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Berliet in China

9K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Joest 
#1 ·
Hi,

I heard that in the 60s, the french truck manufacturer Berliet sold trucks to China. Some Berliet trucks have even been made in China.

Can somebody give me more informations about this?

Regards.
 
#2 ·
I think it was Huanghai who made Berliet based trucks. I have to investigate further.
 
#3 ·
The manufacturer was Chongqing Hongyan. First Berliet trucks were made in 1965 and later trucks were based on Berliet technology. In 1988 Steyr became a partner and Steyr cabs are still used to this day. That's pretty much all I know :eek:
 
#4 ·
Hello Joest Jonathan,
Paul Berliet visited China in 1964, as a member of a trade mission together with De Gaulle. Chinese (military) were very interested in his trucks, especially the GCH 6 ton 6 x 6 truck. Berliet built 3000 trucks for China at that time. Berliet was the first contact of the Chinese automotive industry with the west. You can say Paul Berliet was a pioneer.
Than the cultural revolution closed the country. In 1974, in the late days of the cultural revolution it was Deng Xiaoping who visited Lyon. Deng had worked at Berliet as student in the 1920s. Deng became a good friend of Paul Berliet. In 1978 Berliet discovered in the Chinese magazine 'China Reconstructs' a Chinese copy of his GCH truck. It was the Hongyan CQ 261 6 x 6, made by the Sichuan Auto Works. The same year Berliet visited China and this factory in Dazu. He was not allowed to take pictures so he took one picture out of his hotel room, the hotel was on the factory site.
After Berliet sold his works to Renault Vehicule Industrielle, there was one other try to cooperate with the Chinese: Dongfeng EQ 142 trucks were equipped with Renault diesel engines and sold in Africa under the Renault brand. But than Renault V.I. lost interest and gave priority to Africa in stead of Asia.
Besides of the Sichuan Auto Works another factory in Changzhou, Jiangsu province copied Berliet trucks. The Changzhou Metallurgical Machinery Electricity Repair Factory made the Changjiang CZ 161, CZ 360, CZ 361 which were clear copies of the GBO trucks and dumpers. But that was something Berliet only knew when I told him, 3 years ago.
 
#6 · (Edited)
As usual, when you look for informations, just ask Erik: he knows. :thumb:

Thank you very much. I didn't the know the name under which the Berliet were made in China, so I couldn't find anything.

Deng Xiaoping at Berliet? I knew that in France, he worked at Hutchinson (which hired a few young Chinese communists back then) under a fake name and Wikipedia told me he also worked at Renault. Well, I guess Erik just got an other scoop!
 
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