Huizhong

Shanghai Huizhong Automotive was founded on January 11, 1992, with its headquarters located in the Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone of Pudong, Shanghai. It is a state‑owned enterprise wholly controlled by HASCO (Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd.), a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Group. The company primarily engages in the production of passenger car chassis systems and commercial vehicle manufacturing. It is a high‑tech enterprise with the largest scale and highest market share in China's passenger car chassis system sector, and simultaneously holds the qualification of a National Enterprise Technology Center. The company has established R&D and production bases in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing, and has overseas institutions in North America, Europe, and India. It employs approximately 7,000 people globally, with core customers covering SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC General Motors, Geely Automobile, BYD Auto, BMW, Tesla, Audi, Xpeng, and other domestic and international vehicle manufacturers.

Development History

Huizhong Automotive's history can be traced back to the late 1950s. In 1958, the company's predecessor launched the domestic first medium‑tonnage double‑cab transport brand 4‑ton load‑bearing truck, the SH140; in 1969, it successfully developed the domestic first 15‑ton heavy‑duty highway truck, the Datong‑brand SH361 dump truck. In 1985, the company was renamed "Shanghai Heavy Automobile Factory," gradually accumulating deep expertise in heavy‑duty truck manufacturing. On January 11, 1992, Shanghai Huizhong Automotive Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was officially established, with registered capital of approximately 1.489 billion RMB. In 2001, the company acquired the South Korean SsangYong heavy truck production line for $3.2 million, introducing internationally leading heavy truck manufacturing technology; in August 2003, the HL100 series heavy trucks using SsangYong technology were officially launched, marketed under the "Huizhong Brand." Entering the 21st century, Shanghai Huizhong pushed forward simultaneously in commercial vehicles and sedan chassis. In 2004, the company's sales revenue reached 5 billion RMB, with export volume of $5.35 million, ranking 32nd in the China Machinery Industry Top 100 Enterprises Performance Ranking and 20th in the Automotive Industry Performance Ranking. In 2006, the Huizhong Istana commercial vehicle annual sales exceeded 4,000 units, occupying 25% of the light bus market segment, while the heavy truck "Lujiangdui" series sales exceeded 2,000 units and won the "Most Commercial Value Truck at Shanghai International Auto Show" title. In recent years, Huizhong has shifted its strategic focus to passenger car chassis systems, continuing to promote intelligent manufacturing transformation. Its Anting Intelligent Manufacturing Base was successfully selected into the "Shanghai 100 Smart Factories List" and was named a National Excellent Smart Factory in 2025.

Product Lineup

Huizhong Automotive's business mainly covers two major sectors: passenger car chassis systems and commercial vehicle manufacturing. In the passenger car chassis field, its products cover front axle modules and rear axle modules, including core components such as front suspension assemblies, subframe assemblies, lower control arm assemblies, and shock absorber assemblies, with an annual supporting production capacity of 600,000 to 700,000 sets. The company's chassis products can adapt to passenger car models ranging from A0‑class cars to C‑class sedans, SUVs, and MPVs, and it possesses full‑chain capability from R&D, manufacturing, to verification for chassis systems. In the commercial vehicle field, the company once owned the Istana commercial vehicle and special vehicle series (annual production 15,000 units) and the 15‑ton‑level heavy vehicle series (annual production 10,000 units). Among them, the "Istana" commercial vehicle once won the "Best Commercial Vehicle" title, and the heavy truck "Lujiangdui" series also held an important position in the commercial vehicle market.

Market Performance

As a leading enterprise in China's passenger car chassis system sector, Huizhong Automotive achieved revenue of 8.6 billion RMB in the first half of 2025, a year‑on‑year increase of 28%, mainly benefiting from the rapid development of its intelligent chassis business. The company accelerated expansion of non‑industry clients during this period, with sales to new energy clients such as BYD, Xiaomi, and Xpeng continuing to grow, driving the steady rise of non‑industry revenue proportion. Relying on its technical strength and manufacturing capability, Huizhong obtained the Shanghai Volkswagen "Excellent Supplier Gold Award" and the SAIC General Motors "Global Project Award," among other honours, and became the first Chinese sedan chassis production enterprise to enter the North American OEM market. In terms of capacity layout, as of early 2026, the company had two technology centres (Shanghai Technology Centre HQ and Ningbo Technology Branch), six joint ventures, nineteen domestic production bases, and three overseas institutions, with production bases distributed in Shanghai, Yantai, Shenyang, Ningbo, Changsha, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Xuchang, Laibin, and other cities.

Core Technology

Huizhong Automotive's technical accumulation relies on its National Enterprise Technology Centre and the Shanghai Automobile Chassis Electrification and Lightweight Engineering Technology Research Centre, possessing a mature passenger car chassis systems and component development system and simultaneous development capability. In intelligent transformation, the company has comprehensively promoted an integrated lightweight intelligent chassis technology route, integrating advanced technologies such as VMC vehicle motion control, EMB dry wire‑controlled braking, 4‑wheel domain wire‑controlled steering, intelligent suspension, and lightweight aluminium alloy differential pressure casting, achieving a dual breakthrough in intelligence and driving experience. In specific product promotion, the braking system TWO‑Box and ONE‑Box have already achieved scale installation, with EMB planned for mass production in 2026; in wire‑controlled steering, rear‑wheel steering is already mass‑produced, and front wire‑controlled steering is planned for mass production in August 2026, which will become a key foundation supporting L3 and above autonomous driving capability; the first‑generation intelligent suspension is also expected to achieve industrialisation in 2026. At the manufacturing level, Huizhong has built a smart factory system covering the full process of R&D, production, and logistics at its Anting base, and through core processes such as aluminium alloy differential pressure casting, aluminium alloy welding and tooling equipment, assembly process control, machining, and electrocoat painting, it has formed industry‑leading manufacturing capability.

Global Footprint

In the international market, Huizhong Automotive has set up three overseas institutions in the USA, Germany, and India, and is further expanding into the European market. The company's first factory in Europe is located in Novi Sad, Serbia, with a total investment of approximately €40 million, planned to start production at the end of 2025, with first‑batch products expected to be delivered to European customers in Q1 2027. This factory has reached a supply agreement with German BMW, and Phase 1 construction will arrange 200 workers. Domestically, Huizhong continued to deepen its "going out" product layout, and the Shanghai Pudong New Area government has explicitly agreed to support the enterprise in expanding overseas markets and optimising its global layout. At the end of 2024, the company completed the German KraussMaffei Group sales project, adjusting its overseas revenue proportion, with its overseas business focus shifting to a new round of international capacity layout centred on the Serbia production base.

Future Outlook

Facing the trend of the automotive industry transforming deeply towards electrification and intelligence, Huizhong Automotive is taking the comprehensive intelligent transformation of its chassis business as its core strategic direction. SAIC Motor Group is actively promoting core resource integration, coordinating Shanghai Huizhong, Lianchuang Electronics, and Donghua Steering to form a "Big Chassis Sector," using Huizhong as the physical subject unit to promote intelligent chassis integrated software and hardware decoupling and explore a new front‑ and rear‑axle integration supply model. SAIC Motor Group President Jia Jianxu has explicitly proposed that the intelligent chassis business will become SAIC's "strongest moat." At the technical level, the company plans, on the basis of first‑generation VMC technology, to promote the launch and landing of the second‑generation full‑stack wire‑controlled chassis before 2027. In capacity expansion, the Shanghai Huizhong Automotive Intelligent Chassis Production and Supporting Project, located in Xuchang Central Electric Valley, has already started construction, focusing on key new energy vehicle components fields and striving to build a modern industrial base integrating production, testing, and trade. The Zhengzhou Chassis Module Project also achieved mass production in January 2026, with planned new chassis module assembly capacity exceeding 500,000 units per year; after production, the expected annual output value is expected to reach 1.5 to 2 billion RMB. Through the dual‑wheel drive of "whole‑part coordination" and "production‑finance combination," Huizhong Automotive is fully pushing forward its comprehensive transformation from a traditional chassis manufacturer to an integrated intelligent chassis solution provider.