It’s stuffy. This is the first thing that greets you in Chinese Chongqing immediately after leaving the airport building. After the autumn slush in Moscow and the omnipresent annoying “snow rain”, plus 30 on the thermometer, even taking into account the smog and the sun barely breaking through the clouds, this weather is perceived as a gift from the gods. Chongqing is one of the largest cities in China with a population of about 34 million people, around which all the region’s numerous industrial productions are located. There are also three factories of the Changan company, one of which we came to see how the brand’s cars are assembled.
What is Changan?
Changan is the oldest automobile company in China. The brand was registered at the end of the nineteenth century as an artillery bureau and was originally involved in the production of military equipment. By the end of the 1940s, the enterprise became the country’s largest military plant, supplying vehicles and weapons to the national army.
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Changan began producing civilian passenger cars in 1984 – initially the brand produced licensed Suzukis. The company grew rapidly: over time, joint production was organized with Suzuki, Ford and Citroen, a design center was opened in Italy, about 50 production sites were launched around the world (including 33 automobile and engine plants), as well as research centers in China, Germany, Japan, UK and USA.
Now, in addition to Changan itself, the company’s portfolio includes seven more brands, including Avatr, Oshan, Kaicene, Deepal. At the end of last year, the brand was second in sales in China only to large enterprises BYD and FAW-Volkswagen, also closely fighting for buyers with the Dongfeng and SAIC concerns.
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However, in Russia, Changan’s business is not going well yet: despite the fact that the company has been operating in our market for ten years, and its line consists of as many as 15 models, they are not yet listed in the top sales. But the brand plans to further increase its presence in our market.
How does the Changan plant work?
We visited one of the three Changan factories located in the industrial agglomeration of Chongqing. It opened in 2020 with an investment of 10.3 billion yuan (about $1.5 billion), covering an area of 1,408,000 square meters, and a total staff of 8,000 employees with an average age of 27 years.
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Despite such a number of employees, many workshops (absolutely gigantic in size) seem deserted – Changan production is 95 percent robotic.
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The plant employs 1,700 Japanese Kawasaki robots, of which 494 are responsible for the welding process of body parts and chassis. In total, these machines are capable of producing over a thousand bodies per shift.
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Robots at the plant are even responsible for the delivery of parts and spare parts to workshops: special trailers equipped with cameras and lidars pick up spare parts from the warehouse and deliver them to areas of production lines where they are currently needed.
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In the assembly shop, the level of automation reaches 80%, but here you can already meet people. They are still needed to carry out the delicate work: the company’s employees here assemble all the electrics, steering wheel and dashboard, install seals, interior elements, seats, wheels, wipers and other small parts. At the same time, there is no rush here, the workers move calmly, relaxed and precisely, like those same robots, there is no fuss and unbearable noise of working mechanisms, and almost everywhere is perfectly clean.
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All processes at the plant are controlled electronically: it uses a 5G network and computers that monitor up to 600 different indicators. Cars move without stopping along several conveyor lines and sometimes even on two floors – all this must be strictly synchronized and controlled with high precision. Every day, 1,300 CS55 Plus crossovers and Uni-V liftbacks roll off the plant’s assembly line. And if we talk about all three factories of the brand in Chongqing, then the total production volume at them can reach 1 million cars per year.
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All factories have an eight-hour working day with a two-hour lunch break, and the average worker’s salary is about 6 thousand yuan (80 thousand rubles at the current exchange rate).
Studying the test center
Not far from the enterprise is the Changan Research and Development Center. Here, assembled cars are checked before they are sent for sale. On the territory of the complex you can find more than a dozen special chambers where noise insulation is completed, tests are carried out for noise and vibrations inside cars, and they study how cars “sound” from the outside. There is an anechoic chamber with sound-absorbing padding and a movable platform that simulates various road conditions, as well as a reverberation chamber, inside which you can evaluate the soundproofness of each car.
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The center also includes the Chongqing Xibu Automobile Proving Ground, which covers an area of 24 thousand square meters. It has its own gas station, shops, a high-speed ring, slides and slopes, areas with “comb”, artificial pits, special sections with protruding sewer manholes and short waves, as well as special landscapes for SUVs and other cars, where they can be tested in any conditions .
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There are already camouflaged prototypes, production Changan cars and even models of other brands. And not only Chinese ones – for example, new Lincoln sedans were noticed.
First look at the new product for Russia
Here we also saw the new Avatr 12 electric hatchback, which underwent its final tests before entering the market. We were able to take a closer look at the car, but we were only allowed to ride as passengers, since this particular example was still in prototype status, so only the company’s test pilots could drive it.
Avatr is a new brand that appeared only in 2018 and was created by Changan together with Huawei and battery manufacturer CATL. The model with the index “12” is the second car in the brand’s line after the “11” crossover. The manufacturer’s own design studio in Munich was responsible for the appearance of the model, Changan was responsible for the complex development, and Huawei was responsible for all the electronics and autopilot.
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The car has many interesting details: it does not have a rear window, a widescreen 4K screen with a diagonal of 35.4 inches is installed in front of the driver, and above his head there is a panoramic roof with a glazing area of 2.57 square meters. The model will be equipped with an audio system with 27 speakers and an autopilot with 29 sensors.
In total, two modifications will be available for the model: a single-engine with 313 horsepower and a twin-engine with 578 horsepower. Both options come with a 94.5-kilowatt-hour battery. The declared range is 650–700 kilometers.
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The doors of the Avatr 12, as in the crossover, open using electric drives: despite the fact that this is a prototype, the interior decoration is luxurious. Images from the rear view cameras are displayed on the widescreen screen; there is also an electronic instrument panel and additional displays with various service information.
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On the driver’s side there is an unusual rectangular steering wheel, there is not a single button on the center console, and in front of the front passenger, contrary to the latest fashion, there is no separate screen with entertainment functions. Everything was replaced by two displays: a multimedia complex and a widescreen one at the top of the front panel.
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The seat in the car is comfortable, there are unusual features like an inductive charging platform that automatically rises when you put the phone on it to make it easier to read information from the screen.
In the second row you can sit cross-legged, and there is more than 10 centimeters of free space above your head, even despite the sloping glass roof extending behind the rear pillars. However, at least one strange solution was still found in the few minutes that we were given to get acquainted with the car. Thus, the rear seats are equipped with heating, ventilation and massage, but passengers do not have any control unit for either these functions or the climate control in general. It turns out that people behind will have to ask the driver, for example, to turn the seat massage on or off?
https://quto.ru/avatr/11/i/suv5d
We will definitely sort this out when Avatr 12 reaches Russia and can be taken for testing. Moreover, Changan decided to officially launch the brand’s cars on our market. This is expected to happen next year, but in the meantime these machines can be ordered through parallel import. In addition, prices are already known: from 5.5 million rubles for a basic modification. /m
New Chinese electric cars
