Today in Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot (CCBTTF™): Wuhan Light Automobile Factory, based in the great city of Wuhan in Hubei Province. The company that made a series of pickup trucks and SUVs in in 1980’s and early 1990’s.
The early history of Wuhan Light Automobile Factory is, a usual, a long litany of takeovers and mergers. It was originally established all the way back in 1949 as a automobile repair factory.
In 1953 it merged with two other Wuhan companies into the poetically named New Tomorrow Machinery Factory. In 1955 this company was taken over by the Wuhan Fire Equipment Factory. In 1964 Wuhan Fire Equipment merged with Yangtze River Automobile Repair Factory.
In that time the company had two main businesses: repairing existing vehicles, and building fire-fighting equipment on existing vehicles.
From 1970 however the company started making their first fire-fighting vehicle under the Wuhan brand, designated CB22. Sadly, there are no known images of this vehicle. They made a few different variants, but production numbers were very low.
In 1976 the company moved into passenger cars for the first time with the Wuhan WH211, a licensed variant of the Beijing Auto Works 211. The numbers went up a bit but still not by much; from 1976 to 1982 they made about 600 vehicles.
The year 1982 also saw the return of the original name: Wuhan Light Automobile Factory. In 1984 they launched two vehicles based on the WH211: the WH120 pickup truck and the WH213 SUV.
In the mid-1980’s production was on steam, and the factory had almost 4000 employees. Business was good, for a while. But like so many of these relatively small provincial companies they just didn’t know how to make the next step. They kept making variants of the same car, based on the same old chassis.
In the early 1990’s sales declined and the company was on its way to bankruptcy. In 1995 they were saved by Dongfeng Motors, the massive state-owned behemoth that is also based in Wuhan. They renamed Wuhan Light Automobile Factory into Dongfeng Wuhan Light Automobile Factory.
This company still exists, making a series of light trucks under the DFAC brand.
Now to the cars:
This is the Wuhan WH120, a pickup truck. design. The company really put some effort in the design, see for example how they put the indicators in a black bar under the bonnet. The fender mounted mirrors are really special too; very unusual for China, and finished in chrome.
Short exhaust pipe ends mid-under the car.
The WH120 is rear-wheel drive, and powered by a locally made WH492Q petrol engine, licensed from Beijing Auto Works. Displacement was 2.4 liter petrol engine, and it delivered 75 horses, which was good for a 110 km/h top speed. Size: 4570/1750/1780.
The WH492Q engine.
This is the WH213. Based on the same chassis, but fitted with a five-door SUV body. This particular high-roof car is painted in an attractive white-orange color scheme, and fitted with a high roof.
Mirrors on the fenders, and the exhaust sits under the middle again. The rear door opens to the right. The door handles have an angle. The rear-door handle angles up, whereas the front-door handle angles down.
A standard-roof example painted in a more classic white-dark red color scheme.
The WH213 was powered by the WH492QA engine, a variant of the WH492Q. Displacement was the same, but power was down to 70 horses. It was likely tuned for more torque. Top speed was 100 km/h.
Size: 4490/1750/1800, slightly shorter than the pickup truck.
These images of the car in action are period-factory photos. Wuhan Light Automobile Factory knew a thing about marketing!
WH213 on the rocks.
The WH125 is a larger four-door pickup truck. Design-wise it is closer to the WH213 than the WH120. Note how the designers moved the two fake air vents from the D-pillar, on the SUV, to the C-pillar, on the pickup truck. A nice touch to keep some consistency in Wuhan Light Vehicle Automobile Factory’s design!
For a short while, the company also made a small truck. It is only mentioned in one of my books. Designation was WH123. It looks like a shrunken Jiefang, with a very short nose.
It was powered by a 3.2 liter 494Q diesel engine, with an output of 70 hp and 170 Nm. Top speed was a low 70 km/h. Size: 5536/2260/2290.
In 1988 the company launched two new cars. First up an updated variant of the WH213, designated WH213 JB, seen here in public-security livery, with a high roof. The mirrors have moved to the doors, and the front design is totally new, with a factory bull bar! They still coulnd’t leave the fenders alone, fitting a set of extra indicators there, housed in a chrome pen.
This is another updated variant of the WH213, with a high roof, looking more luxurious than the earlier models. Mirrors are at the doors, and the fenders are finally clean. The front design is different again, with all new twin-headlights in oval-shaped housings.
And those were the cars of Wuhan Light Vehicle Automobile Factory. More Chinese Car Brands That Time Forgot soon.
Sources: pictures and specifications: period catalogues and books. History: WHBC.
They did quite a nice job here
The WH123 looks very similar to the Soviet GAZ 51.
The mirrors on the front fenders are reminders of the prevailing feature of Japanese cars of that period.
As for the WH125, the styling was ahead of its time. I like it a lot.
Tech specs for WH213/WH213A I have found:
so it also seems that wuhan made buses before.
this is the wuhan wh 644