Nanjing (nanqi) Automobile

The Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation (Yuejin Motor Group Corporation, China's oldest car maker, founded in 1947) is a state-owned enterprise with 16,000 employees. The group occupies an area of 4,000,000 m², has fixed assets amounting to RMB 12 billion and an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles. The group's major products are cars, trucks, and travel buses. The history of Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation dates back to 1947. It successfully produced the first light truck in China on March 10th, 1958. The state named the truck Guerin autos and approved the establishment of the Nanjing Automobile Works. From 1958 to 1979, they grew to a leading position in the light auto trade in China and in 1980 were the first in the country to install diesel engines in light trucks. In 1982, they introduced moulds for Isuzu truck cabs which enabled them to become leaders in China in auto model conversion technology. The auto output increased from 250,000 sets to 650,000 units. During the Ninth Five-year Program, the company jointly established Nanjing Viejo Automobile Co. with the Iveco division of Fiat of Italy, and following this a further joint venture with Fiat to manufacture saloon cars at the Nanjing Fiat Company. They also carried out a shareholding reform at Yuejin autos establishing Yuejin Automobile Shareholding Co., Ltd. Following an agreement with SEAT, Wuxi Soyat Branch was set up introducing mature technology and auto models from Europe. Currently, the company has an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles, with a range of over 400 types of saloon cars, light trucks, heavy trucks, light buses, off-road vehicles, estate cars and special-purpose vehicles as well as various types of chassis. These are built at four integrated production bases, Yuejin, Nanjing-Iveco, Nanjing-Fiat and Soyat. On July 22nd 2005, the Nanjing Automobile Group purchased the British MG Rover Group for £53 million.

The following brands are owned by NAC: Cars Soyat (Chinese car brand, with models licensed from SEAT and Isuzu) MG (Acquired from MG Rover Group with Powertrain Ltd and rights to Wolseley, Austin, Morris, Vanden Plas (outside the US & Canada), American Austin, Princess and Sterling names) Trucks: Yuejin Joint Ventures: Nanjing-Fiat Nanjing-Iveco

The Wuxi Soyat Branch is the fourth integrated production facility for the Nanjing Automobile Group, the others being Yuejin, Nanjing-Iveco and Nanjing-Fiat, and the second production base for saloon cars. It is located at Wuxi, in the centre of the Hangzhou-Shanghai-Nanjing triangle and covers an area of 640 m². Soyat currently makes the following models: Soyat NJ7150 (under SEAT licence) Soyat Unique (under SEAT licence) Soyat SUV (under Isuzu licence) Soyat Pick-up (under Isuzu licence) These models are sold in mainland China only

Nanjing Automobile Corporation sells a range of light trucks under the Yuejin name. The Yuejin Motor Group has an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles of various types including light trucks, light buses, cross country vehicles, minibuses, vans and special-purpose vehicles as well as various types of chassis. They have also been active in exporting vehicles and components with sales to countries including Argentina, South Africa, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Djibouti, Tanzania, Cyprus, Togo, Italy and Spain. In addition they have established in some countries local SKD/CKD assembly plants for trucks and minibuses.

50-50 joint venture between NAC and Fiat was set up in April 1999. Located in the Jiangning District New Technology Park in Nanjing, Nanjing-Fiat produced and sold 24,000 vehicles in 2002, bringing a sales revenue of 2.3 billion yuan (US$280 million). Nanjing-FIAT produces three models developed by Giugiaro, the Fiat Palio, Fiat Palio Weekend and Fiat Siena. Iveco, an affiliate of Fiat, also has a US$300 million joint venture with Yuejin trucks producing Iveco commercial vans.

In 2005 in a significant step taken by NAC in its global strategy, it acquired the assets of MG Rover and engine maker Powertrain Ltd. NAC has decided to establish production bases for MG in both Longbridge, England and Nanjing, China. The production of some components such as engines and transmissions is being transferred to China, where advantage will be taken of lower manufacturing costs. Assembly facilities will be retained in the UK at the original Longbridge site which will in 2007 resume the production of the MG TF sport car and the MG ZT and MG ZT-T). The other cars in the MG range, the MG ZS and MG ZR will be produced in China for both the local and export markets. Making full use of the R & D capability and staff in the U.K. as well as in China, Euro IV compatible engines and a new generation of vehicles will be developed and then produced in both China and the UK. The cars will be sold using the sales network in China established by NAC and the global sales network of the former MG Rover. NAC is also actively seeking a strategic partner in the UK, and is negotiating with GB Sports Cars Ltd. Nanjing plans to start serial production in March 2007 and during the first year build 13,000 cars based on the Rover 75/MG ZT sedan and 7,000 of the MG TF sports car. Nanjing's Rover 75 based cars will be mostly sedans and will be renamed the MG 7Z but will also build some estate car versions to be called the MG 7Z-T. By 2011, Nanjing hopes to increase production to 85,000 MG 7Zs and 25,000 MG TFs.

Nanjing is already seeking price quotes from suppliers in China including many who are already making parts for a version of the Rover 75 that will be assembled by SAIC Motor, a subsidiary of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. SAIC sources say the agreement under which SAIC purchased the intellectual property rights of the Rover 75 has loopholes that allow Nanjing to also make it, meaning there could be two versions of the car on Chinese roads. Industry insiders say Nanjing and SAIC will eventually be forced to cooperate in building Rover-based cars and the Chinese government has already told the two to work things out. The MG Factory of Nanjing Automobile Corporation is located in the High-level New Technology Economic Development Zone in Pukou (a new district of Nanjing). The capacity of the future Nanjing-MG Factory will reach 200,000 autos, 250,000 engines and 100,000 gear-boxes. It is predicted that the factory, which covers 290,000 m², will have a construction time of seven to nine months with completion in 2006 with the first cars produced in 2007. According to the purchase agreement, Nanjing Automobile has bought the MG, Austin and other British car brands, production technology and equipment for the Rover 75/MG ZT, MG ZS, MG ZR and MG TF and K-Series engines. The MG series will be renamed as MG 3Z, MG 5Z, MG 7Z, MG WZ from the original MG ZR, MG ZS, Rover 75/MG ZT and MG TF.

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