Hawtai

Rongcheng HawTai Automobile Co., Ltd.

Founded	2000 (Shandong)[1]
Headquarters	Beijing, China[2]
Key people	Zhang Xiugen, owner;[3] Richard Zhang, Vice President[3]
Products	SUVs, sedans[3]
Website	Hawtai Motor

Hawtai (officially Rongcheng HawTai Automobile Co Ltd)^[4] is a Chinese passenger car manufacturing company headquartered in Beijing, China.^[5] A former joint venture partner of Hyundai Motors, Hawtai continues to use technology from this Korean automaker as of 2010.^[6]

Previously romanized as Huatai, the company is now known as Hawtai.^[7]

As of late 2010, its production capacity was reported to be 350,000 vehicles/year.^[8] Production capacity figures may consider whole vehicles and engines as discrete.

What distinguishes Hawtai from rival private Chinese automakers is its diesel engine production ability and a late 2000s dissolution of its partnership with a famous name foreign firm.^{[citation needed]} Billing itself as a clean vehicle brand, it counts the Chinese State among its customers.^[9]

Name

Although correctly romanized as Huátài in pinyin, the preferred way to spell the name of this Chinese automaker with the Latin alphabet is Hawtai.^[7] In Chinese, the name could mean "magnificent extremes".

History

Founded in 2000,^[1] it is, as of May 2011, owned by Zhang Xiugen, a Chinese entrepreneur.^[3] Initially producing an SUV,^[9] a 2002 cooperation with Hyundai allowed it to manufacture Hyundai-branded SUVs starting in 2003,^[9] which it also started selling under its own name in 2004.^[10] Only the engines may have differentiated these Hawtai-branded offerings.^{[citation needed]} The company added sedans to its product line in 2010,^[11] and these are probably the first vehicles it both designed and manufactured.^{[citation needed]}

Failed Saab bailout

Although it was never consummated, in early May 2011, Hawtai agreed to provide EUR 150 million to Spyker Cars, the then-current owner of Saab, in exchange for Chinese manufacturing rights to the new Saab 9-3 and a 30% ownership of this Swedish vehicle maker.^[12] The deal quickly fell through.^[13]

Technology transfers

The company has purchased foreign technology repeatedly including engine and transmission technologies.^[14] Hawtai purchased technology from the Korean Hyundai Motors including some used in the first generation Santa Fe.^[6] The company sells a Hawtai-branded version of this small SUV,^[15] as well as one of the Hyundai Terracan.^[16] Both models use the same names as their Hyundai-branded counterparts. Around the time of the 2009 Chrysler Chapter 11 reorganization, this American automaker discussed the possibility of an asset sale with Hawtai.^[17]

Hawtai utilizes engine technologies that were developed by other companies including some created by Italian diesel engine experts VM Motori.^[18]

Hyundai joint venture

In 2002, Hawtai began a joint venture with Hyundai motors,^[19] but, as of late 2010, this partnership has ceased.^[6] The project produced Chinese-market versions of the Hyundai Matrix,^[5] a people carrier, the Hyundai Santa Fe^[19] and the Hyundai Terracan.^[19] The Santa Fe was the fifth most-purchased SUV in China in 2010,^[20] and at least some Hawtai versions of the car may differ significantly from those sold in other markets.^[21] Both Hyundai SUVs have experienced continued popularity in China.^[22] Hawtai's newest SUV, the B35 Bolgheri (Baolige in Chinese) still uses Santa Fe underpinnings albeit in combination with VM Motori or SAIC engines and a ZF transmission.^[18]

Hawtai B11  Hawtai B35 Baolige, on Santa Fe base

Operations

Hawtai has passenger car production faciliites in Ordos, Inner Mongolia,^[23] and Rongcheng, Shandong.^[1] The latter site has a 150,000 vehicles per year production capacity.^[9] The Inner Mongolia site has a production capacity of 300,000 units/year, manufactures modern diesel engines and may have been under construction as of February 2010.^[24] Such production capacity figures may consider whole vehicles and engines as discrete. This facility produces transmissions as well as engines.^[9] Hawtai claims production capacity figures for this location of one million engines, 500,000 whole vehicles, and the same number of transmissions.^[9]

The company claims a bus production facility in Yanbian was established in 2002.^[9]

A former process technology/engine localization office in Beijing^[22] may be a site for R&D efforts.

Engines

Some Hawtai models use SAIC Motor engines,^[21] but other powerplants are said to be Hawtai's own using technology purchased from Italian diesel experts VM Motori.^[18] The company states that the design of these engines, made at its Inner Mongolia site, has been modified in-house.^[25]

Exports

The company has exported to Angola, southeast Asia, and to at least one country in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet Bloc states.^[9]

References

External links

• Hawtai Official Site (English)

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