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Founded | Rongcheng, Shandong, China, 2000 [1] |
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Headquarters | Beijing, China [2] |
Area served | China |
Key people | Richard Zhang (Vice President) [3] |
Products | SUVs, sedans [3] |
Owner | Zhāng Xiùgēn (张秀根) [3] |
Website | Hawtai Motor |
Hawtai | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 华泰 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 華泰 | ||||||
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Hawtai (officially Hawtai Motor Group) [4] is a Chinese automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Beijing, [5] with production facilities in Ordos,Inner Mongolia,and Rongcheng,Shandong. Selling cars and SUVs under the Hawtai brand,from 2002 to 2010 the company had a joint venture or other form of legal cooperation with Hyundai Motors that manufactured Hyundai-brand passenger cars for the mainland China market;Hawtai continues to use some Hyundai technology today. [6]
As of late 2010,its production capacity was reported to be 350,000 units/year.[ citation needed ] What distinguishes Hawtai from rival private Chinese automakers is its diesel engine production ability. Billing itself as a clean vehicle brand,Hawtai also is a supplier to the Chinese State. [7]
Although correctly romanized as Huátài in pinyin,and previously romanized as Huatai in branding,Hawtai is now the preferred way to spell the name of this Chinese automaker with the Latin alphabet. [8]
Founded in 2000, [1] Hawtai Motor Group is,as of May 2011,owned by Zhang Xiugen,a Chinese entrepreneur. [3] Initially producing an SUV, [7] a 2002 [1] cooperation with Hyundai allowed it to manufacture Hyundai-branded SUVs starting in 2003, [7] which it also started selling under its own name in 2004. [9] Only the engines may have differentiated these Hawtai-branded offerings.[ citation needed ] The company added sedans to its product line in 2010,and these are probably the first vehicles it both designed and manufactured.[ citation needed ]
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. [10] The deal quickly fell through. [11]
Hawtai appears eager to absorb foreign technology,and the company has sought such transfers repeatedly in the process gaining access to diesel engine [12] and vehicle platform technologies. Around the time of the 2009 Chrysler Chapter 11 reorganization,this American automaker discussed the possibility of an asset sale with Hawtai. [13]
In the early 2000s,Hawtai purchased technology from Hyundai Motors including some used in the first generation Santa Fe. [6] The company sells a Hawtai-branded version of this small SUV [14] as well as one of the Hyundai Terracan. [15] c. 2010,both models used the same names as their Hyundai-branded counterparts,but by 2014 the Hawtai Santa Fe was being referred to as a Hawtai C9. [16] The company does not appear reluctant to divulge the source of the intellectual property that appears in these vehicles;it refers to the C9 as a "Korean classic". [16]
Hawtai utilizes engine technologies that were developed by other companies including some created by Italian diesel engine experts VM Motori. [12]
In 2002,Hawtai began a licensing deal, [12] partnership,or joint venture with Hyundai motors,but,as of late 2010,this has ceased. [6] Hawtai continued to be referred to as a Hyundai partner as late as 2011,however. [17] Regardless of the specific legal nature of the project,the Hyundai-Hawtai cooperation produced Chinese-market versions of several Hyundai models:the Hyundai Matrix, [5] a people carrier,the Hyundai Santa Fe, [18] and the Hyundai Terracan. [18] The Santa Fe was the fifth most-purchased SUV in China in 2010, [19] and at least some Hawtai versions of the car may differ significantly from those sold in other markets. [20] Both Hyundai SUVs have experienced continued popularity in China.[ citation needed ] Hawtai's newest SUV,the B35 Bolgheri (Baolige in Chinese) utilizes Hyundai platform technology. [21]
Between 2011 [22] and 2012, [23] a tie-up between Malaysian Proton and Hawtai was touted. This as-yet-incomplete deal may have originated at an ASEAN-sponsored business conference.
Hawtai currently produces the following vehicles: [24]
EV:
ICE:
Discontinued:
Some Hawtai models use SAIC Motor engines, [20] but other powerplants are said to be Hawtai's own using technology purchased from Italian diesel experts VM Motori. [21] The company states that the design of these engines,made at its Inner Mongolia site,has been modified in-house. [26]
Hawtai has passenger car production facilities in Ordos,Inner Mongolia, [27] and Rongcheng,Shandong. [1] The latter site has a 150,000 vehicles per year production capacity. [7] 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.[ citation needed ] Such production capacity figures may consider whole vehicles and engines as discrete. This facility produces transmissions as well as engines. [7] Hawtai claims production capacity figures for this location of one million engines,500,000 whole vehicles,and the same number of transmissions. [7]
The company claims a bus production facility in Yanbian was established in 2002. [7]
A former process technology/engine localization office in Beijing may be a site for R&D efforts.[ citation needed ]
A total of 28,812 Hawtai passenger cars were sold in China in 2013,making it the 50th largest-selling car brand in the country in that year (and the 30th largest-selling Chinese brand). [28]
The company has exported to Angola,southeast Asia,and one or more of the CIS nations,a grouping of former Soviet Bloc states. [7] Hawtai has contacted at least one Russian automotive assembler,Derways,in an attempt to start CKD sales,and it has also explored the possibility of auto assembly at a soon-to-be-operational free trade zone in Valencia,Spain,signing an MoU with a Spanish mayor. [29]