FAW Jiefang's heavy trucks Photo: CFP

FAW Jiefang, a truck manufacture headquartered in Changchun, Jilin Province, is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Automobile Works (FAW) Group. It is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

FAW Jiefang etched its name in China's history, when it produced the country's first truck in 1956. Now in its 60th year, FAW Jiefang is looking to write its name on the global landscape through market expansion and high-end technology development.

Looking back over the past decades, FAW Jiefang has produced six generations of trucks, and in the first five months of 2016, the heavy trucks' domestic market share stood at 21.5 percent. FAW Jiefang trucks have been already exported to many other countries and regions, including Russia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to a Xinhua News Agency report on July 13.

In the first half of 2016, FAW Jiefang's heavy trucks had the best sales among all truck brands in China. During this period, over 100,000 FAW Jiefang's heavy trucks were sold in China, reported the Changchun Daily on July 13.

Hu Hanjie, the general manager of FAW Jiefang, said in the Xinhua report that the company will be focusing on two key development goals over the next four years.

One is to gain the No.1 market share in the medium and heavy trucks market in China, and the other is to develop high-quality light trucks, he said.

"We are confident that based on our six generations of vehicles, 60 years of development, and over 600,000 customers, we will be the leading auto company both at home and abroad," said Hu.

According to a December 25 China Economic Net report, Hu said that FAW Jiefang has set a target of 20 percent market share in the medium and heavy trucks sector and 25 percent market share in light trucks by 2020.

For years, FAW Jiefang has been the top truck brand in China, and it has been long on the list of the Most Valuable Brands in China, with a total value of 43.8 billion yuan ($6.5 billion).

However, the year of 2016 can also be seen as a new beginning for the 60-year-old company as it seeks to expand its brand globally, the China News Service reported on July 13.

Xu Ping, the president of FAW Group, said they will also speed up FAW Jiefang's market expansion overseas.

"As the masterpiece of the Chinese auto industry, FAW Jiefang should be looking into the international market," said Xu. "FAW Jiefang will continue to upgrade its product and quality management capacity, as well as manage its costs and marketing budget to become more competitive in the international market."

According to the Xinhua report, FAW Jiefang is also in the process of upgrading the vehicle information system, intelligent fault diagnosis system, and lightweight of automobile for their trucks. With the efforts above, FAW Jiefang aims to make the brand more competitive in the automobile markets both home and abroad.