In 1992 Citroën ZX-assembly in China started. A joint-venture, named DCAC (Dongfeng Citroën Automobile Company) was established, the venture was owned for 70% by Dongfeng.
The ZX, named Fukang in China, was a hatchback, and Dongfeng wanted a sedan. Citroën let it design by Heuliez, and in 1998 the program was enriched with the Fukang 988 sedan.
Dongfeng had more wishes, and here it conflicted with Citroën. Dongfeng wanted commercial vehicles based on the Fukang.
Also in 1998 Dongfeng started to produce pickups and box vans based on the Fukang, but outside the joint-venture. Citroën refused to produce them and sell them in the Fukang sales program.
The procedure was: DCAC produced in Xiangfan (mechanical parts) and Wuhan (assembly) the Fukang hatchback, the Fukang 988 sedan and Fukang platforms, code EQ1010FJ3. |
These platforms were sent to the cab plant of the Dongfeng Commercial Co. Ltd. in Shiyan. There a box van, named N15, was made.
In 1998 I went to Wuhan to visit DCAC. Arriving at the factory I took a little walk in the surroundings before entering. Always interesting! Here I found some of the vehicles that I describe in this article.
These are the vehicles made outside the DCAC joint-venture:
1. Box car
Dongfeng EQ6410 (N15) . This is the car here above. The rear body is made in Shiyan, of FRP (glasfiber). Some had a black panel around the rear side windows. Box cars were not very popular in China. I described already the Nanya Unique. Another was the Chinese Opel Combo, named SAIC Saibao.
Technical details of the EQ6410 Box car:
LxWxH 4100x 1680x 1763mm
Loading space 1545x 1680x 540mm
Wheelbase 2540mm
Weight (empty) 1080kg, fully loaded 1610kg
Engine TU3F2 1360cc 49kW/5400rpm (octane 90)
Max. speed 135km/h, fuel consumption 7.6L/100km
They were sold by the Dongfeng Special Purpose Vehicle Company in Shiyan.
2. Van.
Based on the Fukang platform, Dongfeng had found another way to make a van. These cars look very shabby and are probably locally (Wuhan) made. They were based on a single cab pickup.
Because they are virtually hand-made, there are several versions.
Dongfeng EQ1010, closed version, round rear lights. Photo Wuhan 1998, Erik van Ingen Schenau.
3. Van with a ribbed body.
4. Single cab pickup.
I have never seen a single cab pickup, but I suppose they have existed. There is a factory photo of a single cab pickup with a polyester cover.
5. Double cab pickup.
The double cab pickups were made by the Shenlong Auto Refit Factory .
6. The break.
The break (familiale or station wagon) was never in the DCAC Fukang program. But they were made, and the Chinese break is different from the French break, especially at the rear side.
Interesting fact is that they had the code DC1010N21. DC means Dongfeng-Citroën, N21 was the Fukang hatchback code. So they were made under the authority of the joint-venture.
The rear lights were bigger than in the French version, and a little part of rear mud guards had to be cut out, because the lights were too big. The Chinese break had also a visible rear door lock.
When I visited the factory in Wuhan I was friendly received by general manager mr. Coulmeau who showed me the assembly line of the ZX and 988. He made a drawing to explain the production: Fukang hatchback, Fukang 988 sedan and the platform for the box van and pickup. Plans were made to produce the Berlingo in the near future.
Berlingo production was announced a second time, after negotiations between Hafei and PSA.
Planned production in Shenzhen in 2007 never happened as Hafei was sold to Chang’an, and Chang’an preferred to make luxury cars in Shenzhen: this became the Chang’an-DS range.
Hafei Berlingo, the logo.
Tycho wrote more than ten years ago about this subject:
vans and pickups.
I was happy to add new details and photos.
The only statistics I could find are from 1998: total production 1167 units. At the end the complete production was probably not more than 1500 cars.
A couple of months later I found out that the pickups and the basic vans, together with the station wagons, were made by a local workshop in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. Baotou is not far from Shiyan. The name of the company is Shenlong Baotou Automobile Refit Company.
Great article as usual Erik, the EQ1010 could perhaps be a chassis cab, with the customer being able to order even 3rd party fittings on top. I have seen such cases before with a little van called Tatra Beta here. But with such low production numbers its questionable if that ever happened. The Berlingo prototype is very interesting, I never heard about it before.
Well, Jirka, the platform (chassis is not really correct) was named Dongfeng EQ1010FJ3, it was made at the same line as the Dongfeng-Citroën (Shenlong) Fukang (DC7160) and Fukang 988 (DC7162).