JAC Motors

JAC Motors (Chinese: 江淮汽车; pinyin: Jiānghuái Qìchē; officially Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese state-owned automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer. The company is based in Hefei, Anhui Province, China.

The company produced about 445,000 units in 2012.

History

Established in 1964 as Hefei Jianghuai Automobile Factory, its name was changed to Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd. in 1997. The company made an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001.

JAC has historically only produced commercial trucks (under the brand name Jianghui), but MPVs and SUVs appeared in the 2000s. By 2007 the company had gained government approval for passenger car production but, nonetheless, continued to be referred to as a truck maker. Prior to the 2007 passenger car license, JAC cooperated with Hyundai Motors in the early 2000s in an attempt to expand its product line. Beginning in 2003, it assembled Hyundai MPVs although this stopped sometime prior to 2007. At least two models based on Hyundai technology continued to be made by JAC after the cooperation was cancelled–a MPV and a SUV. Hyundai explored setting up a joint venture with the company in 2004, but the plan was soon discarded.