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May 20, 2014

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Military adds Red Flags to PLA’s fleet of Chinese cars

MORE than 1,000 Red Flag H7 limousines have been delivered to the People’s Liberation Army, the latest move in the phasing out of foreign cars by China’s military, the PLA Daily said yesterday.

The newly designed H7 model from First Automotive Works is the third made-in-China model to be bought by the military after Guangzhou Automobile Group’s Trumpchi and FAW’s Benteng, the newspaper reported.

Five auto groups bid to supply the military — FAW, GAC, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, Huachen Auto Group and Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation Group — the report said, quoting the army’s General Armament Department.

Twenty-seven experts from the army and the Ministry of Transport evaluated the bids, the department said.

China’s armed forces are required to choose domestic brand cars as part of a nationwide drive to promote frugality and cut out waste, according to a document issued by the PLA earlier this year.

“To purchase domestic models is a hard-and-fast rule and we’ll tighten quality supervision to ensure the output of the glory-winning homegrown sedans,” said the department’s Cheng Guhui.

Official vehicles used by the PLA have gone through various stages in history, from cars captured from enemies to imported sedans, to joint venture cars, to homegrown models.

During the period of China’s civil war from 1945 to 1950, most of the military vehicles were seized from enemies.

Soon after the establishment of New China in 1949, the army began to import vehicles from Soviet Union and France.

The Beijing 212 jeep produced by Beijing Auto Works was widely used by the PLA in the 1960s while the Red Flag CA770 and other sedans produced by SAIC were purchased at the same time.

After the adoption of reform and opening up policy in 1978, the army started to buy cars from Chinese joint ventures, including Audis and Santanas.




 

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