A brief history of Red Star Automotive

This article will be a first in a series of articles documenting the automotive history of the city of Xingtai in Hebei province. I recently travelled to Xingtai for a second time. I spent the day with a media friend I had met through Weibo after my last visit in 2017. He was kind enough to offer to take me around Xingtai to see some of the car factories that were once part of Xingtai’s industrial output. Upon arrival in Xingtai he told me we were off to a car factory that was very much still alive and well. That car factory is operated by Hongxing – aka Red Star.

Hongxing was originally founded in Beijing in 1960 in collaboration with the predecessor of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. In 1962 Hongxing officially became known as the Beijing State-Owned Tianhe Production Factory (literal translation). Tianhe would focus on modifying existing Beijing products for use as ambulances and speciality vehicles. In 1966 the 620 series of vehicles were introduced, making Tianhe the first company to produce “Travel Vehicles” (vans/minibuses) in China.

On September 7 1970, Tianhe moved to Xingtai and was renamed as Hebei Hongxing Automobile Works. The name would change to Hebei Xingtai Hongxing Automobile Works a few years later as Hongxing came under full control of the Xingtai government. In 1985 the name changed again to Hebei Hongxing Travel Vehicle Works. In 2003 the name change AGAIN to Hebei Hongxing Automobile Works Limited.

Later on the HX620 would be based on the M20 generation of Toyota LiteAce van.

In 1989 the Chinese government seeked to normalize the naming convention of vehicles produced in the country, so that it would be clear from the name what kind of vehicle a vehicle (car/bus/truck) was. As a result the HX620 was renamed as the HX6400. Previously the 620 designation indicated a bus with 8-15 seats. 6400 indicated a bus with a length of 4.0 meters. Perhaps you may know the story told by Top Gear of the FAW Maestro being designated as a bus?

In later years as with many other Chinese car companies, Hongxing toned down the extravagant styling of their cars, with beautiful badging and glorious chrome wheel covers making way for simpler units.

Hongxing also produced the HX621, itself a derivative of the then ubiquitous bus model being made by multiple manufacturers across China in order to meet demand in their local areas. This beautiful example was photographed in 1978 at the Canton Fair by Oliver Barnham.

Pictured above is another HX621, this time wearing military plates in Xi’an, photographed by Oliver Barnham in 1979.

There was a pickup variant of the HX621 designated as HX121. This example was photographed in Beijing in 1983 by my colleague Erik Van Ingen Schenau during his first trip to China.

Erik was kind enough to provide me with copies of a brochure for the HX621.

In 1989 the name of these vehicles changed in line with new regulations. The HX621 became the HX6481

In 1992, China Central Television (CCTV) embarked on an epic 38,000km road trip around China to show off different Chinese products around the country. The Chinese name of the trip was 中国质量万里行. This sort of road trip is still carried out by car manufacturers today to show that their vehicles can handle everything from the high mountains of Sichuan to the expansive deserts of Inner Mongolia. For this trip Hongxing provided vehicles for the interview division.

Above is a map of the route they took.

Hongxing appears to have provided between 10-15 vehicles for the trip, including two models I have previously not discussed so will now.

The HX6483 was Hongxings own version of the fourth generation H100 Toyota Hiace, a vehicle produced by what may be hundreds of companies around China even today.

The HX6482 was based on the Toyota Previa. This picture shows a HX6482 outside a CCTV building, likely during the trip around China.

In this picture we see a HX6400 and HX6481 outside a government building during the road trip.

The history of Hongxing in 1990’s is a bit hazy and so we move on to 2004 when Hongxing was acquired by Shuanghuan Automotive. Then we move on a few years later to August of 2015 when the Hongxing brand was acquired by the DFD group. DFD has interests in battery technology and wanted to get into the electric car market and rather than setting up a new company and fighting to get a production license, they elected to purchase an existing car manufacturer and thus get the precious license. Just like BYD did with Qinchuan all those years ago.

Shuanghuan had been producing electric vehicle in the 2000’s, mostly based on the Shuanghuan Noble. In fact it was Shuanghuan that provided the rolling shells to Wheego.

DFD had Hongxing continue producing the old Noble based electric cars and development began on a major revision to the car. Finally on June 30th of this year the X2 was released.

The X2 is priced between around 120,000 and 140,000 RMB before subsidies and around 50,000 and 64,000 RMB after subsidies.

The X2 is a big improvement over the older Noble based EV’s with advancements in the technology used, as well as in the interior and exterior design. The X2 is available with either a 32.7kWh or 37.6kWh. The most interesting part of the X2 is the option of all wheel drive. The base model comes with a single 60kW(ish) motor powering the front wheels, in itself a huge jump over similar vehicles in this segment. However, higher trim versions come with an 8kW(ish) motor powering the rear axle. Ok, so it may not turn the X2 into a snorting AWD rally monster, but it is still an interesting feature that could prove useful in low-grip conditions.

Unlike other companies, Hongxing is not afraid of its past and the vehicles it once made. This is shown by the fact that they went out and found likely on the few remaining Hongxing vehicles made before merging with Shuanghuan – a HX6481. This vehicle was on display at the release of the X2 in Beijing a few months ago.

However, it didn’t always look nice and new, in fact this van was photographed as far back as 2013 in Xingtai. This particular photo was taken in 2015.

Happily the van had returned to the factory by the time I got to Xingtai in July so I was able to see it for myself. Unfortunately it is strictly a display piece as the drivetrain has been removed. In a future article I will share more photos of this vehicle.

The location of the factory has not changed even after numerous name changes and takeovers, though most of the older buildings have been demolished and built over. The main office building has the brand name on a sign on the top.

There was to be a delegation visiting later that day so they had a lineup of vehicles outside the main building. First up was the X1, a lower spec version of the X2 with a smaller battery and less power and older exterior design.

In recent years Hongxing has also had partnerships with other manufacturers to produce electric version of their cars, one of these being Chery with one of their Karry van models.

Lifan also provided vehicles for conversion.

I was also taken on a tour of the factory by one of their representatives. It was certainly a cool experience but obviously they were busy getting the first cars together and ready for market. The representative told me they had a goal of one or two hundred units that month with production eventually ramping up to close to a thousand within a few months.

The assembly line also revealed the official designation of the X2 – HX6340. In the past it was common/required that car manufacturers actually have the model designation as a badge on the rear of the vehicle, though nowadays that is extremely rare to see.

In another building were some more finished cars. These cars had badges on the back that said LF700. These cars are more than likely being produced for a new company called Shandong Lingfeng Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd; a joint venture between DFD Group and Yantai YEDA Automotive Technology Co. Ltd.

For now we end the story of Hongxing here. They are an interesting company and I’m sure will be in the news a lot with their unique cars. For new car news please be sure to check out Car News China.