Dongfeng Avenue in Wuhan city – capital of Central China's Hubei province – is reportedly continuing to ride a boom in the Chinese auto sector that sees no signs of stopping.
The thoroughfare has been the dynamic host of the local auto industry – whose main players are all lined up along it – over the past three decades. That's since the Peugeot Citroen sedan project settled in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone, or WHDZ, back in 1991.
Formerly the Guoxuling section of National Highway 318, Dongfeng Avenue is located in southwestern Wuhan, with a length of 13 kilometers.
The avenue is now home to more than 20,000 companies, including seven vehicle manufacturers, more than 500 auto components manufacturers and 73 Fortune Global 500 companies – making it one of the most intensive areas in the global auto industry.
Each year, companies along the avenue manufacture more than 1 million vehicles and more than 10 million sets of household appliances, generating total industrial output value of over 340 billion yuan ($52.53 billion) and total revenue of more than 1 trillion yuan.
In 1991, the Peugeot Citroen project, with annual production of 300,000 sedans, was launched in the WHDZ. In September 1995, the first Fukang sedan was produced at the Peugeot Citroen Wuhan factory and in 2003, Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co was established in Wuhan and the headquarters of Dongfeng Motor Corporation subsequently moved from Shiyan to Wuhan.
In 2016, with the completion of the Dongfeng Avenue Elevated Highway, more of world's top companies came to invest in the area, bringing an additional 200,000 workers and a large number of sci-tech professionals.
Dongfeng Honda was the first company in Hubei province to have an annual output value topping 100 billion yuan. In 2020, despite the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the company reported annual production and sales of more than 850,000 vehicles, the highest since its establishment.
Since 2010, the auto sector has rapidly developed into Wuhan's biggest pillar industry and has been ranked first for nine consecutive years.
In addition to the auto sector, Dongfeng Avenue has also seen the rapid growth of innovation along it.
In 2016, South Taizihu Innovation Valley, located next to Dongfeng Avenue, was officially unveiled as one of the first two innovation valleys in Wuhan. It focuses on the development of the digital manufacturing and intelligent design industries.
The TusPark, located in the valley, was transformed from an industrial plant producing auto parts, electronic devices and other products into a high-tech industrial park.
The park reopened at the end of 2019, with focus on next-generation automobiles, digital information, intelligent manufacturing and the life and health industries. Currently it is home to 187 companies, including 26 high-tech ones.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the added value of emerging industries in the WHDZ is projected to account for 18 percent of regional GDP, while the number of high-tech enterprises in the zone is expected to reach 3,000.
