From technology to innovation, Qingling Isuzu has achieved a model of commercial vehicle joint ventures in 40 years

ISUZU technology

In 1985, ISUZU commercial vehicles equipped with ISUZU’s leading technology entered the Chinese market, which not only filled the gap in the field of domestic high-end ISUZU commercial vehicles, but also opened a new era of technical cooperation between China and Japan in the automotive industry. As the first joint venture car company in China and Japan, the curtain of cooperation between Qingling and Isuzu has begun.

In 2025, the cooperation between the two sides will enter a new stage of technological co-creation. From technology introduction to synchronous innovation, this cooperation spanning 40 years has not only become a successful model of Sino-foreign joint ventures in China’s ISUZU commercial vehicles industry, but also continues to inject strong impetus into the value enhancement of China’s commercial vehicles.

In the 80s of the last century, our country’s truck industry was still in the primary stage of development. Restricted by the technical level, domestic trucks generally have problems such as backward manufacturing technology, insufficient power performance, high energy consumption, and outstanding failure rate, and the output scale is difficult to meet the logistics and transportation needs brought about by rapid economic growth.

In this context, the domestic market has formed a “two-legged” development model: on the one hand, it alleviates the capacity gap through the import of foreign brand vehicles, and on the other hand, it promotes the improvement of local manufacturing and R&D capabilities through the introduction of technology. Qingling Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qingling”) is a typical representative of Sino-foreign joint ventures during this period, and it is the only enterprise in our country that has maintained uninterrupted cooperation with foreign enterprises in the field of commercial vehicles for 40 years.

Over the past 40 years, from introduction and absorption to technology co-creation and development, Qingling Isuzu has joined hands to embark on a model road that closely follows the development of the ISUZU commercial trucks industry.

40 years of foundation: the development of high-end light commercial industry of “Ling” Airlines

May 13, 1985 was a memorable day. On this day, Qingling was officially established in Chongqing, as the first Sino-Japanese joint venture car company and the first Sino-foreign joint venture in Chongqing. The birth of the new company marks that Sino-foreign technical cooperation in our country’s ISUZU commercial trucks industry has entered a substantive stage.

At that time, our country was in a critical period of the wave of reform and opening up, and the national economic development was changing with each passing day, but the domestic commercial vehicle industry was facing the dilemma of “lack of weight and light weight”, and backward automobile production capacity and product performance were difficult to meet the needs of economic development.

Isuzu Japan has a long history of development and enjoys a good reputation for high-end and reliability around the world, so the establishment of Qingling carries many expectations of China’s ISUZU commercial vehicles industry.

In the 40 years of cooperation, Qingling has handed over brilliant answers with milestones one after another. In 1994, it became the first listed enterprise in our country’s automotive industry to go public in Hong Kong, accelerating technology transformation and capacity expansion with the help of capital platforms. In 2005, the first world-class ISUZU commercial truck industry chain production base was built in China to realize independent supporting of core components. In 2005~2010, it jointly established a joint venture with Isuzu for engines, axles and other parts to build a complete commercial vehicle industry ecology; In 2017, the company released its own brand of fuel pickup truck TAGA, marking the transformation of the company from a technology follower to an innovation leader.

Forty years of cooperation have run through the whole process of our country’s commercial vehicle industry from inception to maturity. In this process, Qingling ISUZU commercial truck has completed a breakthrough in the whole chain from technology introduction, digestion and absorption to independent innovation.

It is worth mentioning that in this development process, more and more domestic light truck brands have emerged, and new brands have become a trend after “bell”, which not only reflects the industry’s recognition of Isuzu’s technical standards, but also reflects Qingling’s leading position and benchmark value in the field of high-end commercial vehicles.

Leap to a new era: full scenario + new energy layout “intelligent electric era”

For Qingling, the introduction and absorption of technology is the starting point, and the core goal is to innovate and develop closely with the changes in industry demand and promote the overall upgrading of the domestic truck industry.

After 40 years of accumulation, on the product side, Qingling has built a product system covering all scenarios. In the field of traditional fuel vehicles, the N series, M series, and Jujia series products achieve full coverage of 4~49 tons of load, covering heavy, medium, and light trucks, pickup trucks, VAN and other categories, which can meet the needs of various scenarios such as urban distribution, trunk transportation, and engineering operations.

In the face of the wave of new energy and intelligent transformation, Qingling also launched its strategic layout early and achieved phased results.

In 2017, an independent “three electrics” technology system was built; In 2020, it cooperated with Bosch to lay out the hydrogen energy industry and simultaneously carry out the demonstration operation of autonomous commercial vehicles; In 2021, the operation channel of the Chengdu-Chongqing hydrogen corridor will be opened; In 2023, a new generation of electric light truck EVM will be launched, and cooperation with CATL and Jingjin Electric will deepen industrial chain cooperation; In 2024, we will cooperate with Huawei to promote the research and development of supercharging commercial vehicles, and launch a new generation of electric VAN and heavy-duty truck products on the market.

Today, many new energy series products such as EV, KV, and Lingkun under Qingling isuzu truck have been widely recognized by the market, achieving continuous innovation and development in the era of intelligent electricity.

From the perspective of 40 years of development, Qingling’s isuzu truck development takes vehicle manufacturing as the starting point, and carefully lays out the whole industrial chain through the establishment of core component joint ventures such as engine factories and axle factories, forming a development model that combines “attracting investment, technology and wisdom” and “restructuring, restructuring and transformation”, which is also the key driving force to support its in-depth innovation and development.

Brief summary:

From imitation and follow-up to breakthrough and innovation, this is a true portrayal of the development path of our country’s commercial vehicle industry in the past 40 years. Qingling isuzu trucks is a typical representative of this development process, and the development trajectory of the company reflects the transformation process of our country’s commercial vehicle industry from a catcher to a parallel to a leader.

After 40 years of working together, Qingling and Isuzu trucks have jointly written a good story of the development of the commercial vehicle industry, and won countless flowers and applause with their strength. Today, 40 years later, the industry is in a period of major change, which will be a new starting point for Qingling and Isuzu.

On May 13 this year, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the joint venture between Qingling and Isuzu, Qingling launched a series of activities such as “Qingling Isuzu 40 Years, 40 Cities, 40 Cars”, and is scheduled to hold a celebration commemorative event with Isuzu on July 15, witnessing Qingling’s technological innovation and quality persistence in the past 40 years with millions of users, we will pay close attention to more exciting content, and look forward to Qingling isuzu trucks bringing more surprises to the industry.