Starting from the first Santana, the Shanghai automobile industry has gone through forty years of "prosperity"

　　China News Service, Shanghai, January 21st: Starting from the first Santana, the Shanghai automobile industry has gone through 40 years of "prosperity"

　　Author Pu Fan

　　The TV series "Flowers" made Huanghe Road where "Zhizhenyuan" is located and Jinxian Road where "Night Tokyo" is located popular, and also evoked the memories of many old Shanghainese.

The octogenarian Gu Sanmin recently came to Jinxian Road again. As the first Chinese manager of the quality assurance department of SAIC Volkswagen, he looked at No. 120 Jinxian Road, which has become a time-honored restaurant, and said with emotion: "The original SAIC Volkswagen piston The factory is here, and in the 1990s (in the 1990s) it could produce 500,000 Santana pistons per year."

　　"With Santana, you can travel around the world without fear." For many Shanghainese, this is a familiar advertising slogan.

"At that time, Santana could be seen running on the road everywhere in Shanghai, and anyone who owned a Santana at that time was very happy." Gu Sanmin said.

　　This is also reflected in "Flowers". Since the story is set in the late 1980s and 1990s, Santana has become the car with the most appearance in the entire drama. The mainstream taxi on the street is Santana.

It can be said that Santana was a hidden thread in the play and a label in Shanghai at that time.

　　In addition to being a mark of the times, Santana is also a "milestone" for the entire history of the automobile industry.

"Shanghai Municipal Chronicle·Industrial Branch·Automobile Industry Volume (1978-2010)" records that on April 11, 1983, the first Shanghai Santana sedan was successfully assembled at the Shanghai Automobile Factory.

"For the first time, China's car production has truly come into contact with international manufacturing standards and processes." Gu Sanmin introduced this moment to a reporter from China News Service.

On April 11, 1983, the first Shanghai Santana sedan was successfully assembled at the Shanghai Automobile Factory.

Photo courtesy of SAIC Volkswagen

　　In 1978, contact and exchanges between China and Western automobile manufacturers began.

In October of the same year, a delegation from the China Machinery Industry visited the German Volkswagen Group to discuss cooperation, which started a six-year "marathon" negotiation.

In October 1984, Shanghai Volkswagen Co., Ltd. (now renamed "SAIC Volkswagen") was formally established to produce automobiles as a Sino-German joint venture.

　　Recalling the scene when the first Shanghai Santana left the factory, Gu Sanmin said: "We couldn't get excited at this extremely exciting moment because the task ahead of us was so arduous." The entire first Santana car Thousands of parts and components are all imported from Germany, and the Shanghai Automobile Factory only does the assembly work.

In the first year after SAIC-Volkswagen was founded, the localization rate of Santana was only 2.7%. At that time, China was short of foreign exchange needed to purchase parts. It was a long way to go to mass-produce Santana in Shanghai.

　　"Localization of Santana" has become SAIC Volkswagen's top priority.

Subsequently, a cross-regional and cross-industry "Shanghai Santana Car Localization Community" was established, and a "Santana Project Localization Fund" was established, mobilizing more than 100 companies across the country to join.

And a market competition mechanism is implemented, that is, 35% of Santana parts are produced by SAIC Volkswagen itself, mainly engines, bodies, etc., and the remaining 65% are produced by other cooperative factories to compete with whose quality is better, cost is lower, and price is more competitive.

　　Through the unremitting efforts of all parties, the localization rate of Santana increased to 60.09% in 1990 and reached 70% in 1991.

Since 1996, Santana's localization rate has reached 90%. Key components such as the body, engine, gearbox and front and rear axle assemblies have been localized one after another, and led to the formation of ZF Friedrichshafen in Jiading. , Schaeffler, Yanfeng and other more than 300 parts and components enterprise clusters.

　　In Gu Sanmin's view, the localization of Santana not only laid the foundation for the parts supply chain of the Chinese automobile industry, but also improved the management system for the Chinese automobile industry to ensure the quality maturity of new parts in the supply chain.

Throughout his career, Gu Sanmin, who is proficient in German, translated, introduced, and refined many German automotive industry standards. Among them, the process audit standard (VDA6.3) of the German Automobile Industry Association was introduced to China by him, and It is still used by many domestic car companies.

　　It has been 40 years since the first Shanghai Santana left the factory.

The name Santana comes from a valley in California, USA. Because strong cyclones often blow, the locals also call this kind of cyclone "Santana".

After the "whirlwind" of Santana swept through China, it also made the Shanghai automobile industry's industrial chain continue to complete, the innovation chain continue to strengthen, and the value chain continue to grow.

Since then, automobiles have become one of the pillar industries that have established the “Made in Shanghai” brand.

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