Thus was born Changan, the company that manufactured the first Chinese car in history

Münich, March 2025. The departure pistol for the arrival of Changan to Europe. This Chinese automobile group confirmed the arrival of Deepal, one of its brands with a clear premium approach to Europe.

He did it with him Deepal S07an electric Berlina that bets on a great technological load. 15.6 -inch central touch screen, adaptive cruise control with lane centered (which is equivalent to a level 2 of autonomy) and good performance with an electric motor of 216 hp and a 79.97 kWh capacity battery.

The presentation demonstrates how far Changan has arrived. The company is the Chinese manufacturer by sales volume and its journey in Europe will begin in the main markets (Norway, Netherlands or Germany, among others) before their arrival in Spain, which is expected for 2026.

But Changan Not only one more company in the Chinese car market. Changan’s story goes back, even, until the nineteenth century and this is one of the reasons that led him to produce the Changjiang Type 46, the first Chinese car in history.

It all starts in the nineteenth century

To understand what Changan is for China you have to go back. Far back.

Between 1636 and 1912 the Qing dynasty ruled the country. Obviously, in almost three centuries of history of a country can happen. But what happened in the second half of the nineteenth century in China is that the region was immersed in all types of war conflicts.

Finished in 1842 the First opium war In which the Chinese Empire had tried to snatch the drug trafficking of this powerful opioid, various revolts were happening until, in 1956, the Second Opium War began. A contest that united to the United Kingdom and France against China and that ended with the Imperial Palace burned and China capitulating.

In that context, a little later from the end of this Second War, Changan would be born. The technology company was in charge of 1962 to supply military material to the Chinese Empire while it remained in front of the country. The company began working under the name of Shanghai Foreign Gun Bureau (Arsenal of Foreign Weapons of Shanghai) and in 1865 it was already the main arsenal of the country when it moved to Nanjing.

The continuous instability of the zone caused the growth of the company. Between 1894 and 1895 there was the First Sin-Japanese War. With her the military media were reinforced and although Japan defeated China, in 1899 it was estimated that 1,700 people worked for the arsenal that was ultimately the origin of Changan.

The company ended up surviving the fall of the Qing dynasty and with the Second Sino-Japanese war, Arsenal was transferred from Nanjing to Chongqing for fear that after the fall of Shanghai the weapons could fall into the hands of the Japanese. That company, which had changed its name again to adopt that of The 21st Arsenal, also remained standing with the Foundation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong.

In fact, this was renamed The State-Owned Factory 456. That is, it was reflected in the name that the company was owned by the Chinese state. That is when the company expands its production and a subsidiary called Chongqing Changan Automobile Company.

That subsidiary is responsible for carrying out the Changjiang Type 46. Considered the first Chinese production car, it leaves the doors of the factory on April 5, 1958 and remained unalterable until 1959.

The car was evidently a military vehicle. It was, in fact, a copy of the Jeep Willysthe classic American military vehicle that has remained in the collective imaginary after World War II. The original model was devised by Willys-Overland and quickly demonstrated its qualities in the field with its permanent 4×4 traction and because its hardness and agility. Taking only the essentials, the car weighed just over a ton and passed over any land.

In the Chinese case, production was poor At first (only 36 units in the first year) as a result of a country that dragged an important technological development. But the production remained stable until 1963 and, little by little, more than 1.1000 units came out of the assembly lines.

He Changjiang Type 46 He had the capacity to transfer six people, with a 2.2 -liter four -cylinder engine. Its weight was 1,150 kg and its consumption was not very high for the time, with about 13.7 l/100 km. Its maximum speed was 115 km/h.

Although the production started hesitantly, little by little the car was making a hole to the point that in 1963 the Chongqing facilities are transferred to Peking by order of the Chinese state. The transfer forced the production to stop as it was decided to disassemble the installation completely and take it to the new city, instead of building a directly there. We talk about transferring a factory over almost 1800 kilometers that separate both cities.

Already in Beijing, Changan continued manufacturing military vehicles until In the 80s signs an agreement with Suzuki And it enters the Personal vehicles and the commercial transfer of goods or people with minibuses. The turn would later deepen Companies like Ford and Mazda when both companies shared developments.

This last collaboration has remained until today and is the architect that today we can see the Mazda 6ea car that was born to the Chinese public initially fruit of collaboration between Japanese and Changan and that we will finally see on European soil very soon.

Photo | CHANGAN and Mazda

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