Changchun is the well-known auto city, and she has made great contributions to the history of automobile manufacturing industry in China.

On July 15, 1953, with the cracking sounds of the foundation-laying stone ceremony, Chinese people started the construction of the first automobile manufacturing plant of new China, opening the new page in the automobile manufacturing history of Chinese nation.

On July 15, 1956, the first Jiefang (Liberation) truck of China-make ended the history that China could not produce automobiles.

In 1986, through the arduous and hard work of the second phase of construction, the First Automobile Works (FAW) completed the transformation of media-sized vehicles.

On entering the 1990s, FAW started the third phase on construction, when car production was almost blank in China. FAW has become a sizable base of car and light vehicle production, and formed six categories of heavy, medium, light, car, bus, and mini vehicles with 550 varieties of products. Each product has been sold to many countries in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asian and Central Africa. Its medium and light trucks and cars have become the major products of China automobile market, and its annual product is 1/5 of Chinese total automobile products.

Now the number of workers who engaged in the automobile manufacturing industry in FAW has reached 150,000. An automobile industry network system has been formed with FAW as main body and some local plants as supporting companies. In 2002, FAW has broken the historical record by manufacturing more than 527,000 vehicles and reaping an income from sales of RMB 78.590 billion. The development of FAW has boosted Changchun automobile industry.

Many medium and small size auto industrial businesses, such as Changchun Auto Engine Factory, Changchun Auto Transformation Factory, Changchun Gear Factory, Changchun Gasoline-Powered Engine Factory, and many others, have established one after another.

The workers of FAW have erected three monuments in the Chinese automobile history: Chairman Mao's laying the corner stone for FAW; General Sectary Jiang Zemin's inscriptions "building the modernized car manufacturing industry base"; Premier Li Peng's inscriptions "In memory of the successful transformation of FAW". These three monuments recall the heroic history of FAW’s development and growth from scratch.

FAW is the largest automobile manufacturing industrial group in China, with 10 branch plants, 3 branch companies, 36 wholly owned subsidiaries, 16 stock-holding subsidiaries and 29 joint stocks companies, including 22 joint venture corporation, such as No. 1 Car Plant, Sihuan (four rings) Public Listed Company, FAW-VW, and FAW-Daewoo. FAW also set up 11 overseas representative offices, including assembly plants.

The usable asset of FAW has absorbed over RMB 60 billion. It has two national brands of Jiefang (Liberation) and Hongqi (red flag) and two joint venture brands with German Volkswagen and Audi Jetta. FAW possesses the largest and most attractive technological center in Chinese automobile industry, conducting scientific research, product development and material development. It was ranked No.7 among 231 national enterprises technological centers, and No.1 among machinery enterprises in 1999. FAW takes a leading place in many fields such as vehicle steering stability, smoothness, braking stability, vibration, noise control, wheel and tire mechanics, engine electric starter presser skills, multi-valve techniques, diesel engine oil bursting device, and highway surface measurement and analysis, some of which have reaches or have been close to the world standards. While actively developing its home businesses, FAW has entered the international automobile trading circulation and established CKD globally purchasing and selling system.

It has established five internationally regional companies in Asia, Africa, Europe and America, set up 11 subsidiaries and representative organizations, and established business relationships with more than 1,000 enterprises, trading companies, representatives and agencies in more than 80 countries. Its export volumes have grown to USD 4,110 million from a mere USD 30 million, with exporting 43,000 commercial and passenger vehicles.

In 2002, FAW made a profit of USD 100 million, and the total volumes of importing & exporting reached USD 630 million. The plant has maintained a wide range of technological exchanges & cooperation with the internationally famous corporations, such as Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Daewoo and Hyundai.

FAW has achieved great successes in helping bringing Chinese automobile manufacturing industry into the international automobile industry, and written a national epic for Chinese automobile industry. All this has made Changchun a world famous automobile city.