What happened to the once famous Chongqing Hengtong Bus? Let’s talk about it today.

In September 1933, Chongqing Public Automobile Co., Ltd. was established. Three years later, a public automobile repair shop was established in Gaotanyan. In addition to being responsible for the overhaul of passenger cars, it also began to use trucks. Modified wooden carriage passenger car.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chongqing Public Automobile Company assembled the "Liberation" bus in 1951 and changed the long-head bus to a short-head bus the next year.

In 1957, the company’s automobile repair shop began to use Jiefang trucks to modify passenger cars. In 1963, the wooden body was changed to a metal body, and the CQ641 bus was launched in the same year. Soon after, the improved CQ642 was launched.

It is worth mentioning that starting from the first metal passenger car, the Chongqing brand trademark was hung on the cars produced by the company's auto repair shop.

Ten years after the catastrophe, the company's automobile repair shop has launched a number of new vehicles, including Chongqing brand CQ643 passenger cars, CQ663 articulated cars, CQ563 articulated trams, etc.

(CQ643)

In January 1979, on the basis of the public car repair shop, Chongqing Bus Factory was formally established and continued to launch a number of new products , including CQ644, CQ465 luxury tourist buses, and CQ680 articulated buses modified and produced by Lohmann trucks.

Data show that in 1985, Chongqing Bus Factory produced more than 800 buses of various types annually, which were sold to 26 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country. Its products also extended to urban buses and trackless buses. There are more than ten varieties such as trams, government vehicles, tour buses, passenger cars, and passenger and cargo vehicles.

Later, Chongqing Bus Factory successively launched Chongqing brand CKZ1030 vans, CKZ6934G and CKZ6953EG buses, CKZ6153 and CKZ6154 articulated buses, CKZ6500 and CKZ6663 light buses, and CKZ6934GP , CKZ6115, CKZ6965 group buses, CKZ6592 station wagons, CKZ6702C small tourist buses, CKZ6965L tourist buses and other products.

As a subsidiary of the Public Transport Group, Chongqing Bus Factory can live a prosperous life through internal digestion. But it is precisely because of this that we are helpless when facing market competition. This is very similar to Beijing Jinghua Bus.

At the end of 1992, Chongqing Bus Factory was contracted to Thailand’s New Feel Group for “exclusive operation”. A few months ago, the Sichuan Provincial Bus Factory, which also belongs to Sichuan Province, was leased to a company in Hong Kong, China for "sole proprietorship" in this way. The two passenger car manufacturers in Sichuan Province had the same fate. Shortly after the publicity, they both suffered from breach of contract by their partners.

In September 1996, Chongqing Bus Factory recovered all leased properties in accordance with the law. And it began to develop rapidly in the second year, with sales volume and output value increasing at an average growth rate of 40%. It has been listed as a key economic growth enterprise in Chongqing for three consecutive years. However, despite this, the Chongqing Bus Factory is not large. In 1998, it only produced 961 cars, which is almost the same as 10 years ago.

After entering the 21st century, the production and sales of Chongqing Bus Factory have not changed much. They still remain at around 1,000 vehicles. The development is very slow, which is far from that of King Long and Yutong at that time.

In May 2002, Lifan, which wanted to enter the automobile market, spent more than 60 million yuan to acquire 55% of the shares of Chongqing Bus Factory and became the largest shareholder. The company name was also changed to Chongqing Lifan Chongqing. Keshang Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has also launched a medium-sized bus with profound meaning-Jianglong. However, due to various reasons, Lifan withdrew its investment after half a year.

In July 2003, Chongqing Bus Corporation, Zhengzhou Yutong and Xinhua Trust jointly established Chongqing Yutong Bus Co., Ltd., with Zhengzhou Yutong holding 60% of the shares and Chongqing Bus Corporation holding 33%. However, the marriage between Yutong and Chongqing Bus Factory did not last long. In December 2005, Zhengzhou Yutong quietly withdrew its capital, and the reasons remain a mystery.

In 2006, Chongqing Yutong was taken over by a number of companies, and its name was changed to Chongqing Hengtong Bus Co., Ltd. (October 1, 2006). In the same year, gas buses were established as the main development direction.

Since then, Hengtong bus sales have continued to rise, accounting for 70% of the natural gas bus market in 2009, becoming a well-known brand in the country.

In 2010, Hengtong Bus launched the CKZ6812HBEV, a gasoline-electric hybrid fast-charging pure electric bus, which caused quite a stir. However, Hengtong still failed to achieve scale. In 2012 and 2013, it sold only more than 3,000 vehicles, and in 2014, it dropped to 2,052 vehicles.

In 2014, Western Resources spent 495 million yuan to acquire 66% of the shares of Hengtong Bus and Hengtong Electric. However, Western Resources did not get the expected returns.

In 2016, due to fraudulent subsidies, Hengtong was recovered 208 million yuan in financial subsidies, was also fined 62.364 million yuan, and had its new energy vehicle declaration qualifications suspended.

Affected by this, Hengtong only sold 794 buses in 2016, and only 229 buses in 2017. Western Resources also suffered losses for a time.

In 2018, Western Resources tearfully transferred 66% of its shares in Hengtong Bus and Hengtong Electric to Chongqing Xinying Yuanjian Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. at a price of 143 million yuan. However, during the handover process, Xinying Yuanjian announced its withdrawal, and Liangshan Construction Investment eventually took over.

Data show that in the first quarter of 2018, Hengtong bus production was 0. Since then, there has been little news about Hengtong.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.