Dongfeng will build an assembly plant in Italy
- Dongfeng is one of the major Chinese automobile manufacturers. It works chiefly with foreign manufacturers, such as Honda, Nissan, Kia, Renault and Stellantis.
- It was with PSA that Dongfeng began working with foreign manufacturers in 1992. Dongfeng was then called SAW, which means Second Automobile Works, this manufacturer having been the second Chinese manufacturer chronologically. The first Chinese carmaker chronologically is FAW (First Automobile Works) which still retains this name today. Hongqi (“red flag”), its flagship brand, used to produce prestige cars for the Chinese government and influential members of the Communist Party, modeled on the ZILs of the Soviet Union. Dongfeng has produced the Citroën ZX under the Fukang name for several decades while FAW has worked with Volkswagen, producing the Santana for a comparable period.
- Today, Dongfeng is in clear decline, facing much more dynamic Chinese manufacturers like BYD, Geely, Chery or Changan, having also lost a lot on the JV side with foreigners constantly retreating from the Chinese market.
- To revive its activity, Dongfeng made the decision to produce cars in Europe for this market. At the beginning of August, an agreement (MOU: Memo of understanding) was reportedly signed with the Italian government (MIMIT: Ministero delle Impresse e del Made in Italy) for the construction of an assembly plant in Italy.
- The Italian state could take a minority stake in Dongfeng on this occasion. Italy wishes to attract manufacturers other than Stellantis, which represents almost all of production in Italy, and intends to increase national automobile production in the short term to 1.3 million vehicles per year, compared to less than 800,000 in 2023. , which would return to the 2007 level. The country would also be in talks with other Chinese manufacturers, including Chery.