Old Jiefang CA10 Appears at Hanover Motor Show, Looking Back on 70 Years of the "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire" Road of China's Auto Industry

　　Today, almost every automotive practitioner who hears the words "old Jiefang" will feel respect. For the automotive industry, it is the starting point of China's auto industry; for national construction, it is an important force for transportation support; for countless households, it is part of the shared memory of several generations. As the first automobile of New China, it carries the arduous exploration of the initial stage of China's auto industry and has witnessed China's long journey from "being unable to make automobiles" to stepping onto the global stage.

　　From September 14 to 20, at the 2026 Hanover International Transport Expo, various automakers will present their latest product matrices. Under the exhibition theme "ENGINEERING THE NEXT HORIZON, DELIVERING THE NEXT JOURNEY (Ingenuity Reaches Far, Delivering a New Journey)", FAW JIEFANG will collectively unveil five complete vehicles, including the CA10, J7 Chuangling Edition, and TL.X Forward-Looking Concept Car, as well as nine core assembly products at Hall 24 of the Hanover Exhibition Center in Germany.

　　The entry of the "old Jiefang" into the Hanover Motor Show is not merely a brand display, but also a look back at history. It reminds people that the scale, technology, and international influence of China's commercial vehicle industry today did not come out of thin air, but were built on the foundation of the strenuous struggle of several generations of automotive people. From the assembly line of Changchun First Automobile Works to the spotlight of a global commercial vehicle exhibition, the old Jiefang connects the past and the present, and also connects the spiritual source of Made in China.

Silver Screen Protagonist: Why the old Jiefang Can Touch People's Hearts.

　　This Jiefang CA10, born in the mid-20th century, has appeared many times in this year's hit TV drama "The Protagonist." It travels across the urban and rural lands of the motherland, carrying the texture of life of an era. For young viewers, it may just be an old truck in a film or television image; but for those who lived through that era, it is more like an entrance to a collective memory.

　　The reason the "old Jiefang" can transcend time is not only because of its unique shape, but also because it is closely connected with the construction of New China. At that time, China's industrial foundation was weak and transportation equipment was in short supply. Trucks were not only means of transportation, but also important support for factory construction, mining development, farmland water conservancy, material allocation, and national defense support. The birth of the Jiefang CA10 meant that China had the capacity to independently mass-produce automobiles, and also meant that the country's industrialization process had taken a key step.

Technical Foundation: The Founding Ancestor of New China's Automobiles.

　　On July 13, 1956, on the final assembly line of Changchun First Automobile Works, the first batch of 12 Jiefang-brand automobiles slowly rolled off the assembly line, ending the history of China's inability to mass-produce automobiles. This "Jiefang"-brand automobile, personally named by Chairman Mao, was the founding work of China's auto industry. Its emblem bears a distinct mark of the times: C is the first letter of China and also represents Changchun; A is the first English letter, symbolizing first. The five-pointed star at the center of the front represents Made in China, and the eagle below it is the original version of the FAW logo.

　　The Jiefang CA10 was modeled on the Soviet ZIS-150 long-nose truck, adopted a 4×2 rear-wheel-drive design, had a payload of 4 tons, was equipped with a 5.6-liter 6-cylinder engine with a maximum power of 90 horsepower, matched with a 5-speed manual transmission, had a top speed of about 75 km/h, and fuel consumption of about 29 liters per 100 kilometers.

　　These parameters may not be outstanding today, but under the conditions of that time they already had important practical value. Major components of the Jiefang CA10, such as the chassis, engine, and body, were almost all manufactured by FAW from blanks to finished products. During production, components were first made in prefabrication plants and then transported to the site for installation. Some accessories such as tires, bearings, glass, and electrical equipment were supplied by the Soviet Union. This not only reflected the international cooperation background of the time, but also showed that Jiefang gradually established complete capabilities under limited conditions, thus opening the magnificent prelude to the development of China's auto industry.

Epitome of an Era: 1.3 Million CA10s Integrated into National Construction.

　　The first-generation Jiefang CA10 had a long-nose design, and its front face carried strong characteristics of the times. Many people affectionately called it "pig nose." The cab seats copied the design of household sofas and were wrapped in genuine leather, making them veritable luxuries of that era. The towering engine compartment, thick bumper, hand-cranked windows, and platinum ignition method all carried a distinct industrial flavor. The driver's windshield could be pushed forward to form an opening the size of a fist; when driving in summer, this was the most direct way to cool down. It had no power steering and no synchronizer, and shifting required double-clutching. Driving an old Jiefang particularly tested a person's physical strength and experience.

　　The 3.5-meter-long solid wood cargo bed was composed of wood and iron support structures. The old Jiefang with a 3.5-meter cargo bed was already called "Big Jiefang" by people. This "big" was not only about size, but also about its weight in national construction.

　　After the CA10 was put into mass production, it was not only used as an ordinary cargo truck, but was also converted into many special-purpose models, including public transit ambulances, refueling trucks, water trucks, engineering vehicles, refrigerated trucks, and more. It appeared in factories, mines, highways, farmland, construction sites, and urban transportation lines, becoming an important force in New China's infrastructure construction and material circulation. From the first vehicle rolling off the production line in 1956 to the end of production in 1986, the CA10 series cumulatively produced nearly 1.3 million vehicles, accounting for half of the country's total automobile output at that time.

　　In 2025, the Jiefang CA10 was successfully selected as a National Industrial Heritage! It has become a precious mark bearing the history of China's auto industry development.

Global Stage: China's Auto Industry Strides Forward.

　　The Jiefang CA10 at the Hanover Motor Show is like a coordinate in time, showing people that China's commercial vehicle industry did not stand at the center of the world stage from the beginning, but walked forward step by step from difficult conditions and limited resources. Today, the fact that FAW JIEFANG can appear on the same stage with a national industrial heritage and its latest products is itself an epitome of the growth of China's auto industry. Jiefang displays not only product iteration, but also the continuous upgrading of Chinese commercial vehicle brands from manufacturing capability and technological accumulation to systematic output. The old Jiefang represents entrepreneurial spirit, the J7 Chuangling Edition represents current strength, and the forward-looking concept car points to the future direction of intelligence, green development, and internationalization.

　　An "old Jiefang" has crossed 70 years of time to come to Hanover, as if telling the world: today's Chinese commercial vehicle industry has roots, a source, and inheritance. In the future, China's auto industry will continue to move forward in technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and global competition, and the spirit of self-reliance and arduous entrepreneurship represented by the Jiefang CA10 will continue to be the strength for Chinese automotive people to move forward.