the birth of the first hongqi car
2024-09-22
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original title: the birth of the first hongqi car
jilin daily reporter hua tailai
on july 15, 1953, the first cornerstone of the first automobile works was laid. after three years of hard work, on july 13, 1956, the first automobile of new china, the jiefang brand automobile, was successfully trial-produced, opening the first page in the history of the development of china's automobile industry.
producing its own cars has become faw's next goal.
at that time, the conditions for developing domestic cars were "four no's": no information, no experience, no tooling, no equipment, and everything had to start from scratch. faw engineers found car-related parts from the scrap steel imported from benxi iron and steel plant for surveying and mapping; the design department drew the prototype drawings in four days and nights; the foundry workshop cast all the castings in seven days; the engine and gearbox were made in three days and three nights. there was no mold for making the car body, and the manufacturing of the entire car body and the processing of various sheet metal parts were almost entirely dependent on the sheet metal workers hammering them into shape...
just three months later, on may 12, 1958, china's first car, the dongfeng brand car, was launched. the dongfeng car had the chinese characters "dongfeng" and a golden dragon on the front, and the words "china's first automobile manufacturing plant" written by mao zedong on both sides.
subsequently, faw started to design a luxury car based on the "dongfeng" car and named it "hongqi". after repeated research and development and testing, and overcoming difficulties one after another, the first "hongqi" luxury car was trial-produced on august 1, 1958.
in early 1959, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of new china, faw quickly entered the production preparation stage, with tight time and heavy burden. in order to solve product quality problems, faw organized 323 key assault teams, including 32 factory-wide key assault teams.
at that time, many production problems were technical difficulties that no one had encountered in china, such as the engine hydraulic tappet. the trial product had a lifespan of only 2 minutes when the engine was running at high speed. the hydraulic tappet commando team, led by technical worker li gang, tried dozens of different materials and finally selected alloy cast iron. they conducted 42 tests on the quenching process before determining the quenching time and temperature, allowing the final hydraulic tappet to withstand a 400-hour bench test.
in 1959, faw transported 36 hongqi sedans to beijing in batches to participate in the 10th anniversary of the founding of the people's republic of china. when the first generation of hongqi sedans passed through tiananmen square for review, it attracted widespread attention at home and abroad and became the pride of the country and the nation. in the following decades, generation after generation of hongqi sedans witnessed the development of china's automobile industry from scratch to strength.
since the reform and opening up, with the strong support of jilin province and changchun city, faw has successively built modern car industrial bases such as faw car, faw-volkswagen, and faw toyota, forming a product structure of both commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, achieving a major leap forward for china's car industry, and beginning to align with international standards, laying a solid foundation for returning to independent innovation and revitalizing national automobile brands.
in 2023, the hongqi brand value will be 115.529 billion yuan, ranking first in the passenger car brand industry; the jiefang brand value will be 118.776 billion yuan, ranking first in the commercial vehicle brand industry. in the first half of this year, faw hongqi's wholesale sales exceeded 201,500 units, a year-on-year increase of 42.6%; retail sales exceeded 190,900 units, a year-on-year increase of 25%. new energy vehicles have grown strongly and overseas markets have made rapid breakthroughs.
after nearly 70 years of development, jilin province and faw have worked closely together to embark on a new journey, aiming at the opportunity of "overtaking" driven by a new round of scientific and technological revolution and new technologies, mastering key technologies, breaking through with independent innovation, and writing a new chapter in the rise of the national automobile industry and the revitalization and development of jilin, moving from a glorious history to a new landscape.
source: jilin daily
