In spite of the hard-hit impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the most part of the year, Chongqing’s auto industry was one of the country’s first few to bounce back and has seen a double-digit monthly growth rate in output value and value-added output since April, Yang Liqiong, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, told a press conference on Tuesday.

The press conference was themed “Quality Development in Chongqing’s Auto Industry.” (Chongqing Release/Luo Jia)

According to Yang, the city’s auto industry achieved overall work and production resumption in March, and ended the 30-month-long accumulative downward period in July, with both output value and value-added output recorded positive growth for the first time this year. Moving on to August, the growth rates for output value and value-added output increased to 3.7% and 3.5% respectively.

Chang’an Auto is among the first rank of China’s automakers, with 15 manufacturing bases, 35 vehicle and engine factories around the globe, said Ye Pei, vice president of Chongqing Chang’an Automobile Co., Ltd at the press conference. “By 2025, Chang’an Auto plans to sell more than 3 million units a year, bringing in 300 billion yuan in revenue, with a global market share of 9.7% and a Chongqing market share of 60%.”

A view inside Chang'an Auto's smart workshop plant.

Ye added that Chang’an Auto has been firmly dedicated to deepening strategic transformation, strengthening technological research and development, and continuing global cooperation. A total of 100 billion yuan have been invested in its “Shangarilla” and “Beidou Tianshu” projects, realizing mass production for hundreds of new core technologies it developed.

As China’s largest SUV and pickup manufacturer, Great Wall Motors (GWM) has always placed great emphasis on Chongqing’s auto industry potential, according to Lv Wenbin, deputy general manager of Great Wall Motors Co., Ltd., Chongqing Branch. The 4.5-billion-yuan GWM Yongchuan Factory started operation in August 2019, only 14 months away from its initial construction, and has a planned annual output capacity of 160,000 units, ranging from pickup trucks to high-end SUVs and NEVs.

A view inside the GWM Yongchuan Factory.

“For GWM to move its operation and production to Yongchuan is not just a consideration of staying closer to the end-market, but also a move to boost the local economic development,” said Lv. From August 2018 to August 2020, the GWM Yongchuan Factory had grossed 137.3 billion yuan in sales and 2.4 billion yuan in tax revenue, and employed more than 5,000 workers in total.

SAIC-IVECO Hongyan (SIH) also pledged to invest some 800 million yuan to build a second smart “unmanned workshop” factory in Chongqing, echoing the municipal government’s calling to build Chongqing into a “Smart Manufacturing Powerhouse”, said Xia Hongbin, deputy general manager of SAIC-IVECO Hongyan Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd.