Changan Suzuki

Changan Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd.
Company type	Private joint venture
Industry	Automotive
Founded	June 1993 (Chongqing)
Headquarters	Chongqing, China
Products	Automobiles
Number of employees	Approximately 4,200
Parent	Chang'an Automobile Group; Suzuki
Website	www.changansuzuki.com Template:Zh icon

Changan Suzuki (officially Changan Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd.) is an automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Chongqing, China and a joint-venture between Chang'an Automobile Group and Suzuki. Chang'an began assembling subcompact commercial trucks under license from Suzuki in 1990, and in 1993 the two companies formed Chang'an Suzuki to build licensed versions of the Suzuki Alto and Suzuki Cultus.

History

Changan Suzuki was formed in June 1993 with a registered capital of US$190 million.^[2] It was the first automobile manufacturing joint venture to be established by a Japanese company in China (although Isuzu Motors, Mazda and Nissan Motors had already established joint-ventures for truck assembly).^[3] The first SC7080 Alto, based on the Suzuki Alto/Fronte SB308 which was originally presented in 1986, rolled off the production line in November 1995. The car had already been produced by the Changan mother concern since 1991, and continued to be built by them until 1997.^[4] By the end of 2010 Changan Suzuki had over 1,000 car dealerships across China.^[5] In July 2011, it was announced that Changan Suzuki would build a second assembly plant in Chongqing, in a two-phase project.^[6] The first phase will involve a total investment of five billion yuan (US$777 million) and expand production capacity of vehicles and engines by 150,000 units each.^[6] Construction of the plant began in April 2012.^[7]

Products

Current Changan Suzuki products include:

Chang'an Suzuki SC7081C Happy Prince (Suzuki Alto-based)
Chang'an Suzuki SC7130 Lingyang (Gazelle, Antelope) (Suzuki Cultus-based)

Sales

Changan Suzuki built a total of 107,337 cars in 2004.^[4] In 2009 sales were up to 150,069 vehicles.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "JV Cooperation". Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Milestone merger reshapes Suzuki". China Daily. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
^ "Suzuki starts joint venture". Oxnard Press-Courier. 24 April 1993. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b World of Cars 2006·2007. Warsaw, Poland: Media Connection Sp. z o.o. 2006. p. 227.
^ "Changan Suzuki to build 1200 dealerships in 2011". Global Times. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Chang'an Suzuki to open second factory in Chongqing". Global Times. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
^ "Suzuki starts work on 2nd Chongqing plant". The Daily Yomiuri. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2012.