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in 2023, china's automobile production exceeded 30 million for the first time. in that year, anhui's automobile production reached 2.491 million, an increase of 48.1%. in other words, one out of every 12 cars produced in my country comes from anhui.

at present, anhui's automobile industry is rising at an unprecedented speed, which is closely related to the early start and solid foundation of anhui's automobile industry.

in the early 1950s, the first passenger bus in anhui's automobile history, the "aiguo", was successfully modified; in april 1968, the first 2.5-ton truck "jianghuai" in anhui province was carried out by hand; and in 1991, the anqing automobile factory successfully trial-produced the first car in anhui's history, the "andal"... generation after generation of anhui automobile people have devoted themselves to it and have never stopped chasing the "automobile dream".

starting from scratch

some people say that hefei's automobile industry started from the hefei axle factory.

in the early days of liberation, all industries were waiting to be developed. in 1951, hefei axle factory, which was then a hefei automobile maintenance yard, made an important decision: to produce modified vehicles in response to the call of the party central committee to "resist the us and aid korea and defend the country"!

it should be noted that it was still two years before china's first automobile factory, the first automobile works, was established in changchun in 1953. for a group of workers who had never built a car, even modifying a vehicle was not an easy task.

faced with a blank slate, the workers worked together, from drawing and designing to manufacturing, and made bold attempts, and finally successfully converted a iron-wood structure coach with 31 fixed seats and 5 movable seats, and named it "patriotic", becoming the first coach in the history of anhui province. on national day in 1951, hefei citizens poured into the streets, and changjiang road was crowded with people, just to see the true appearance of "patriotic".

data shows that in the early 1950s, hefei automobile maintenance plant trial-produced wooden-structured medium-sized buses and single-axle trailers, forming the first generation of products for anhui province's road transportation industry and laying the foundation for the development of anhui's road transportation industry.

it is understood that the predecessor of hefei automobile maintenance plant was the fleet maintenance group of hefei bus station of anhui northern highway bureau and anhui northern railway factory. after that, it was renamed hefei automobile repair plant, which can be said to be the only formal automobile overhaul plant in anhui at that time. in the 1960s, it was renamed hefei automobile manufacturing plant, and its automobile pistons, engine steel sleeves, cross shafts and other products were well-known throughout the country. from the 1970s to the early 1990s, it had produced more than 30 kinds of special vehicles and modified vehicles, which were sold well in more than 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, and some products have entered the international market. in 1997, hefei automobile manufacturing plant was merged as a whole by jianghuai automobile group, and the name of the factory was changed to "anhui jianghuai automobile hefei axle plant".

to some extent, hefei axle factory has witnessed the industrial development of hefei.

today, the hefei axle factory is no longer there. in 2023, it will be transformed into a cultural and fashionable district with popular restaurants, internet-famous coffee shops, and well-known theaters, named "longhu axle new territory", and become a key project of urban renewal in yaohai district, hefei city. perhaps, people can still imagine its past glory from those red brick factory buildings and the interweaving of history and reality.

"jac brand" fills the gap

on may 20, 1964, chaohu auto parts factory was formally established after being reviewed and approved by chao county administration for industry and commerce. soon after, the repair shop moved from chao county to hefei. this was the predecessor of jianghuai automobile manufacturing plant and the first automobile enterprise established in anhui province.

at that time, the first generation of entrepreneurs of jac motors might not have thought that the first car in anhui's "automobile industry history" would be born from their hands.

in april 1968, under simple r&d conditions, the entrepreneurs started from scratch, relying on equipment patched together and workers and technicians supported by various parties, and built the first 2.5-ton truck in anhui province, which opened the prelude to the development of anhui's automobile industry and filled the gap in anhui's automobile industry. in 1969, before the ninth national congress of the communist party of china, the factory produced the first batch of 20 cars, completing the glorious mission of "producing cars to present to the ninth national congress", and decided to name these cars "jac brand" and proposed to change the name of chaohu auto parts factory to "jac automobile manufacturing plant".

the cpc central committee encouraged jac people to continue to work hard on making cars and expressed its strong support for anhui's automobile projects, which undoubtedly gave every jac person a shot of "stimulant". from then on, jac embarked on the road of complete vehicle manufacturing, and also kicked off anhui's journey to become a major automobile province.

at that time, anhui's automobile industry was still in its infancy. in addition to jac motors, automobile companies such as changan and ankai gradually emerged.

changan automobile's history can be traced back to 1862, when it was a small workshop that started out by producing matches. in 1965, the predecessor of hefei changan automobile co., ltd., the "anhui huaihai machinery factory" (i.e. the state-owned no. 9356 factory), was established in huoshan county. in 1979, the company independently developed china's first generation of mini-cars - the flying tiger mini-car. in 1987, the factory was relocated to the western suburbs of hefei city, becoming the predecessor of hefei changan automobile co., ltd.

in 1966, the predecessor of ankai bus, anhui provincial local state-owned feihe automobile repair factory, was established, mainly producing auto parts and repairing cars. in 1970, ankai developed the first heavy-duty truck in anhui province, filling the gap in heavy-duty vehicle production in anhui province. in 1989, ankai developed 11 types of high-end buses and double-decker bus special chassis, which were listed as the major scientific and technological achievements of the country's "8th five-year plan", ending the history of my country's large buses without special chassis.

whether it is jac motors, hefei changan or ankai bus, they all made a significant contribution to the early stage of anhui's automobile industry. until now, they are still the leading auto companies in hefei and even anhui province's automobile industry.

multiple types of cars are launched one after another

the year came to 1979, and thanks to the reform and opening-up policy, china's automobile industry ushered in a new dawn.

starting from this year, china began to negotiate cooperation with developed countries abroad, and the chinese automobile industry ushered in a "breakthrough". joint ventures such as beijing jeep, shanghai volkswagen, guangzhou peugeot, tianjin xiali, and faw-volkswagen were established one after another.

in anhui, the automobile industry continued to grow and develop, and good news about automobile production came one after another: in 1979, china's first micro-car was successfully trial-produced at the huaihai machinery factory; in 1979, valin xingma (hanma technology)'s first bulk cement truck was launched; in 1983, feihe automobile manufacturing plant successfully developed the hf150a long-axis truck and won the second prize for scientific and technological achievements from the anhui provincial machinery industry department; in 1990, jac successfully developed china's first dedicated chassis for buses... various parts of anhui began to try various types of automobile production, and huayang automobile, anchi automobile, yangzi automobile and others appeared one after another.

among them, the first "andal" car independently developed and trial-produced by anqing automobile factory in 1991 became one of the representative events of this period.

in 1993, anqing put forward the slogan of "mobilizing the whole city's strength and wisdom to develop anqing's automobile industry", and "andar" became a shining star in anhui's automobile industry. "at that time, almost all taxis in anqing were 'andar'." recalling the situation at that time, zhang ning, a veteran employee of anqing automobile factory, is still full of pride. in 1993, after many selections, anqing girl zhang ning entered anqing automobile factory to work. at that time, anqing automobile factory was in full swing. as an employee in the fourth workshop responsible for interior decoration, zhang ning's monthly income was almost twice or even more than that of her peers.

data shows that in 1996, the annual output of anqing automobile factory was 1,136 units, with an output value exceeding 80 million yuan, and the output value increased nearly 100 times in just three years. at the same time, "andar" cars began to be sold to jiujiang, jinan, yangzhou, fuzhou, zhongshan, shenzhen and other cities. jinan once purchased 100 andars as taxis. even though "andar" automobile was officially declared bankrupt in june 2003 due to weak r&d capabilities, backward management system, and broken capital chain, it once truly entrusted the car dreams of tens of millions of anhui people.