Chongqing is one of the most biggest producers of automobiles in China, its home to Ford, Suzuki, Mazda, and then a range of domestic players such as FAW, Chang’an, Lifan etc etc so its really no wonder that the city is building up so quickly, The Daily Telegraph currently has an excellent article, titled ‘The Eagle and The Dragon‘ which is a comparison of the USA and China. Interesting reading:
Chongqing’s biggest car manufacturer is Changan-Ford, a joint venture between Ford, Mazda (the Japanese company in which Ford has a majority share) and a local company, Changan Automotive Group, the venture’s largest shareholder: Chinese government regulations stipulate that in such ‘backbone’ industries a foreign party cannot be the majority shareholder.
Thomas Yao, the factory’s head of public relations, took me on a guided tour. The factory, he explained, had opened five years ago, built from scratch in strict accordance with Ford’s global manufacturing standards, and produces up to 250,000 cars a year. The average non-technical production line worker earns 18,000 yuan (about £1,300) a year, working an eight-hour day, with a 15-minute break every two hours and an hour for lunch. (Wages, and the cost of living, in Chongqing are between a quarter and a third less than in the major manufacturing centres of the south and east, where the average urban salary is 25,000 yuan, about £1,800, a year.) The company provides extensive healthcare, insurance and pension packages. Workers are encouraged to make suggestions about how to improve the production process - there are ‘break-out’ areas where groups sit together and review their performance - and receive awards and bonuses if their suggestions are adopted.
Read the rest on the Daily Telegraph site
Very interesting article if you read the full version.
Chongqingers will surely beam with pride at those superlatives. But in the meantime, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhu/Nanjing, Tianjin, Shenyang and others are vying for the coveted title of China’s Detroit.
I found the part about Lifan’s founder to be most interesting. No idea he was arrested in the Cultural Revolution and self-taught himself in automotive engineering in prison! Very very impressive. And to think he turned a $15,000 bookstore into a massive motorcycle then automaker in about 15-20 years, wow.
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I remember hearing the story of the BYD chairman, who was equally impressive. Interesting to see how BYD autos are just a way to carry his batteries! I wonder what the stories are behind the founders of the other automakers.
I’d like to think of Guangzhou more as China’s Guangzhou. The only comparative point with Detroit, I think, is the numbers of middle eastern muslim transplants that live in Guangzhou now.