Group told reporters that in terms of corporate strategic layout, the company not only considers corporate development and profitability, but also keeps up with national strategic deployment.

Chenggong Automobile was registered and established in 2009. In July of that year, the Shanxi Provincial Government Office issued the "Opinions on Promoting Private Capital to Enter the Encouraged Investment Fields of Our Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") to guide private capital to invest in the infrastructure field.

"In 2009, coal was selling the best in Shanxi, and the 'coal bosses' had tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of yuan in funds. How to invest the funds in Shanxi became an important reason for the issuance of the above-mentioned "Opinion"." Gao Ke, who used to do coal business in Shanxi, told reporters that at that time many coal bosses invested their money in agriculture, liquor and even securities, futures and other industries, but only a few succeeded in the end.

Looking back now, it seems more appropriate for the Success Group to invest its funds in the automotive industry than to invest the money earned from coal in the above-mentioned industries or fields.

It is understood that Chenggong Automobile has now developed into a full-industry chain enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales and after-sales service. Its products include traditional fuel vehicles, methanol vehicles, CNG vehicles, pure electric logistics vehicles and other microvans and mini trucks, which are mainly used in urban logistics, urban-rural logistics and passenger transportation. The products are sold well at home and abroad. In 2023, Chenggong Automobile exported 4,000 sets of complete vehicles and KD parts; obtained the Middle East GCC certification, became an enterprise with global micro-car brand access certificate and exported in batches; and has the production qualification of 10,000 units per year issued by the Nigerian government.

In addition, Chenggong Automobile Changzhi Automobile Manufacturing Plant is a complete vehicle manufacturing enterprise with completely independent intellectual property rights, with a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles and a first-phase production capacity of 120,000 vehicles; Chenggong Automobile Guizhou Automobile Manufacturing Plant has independent complete vehicle production qualifications and a vehicle production capacity of 200,000 vehicles.

Multiple industries advance in parallel

As we all know, in the automotive industry, to be the best, you must have core technology and strong financial resources. Does Chenggong Auto have the technology and sufficient financial resources to be successful in the automotive industry?

Recently, the reporter visited the automobile manufacturing workshop of Chenggong Automobile in Changzhi City, Shanxi Province and learned that in terms of vehicle manufacturing technology, Chenggong Automobile has successively introduced advanced production and manufacturing processes and production lines from Germany, Japan, Italy and other countries, with four complete processes of stamping, welding, painting and assembly, and a vehicle production capacity of 500,000 vehicles.

Relying on the domestically advanced automated intelligent stamping lines, robot welding production lines, German DURR fully automatic painting production lines and modern assembly production lines, Chenggong Automobile's product quality and production efficiency are at the upper end of the industry.

As for R&D, Chenggong Automobile has built the Shanxi Manufacturing Innovation Center (pilot cultivation), Shanxi Postdoctoral Innovation and Practice Base, and has cooperated with Hunan University and Central South University to jointly build "Doctoral Work Station" and other R&D platforms.

In addition, the reporter also learned that as of now, Chenggong Automobile has won many provincial, municipal and national awards, such as the National High-tech Enterprise, Shanxi Provincial Specialized and New Enterprise, Shanxi Provincial Specialized and New "Little Giant" Enterprise, etc.

As for financial resources, Chenggong Auto is backed by the 10 billion Chenggong Group. It is understood that since its establishment, Chenggong Group has developed from a single coal trade to a diversified and comprehensive private enterprise across industries such as coal mining, shipping, automobile engine and vehicle manufacturing, general aviation services, real estate, and petrochemicals.

The energy sector, in particular, is the pillar industry of the Chenggong Group. It has an industrial chain that combines production, transportation and sales, providing strong guarantees for the development of the Chenggong Group and even Chenggong Automobile.

The reporter also learned that Chenggong General Aviation, a subsidiary of Chenggong Group, entered the general aviation service field in 2002, established Shanxi Chenggong General Aviation Co., Ltd. in December 2010, and was listed on the "New Third Board" in 2015, becoming the country's first "New Third Board" fixed-wing general aviation company. It was promoted to the "Innovation Layer" in June 2022 and has now developed into a leading company in the industry.

Chenggong General Aviation currently has a CCAR-145 maintenance unit, a Guangzhou branch and a wholly-owned subsidiary. It also has CCAR-135, CCAR-91, and CCAR-145 operating qualifications, operates a total of 37 aircraft of various types, and mainly engages in artificial weather modification, emergency rescue, short-distance transportation, aviation forest protection/firefighting, atmospheric environment management, power operations, aircraft agency/trusteeship, private pilot license training, atmospheric physics detection, aerial photography and surveying, aviation tourism and ground service agency.

Thanks to the strong financial support of the Success Group, Success Auto has developed rapidly in recent years. So far, Success Auto has launched 33 models. Among them, 22 models are mainly supplied to the domestic market, and the optimized design is combined with local characteristics and actual use environment to ensure that the product performance is highly consistent with market demand; the other 11 models are aimed at the overseas market, fully considering the unique needs and preferences of overseas users, and strive to provide global customers with an excellent commercial vehicle experience.

The reporter also learned that in the future, Chenggong Auto's core products will still be mainly commercial vehicles. While deepening its presence in the traditional fuel vehicle market, it is also actively developing new energy vehicle research and development, realizing the dual-drive development of new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles.

(Editor: Lu Zhikun, Reviewer: Tong Haihua, Proofreader: Yan Jingning)