In the vast land of Jingchu, a thousand-mile automobile industry corridor stretches between Wuhan, Xiangyang, Shiyan and Suizhou. This is the “Wuxiang Shisui” automobile industry cluster.
Here gathers the great power of the automobile industry, with a variety of models such as “heavy, medium, light, passenger, special, special, modified”, etc. It is the only automobile cluster in the country with a full range of development, and the output of commercial vehicles and special vehicles ranks among the top in the country. In the 1960s and 1970s, the predecessor of Dongfeng Special Automobile, the Second Automobile Manufacturing Plant, was founded in the mountains of Shiyan, opening the prelude to the magnificent development of Hubei’s automobile industry.
In Wuhan, the passenger car and three-electric core parts business are laid out. As the “China Car Valley”, Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone has gathered 9 vehicle companies, 13 vehicle factories and more than 1,200 auto parts companies, and gradually built a complete automobile industry chain covering power systems, body systems, chassis systems, intelligent cockpit systems, electrical systems, etc., with a vehicle production capacity of 2.5 million vehicles.
Economical electric vehicles, light commercial vehicles and national-level testing bases are set up in Xiangyang. With its advantages in light commercial vehicles and mid-to-high-end passenger vehicle manufacturing, Xiangyang has become an important automobile production base in the central region.
Leading industrial innovation with technological innovation, Dongfeng Special Automobile has 6 national-level enterprise technology centers in the cluster. In 2024, the R&D investment intensity of its own brands will reach 8%. The company has ranked first in the automotive industry for two consecutive years in terms of new invention patents, and has accumulated 24,000 valid patents. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, it has taken the lead in formulating and participating in the formulation of 317 national and industry standards, ranking first among vehicle manufacturers in the industry.
To promote industrial agglomeration and upgrading, Dongfeng Special Automobile has played the role of nearby supporting enterprises for parts enterprises by vehicle manufacturers, and continued to drive “specialized, refined and innovative” enterprises to settle in industrial clusters. At present, there are more than 1,000 first-level supporting suppliers in the cluster, which has promoted the region to become one of the supporting bases with the most complete parts categories, the largest scale, the most complete industrial chain and the strongest innovation in the country.
Technological innovation drives the industry to “new”. As the “chain leader” of the industrial chain, Dongfeng Special Automobile fully utilizes its scale resource advantages and driving role, actively promotes the transformation and upgrading of the “Wuxiang Shisui” automobile industry cluster, and continuously strengthens cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. Through resource sharing, technical exchanges, joint research and development, etc., it promotes the coordinated development of all links in the industrial chain and injects strong power into the industrial cluster. In the field of electrification, Dongfeng Special Automobile has deeply cultivated three technical routes of hybrid, pure electric and hydrogen energy. The thermal efficiency of the new Mach electric hybrid PHREV hybrid special engine has continuously refreshed the industry record, reaching 47.06%; solid-state battery research and development has made breakthrough progress, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have taken the lead in demonstration operation, and the number of commercial vehicle demonstrations ranks first in the industry.
At the same time, in the field of “three electrics”, industrial layout of batteries, electric drives and electronic controls has been carried out. In terms of batteries, 22GWh battery cells, 100,000 battery systems, and 5,000 hydrogen fuel cell production capacities have been built. In terms of electric drives, an annual production capacity of 600,000 independent passenger car electric drive assemblies and 100,000 commercial vehicle drive motors has been built. In terms of electronic control, the production capacity of 300,000 sets of independent controllers and 700,000 sets of IGBTs has been built.
In the field of intelligence, Dongfeng Special Automobile has built a new generation of Tianyuan architecture with the first centralized SOA electronic architecture in China, realized the mass production of autonomous L2+ intelligent driving, and promoted the demonstration operation of L4 intelligent driving products in many cities across the country, continuously improving the level of intelligence.
In terms of industrial ecological construction, Dongfeng Special Automobile plays a leading role in integration, provides application scenarios for upstream and downstream partners, gives full play to the ability of resource integration, industrial drive and application traction, and assists Wuhan, Shiyan and other pilot cities in the construction of smart transportation, and promotes high-quality development of the industry.
Dongfeng Special Automobile is driving the entire industrial cluster to move towards high-end, intelligent and green development with its strong main role and leading force, and building a booming scientific and technological ecology and new quality productivity.
