Automotive partnership for future vehicle development

The new collaboration signifies a breakthrough in establishing a truly competitive Chinese brand with global reach.

AIWAYS, Jiangling Motor and Changan Automobile each take a 50%, 25% and 25% share, respectively, in Jiangling Holdings. The new company will conduct and share research into future mobility technologies, including electrification, digitalisation and market intelligence. Jiangling Holdings will develop a combined industrial and innovation framework, ranging from individual components to complete vehicles, helping each company to gain a competitive edge.

The event was attended by Wu Xiaojun, Vice-Governor of Jiangxi Province; Qiu Tiangao, President of Jiangling Motor; Zhang Baolin, President of Changan Automobile, and Fu Qiang, Co-founder and President of AIWAYS.

AIWAYS Co-Founder and President Fu Qiang, said: “The establishment of Jiangling Holdings will enable AIWAYS, Jiangling Motor and Changan Automobile to advance our respective brands. Sharing technologies and resources, and restructuring our industrial supply chains and business models, will make us better able to meet growing customer demand for new energy vehicles. The Lufeng brand will be aimed at those markets benefiting from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, while AIWAYS will focus on the European market. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation for us all.”

The strategic cooperation plan developed by Jiangling Holdings will see both the AIWAYS and Lufeng brands benefit from joint research and development facilities, manufacturing bases, supply chains and marketing resources. The Lufeng brand will target middle and low-end users, with both traditional and new energy vehicles; the AIWAYS brand will target high-end users exclusively with new-energy vehicles. AIWAYS will share its latest MAS (More Adaptable Structure) steel-aluminium electric vehicle platform with partners, enabling Lufeng to reshape its product offering with new vehicle architectures. Shared manufacturing systems development will also enable the partners to maximise production capacity. 

Under the joint venture cooperation, AIWAYS and Lufeng will create a complete brand matrix covering all major domestic and foreign markets. The group’s two production bases in Nanchang and Shangrao will build platforms for pure-electric, hybrid and combustion engine vehicles.