Jinggangshan (car)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jinggangshan

Image does not exist
Jinggangshan (car)
Production period: 1958-1960
Class : Lower middle class
Body versions : limousine
Engines: Otto engine :
1.2 liters
(26 kW)
Length: 4100 mm
Width: 1560 mm
Height: 1450 mm
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :

The Jinggangshan was the first passenger car produced by the Chinese automobile manufacturer Beijing Automobile Works (BAW) and sold under the Jinggangshan brand from 1958 to 1960 .

History of origin

The Beijing- based company BAW was founded in 1953 with Soviet help. BAW initially manufactured accessories for Chinese vehicles, mainly carburetors, fuel pumps, headlights and smaller sheet metal parts.

In 1958, the Great Leap Forward campaign began in China , one of the goals of which was to catch up with China's lagging behind the western industrialized countries. The effects of this initiative could also be felt in the automotive sector: from 1958 onwards, several Chinese plants began to design passenger cars for civil use. For the segment of the middle class different designs created this year at three plants three: The Shanghai Auto Works developed the later than Shanghai SH760 called Fenghuang , and First Automotive Works (FAW) which originated Dongfeng CA71 . BAW joined this process. The company's first model was the small Jinggangshan, which was later supplemented by the luxury Beijing CB4 sedan . Initial plans were for the Jinggangshan to be mass-produced - the talk was of 10,000 units per year - and thus to meet the demand for cars in the country. Due to economic difficulties, the goal could not even begin to be achieved. The Jinggangshan did not stay long in the program. After only two years it was replaced by the Dongfanghong BJ760 , a significantly larger front-engine sedan that corresponded to the Soviet GAZ M-21 Volga and was produced for ten years.

Model description

The Jinggangshan was not an independent Chinese construction. It was the practice in China at the time to take apart Soviet, European or American cars, to examine them and to recreate the respective components in their own factories according to the template. This is probably how the BAW technicians proceeded with the Jinggangshan. The few sources available all assume that the Jinggangshan was technically based on the VW Beetle . According to one source, the Jinggangshan had a four-cylinder boxer engine with a displacement of 1.2 liters and an output of 26 kW located in the rear.

The body of the Jinggangshan, on the other hand, bore no resemblance to the Beetle; it was completely independent. It was in the pontoon style and had a notchback. Formally there were similarities to the NSU Prinz . A special feature were three large, round ventilation openings in the rear fenders.

Production and inventory

In 1958 a two-door prototype of the Jinggangshan was created. On its basis, three more copies were created at short notice, which had four doors with an otherwise largely unchanged design. They were shown publicly in October 1958. BAW started series production of the four-door version shortly afterwards, but only achieved small numbers. Only 154 copies were built by 1961, many of which were in use as taxis until 1968. One of the main shortcomings of Jinggangshan was the lack of space. Its successor, presented in 1960, was much more spacious.

It is doubtful whether a copy of the Jinggangshan still exists today. A prototype survived.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maurice A. Kelly: Russian Motor Vehicles: Soviet Limousines 1930-2003 , Veloce Publishing Ltd, 2011, ISBN 9781845843007 , p. 75.
  2. ↑ a b c Brief description of the vehicle on the website www.prewarcar.com (accessed on June 9, 2016).
  3. ↑ Kim Mi-Young: The Struggling North Korean Automobile Industry. In: Chosun Ilbo , February 5, 2002 (for the comparable practice in North Korea).
  4. ↑ George Nicholas Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . Volume 2: G-O . Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 795 (English).
  5. ↑ The Beijing Jinggangshan on autocade.net (accessed June 9, 2016).