JAC Group

JAC Group (Chinese: 江汽集团; officially Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp., Ltd.) is a Chinese automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer. The company is based in Hefei, China.
The company produced about 524,000 units in 2021, including 271,800 commercial vehicles and 252,500 passenger vehicles. It also sold 16,800 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in December 2021.
Established in 1964 as Hefei Jianghuai Automobile Factory, its name was changed to Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd. in 1997. The company launched their stock on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001.
JAC has historically only produced commercial trucks under the brand name Jianghu, but released multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) and sports utility vehicles (SUV) in the 2000s. By 2007, the company had gained government approval for passenger car production but continued to manufacture predominately trucks. Prior to the acquisition of a passenger car license, JAC cooperated with Hyundai Motor Company in the early 2000s in an attempt to expand its product line. Starting in 2003, the company assembled Hyundai MPVs, although this stopped before 2007. At least two models based on Hyundai technology continued to be made by JAC after the collaboration halted–an MPV and a SUV. Hyundai reportedly explored setting up a joint venture with the company in 2004.
In 2009, the Chinese government indicated that it supported consolidation in the Chinese auto industry, leading analysts to predict the possibility of JAC joining with Chery since they are both located in Anhui province. However, JAC confirmed that it was not interested in consolidation. JAC has begun to concentrate more on passenger cars, and a 2010 announcement of a new electric vehicle program may—at least partially—have been an effort to stave off the rumored merger.
Sales reached more than 445,000 units in 2012.
In 2013 it was one of the top ten most-productive vehicle manufacturers in China selling 458,500 units for 2.5% market share and reaching eighth place. JAC dropped one spot to ninth in 2011 making nearly 500,000 vehicles, and in 2012 a fall in units produced to about 445,000 precipitated the company's moving down one more rung to tenth place. Estimated production capacity is over 500,000 units/year as of 2009.
In 2014, JAC Motors announced its full acquisition of JAC Group. The new company was traded as JAC Motors in the stock market but operated in the name of JAC Group.
In 2016, JAC entered into an agreement with DR Automobiles to export its vehicles to Italy. JAC models made in China will be re-approved according to European safety and anti-pollution regulations by DR and sold with the DR badge. The first cars imported into Italy were the JAC Refine S3 renamed DR4 (or EVO 4) and the JAC iEV40 sold as the DR Evo Electric (or EVO 3 Electric).
In 2017, JAC and Volkswagen Group announced a joint venture to produce electric cars for the Chinese market with the SEAT brand. In April 2018, the JAC-Volkswagen joint venture was officially born, which however operates through the new Sol brand, and no longer SEAT. The first product is the SOL E20X vehicle, an electric crossover resulting from a badge engineering of the JAC iEV40 (also called JAC Refine S2 EV) with a front redesigned by the SEAT style center in Spain.
In 2020, Volkswagen Group signed letters of intent between Volkswagen (China) Investment Co. Ltd. and the Government of Anhui Province for the increase of the Volkswagen Group's stake in the JAC Volkswagen joint venture from the current 50% to 75%. This transition also requires investment in JAG (JAC Holding Group), the parent company of JAC and owned by the Anhui Government. The agreement between the parties, subject to the usual regulatory approvals, provides for the investment of an amount equal to one billion euros and should be concluded by the end of the year. Volkswagen would also acquire 50% of JAG (the parent company of JAC).
Volkswagen Group holds a 75% share of Volkswagen Anhui while JAC Group holds a 25% share. Volkswagen Group also owned 50% of JAC Holding Group (JAG), the parent company of JAC Group, which means Volkswagen Group also owns a 14.09% stake of JAC Group. As a result, the ownership percentage held by Volkswagen Group in Volkswagen Anhui actually reaches 78.52%.
In April 2016, NIO and the JAC Group signed a manufacturing cooperation agreement, preliminarily confirming a production and sales target of 50,000 vehicles per year for 5 years.
In 2018, NIO's first mass-produced model, the NIO ES8, manufactured by JAC, was officially launched.
In March 2021, NIO and the JAC Group established Jianglai Advanced Manufacturing Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd., with each party holding a 50% stake in the joint venture. In the same month, both companies agreed to extend the contract of manufacturing to May 2024. As part of the agreement renewal, NIO paid JAC CNY 1.2 billion for the extension of contract manufacturing services.
In December 2023, NIO announced the acquisition of JAC factories manufacturing NIO vehicles at the price of CNY 3.158 billion, which marked the end of NIO as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
As of 2022, the total amount paid for contract manufacturing services reached a total of CNY 3.038 billion.
On January 11, 2024, JAC signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with NIO to establish cooperation in battery standards, battery swapping technology, the construction of battery swapping service networks, and operation.
In December 2023, JAC announced that it had signed a cooperation agreement with Huawei. The two parties collaborated in manufacturing, sales, and services to develop premium electric vehicles based on Huawei's intelligent automotive solutions.
In August 2024, at the Stelato S9 launch conference, Huawei officially announced the fourth brand under Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) collaborating with JAC, specifically Maextro (Chinese: 尊界). Their first vehicle, the Maextro S800 is scheduled to roll off the production line by the end of 2024 and launch in the first half of 2025.
On 29 January 2025, Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus entered into truck manufacturing in collaboration with the JAC Group under the 'Rightech' sub-brand. The manufacturer launched the Rightech RT75, a 7.5 tonnes (7.4 long tons; 8.3 short tons) battery electric box truck based on the JAC Junling but modified with a revised front grille, which can be specified at either a 3.85 metres (12.6 ft) or 4.48 metres (14.7 ft) wheelbase. The vehicle is also available in both left-hand and right-hand drive variants for the UK and European truck markets.
JAC has gone through multiple transitions during the last decades. Originally, JAC had several product lines. The Heyue for sedans, hatchbacks, MPVs, and SUVs, the Refine for large MPVs/minivans and vans.
In 2017, the Heyue series was discontinued and the final models were replaced by electric variants.
In 2019, a new series, Jiayue, was introduced. Multiple Refine vehicles have been facelifted and moved to this series.
In 2020, JAC started to rebadge JAC Jiayue series models to the Sehol brand, resulting in the Sehol A5, Sehol X4, and Sehol X7. The rebadge was done as a move to release all sedans and SUVs under the Sehol brand. However, in 2023, JAC announced a plan to phase out the Sehol brand in the future. As a result, several Sehol models, like QX, A5 and X8, were again rebadged back to the JAC brand.
Sehol (思皓) was established in 2018 as a joint venture between JAC and Volkswagen, originally positioned as a brand for pure electric vehicles. In 2020, the Volkswagen Group increased its stake in the joint venture, JAC Volkswagen, to 75% and officially renamed it to Volkswagen Anhui. The Sehol brand has been licensed for use by JAC, essentially making it no longer a joint venture brand. In 2023, JAC revealed that they decided to phase out the Sehol brand in the future.
JAC Yiwei (江淮钇为) is JAC's brand for entry-level passenger EVs, launched in April 2023.
JAC Refine (江淮瑞风) was a brand of JAC for commercial MPV/Van. In 2020, JAC Refine was lifted as an independent brand from the MPV product line of JAC.
Maextro (Chinese: 尊界; pinyin: Zūnjiè) brand is used for Huawei's collaboration with JAC Group.
A 40,000 unit/year medium-to-heavy truck production base should become operation in 2012 and is probably located in Hefei.
A research and development (R&D) facility in Hefei is complemented by three overseas R&D centres in Turin, Tokyo,and Seoul.
JAC announced a pair of joint ventures with Navistar International Corporation, NC2 Global (Navistar/Caterpillar joint venture). The NC2 joint venture will manufacture heavy duty trucks. The Navistar joint venture, called JAC-Navistar Diesel Engine Company (JND), will build medium to heavy diesel engines in China with parts and services provisioned by Navistar. The new companies will both be located in Hefei where JAC is also based. Cummins purchased Navistar's equity in the engine joint venture in 2018.
Sehol (Chinese: 思皓; Sihao) is a car brand launched on April 24, 2018, by SEAT and JAC Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. joint venture.
JAC began the export of vehicles to Bolivia in 1990, later expanding to over one hundred countries. Light trucks are a popular export product.
Some JAC exports are in the form of knock-down kits, which are assembled at overseas factories in countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mexico and Iran. As of 2010, a possible factory in Slovakia is under discussion. Such factories are not necessarily owned by or affiliated with JAC. Knock-down exports are an easy way to gain access to developing markets without added after-sales service costs.
In 2009, JAC started a partnership with a distributor in Brazil, the SHC group. As of early 2011, it had more than 10,000 firm orders from its Brazilian partner. JAC also had plans to build a production base in the country as of 2009. This plan remained active until at least 2011, at which time the plant was to be located in Bahia state and built in cooperation with the SHC group, which was to provide 80% of the initial investment.
In 2016, JAC entered the Philippines market through a local partner, selling heavy-duty trucks, and in 2018, passenger cars.
In 2017, JAC announced a joint venture in Mexico with Giant Motors, a company owned by tycoon Carlos Slim. A factory has been built at Ciudad Sahagún, in the State of Hidalgo. With a surface of 65,000 square meters, has two lines of production with a capacity of over 25,000 units per year. Since early June 2017, two models are sold in Mexican market: SEI2 and SEI3, both SUVs are made in Mexico in this facility, the compact sedan J4 was added to the line-up in 2018.