Seres Automobile (Hubei) Co., Ltd. ( zh, s=赛力斯汽车（湖北）有限公司), previously named as Dongfeng Sokon Automobile () and known internationally as DFSK Motor, is a Chinese automotive company formed as a joint venture between

Seres Group Seres Group () (previously known as Sokon Group or Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Co., Ltd, ) is a Chinese automotive manufacturer founded in September 1986 with headquarters in Chongqing, China. Born as a manufacturer of components for househol ...

(formerly Sokon Group) and

Dongfeng Dongfeng is the romanization of several Chinese names of which most notably "East Wind" (). Dongfeng may refer to: People's Republic of China * Dongfeng (missile) (), series of ballistic missiles of the People's Liberation Army * Chinese series o ...

. It was established on June 27, 2003. Nowadays it is fully owned by Seres. Seres Hubei produces

microvan A microvan is a van or minivan which is within the Japanese kei car classification or similar, and is smaller than a mini MPV. In China, these vehicles are nicknamed ''miàn bāo chē'' ("bread-loaf vehicle") because of their shape.

s, flat-bed commercial trucks and passenger vehicles under the DFSK/Dongfeng Sokon brand and budget passenger vehicles under the Fengon (DFSK Glory) brand. Manufacturing takes place in four different facilities, two of which are located in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

Shiyan Shiyan ( zh, s=十堰 , p=Shíyàn) is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei, China, bordering Henan to the northeast, Chongqing to the southwest, and Shaanxi to the north and west. At the 2020 census, its population was 3,209,004 of who ...

and two in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

History

At the beginning of 2000, Chongqing Yu'an Innovation Technology (Group), a manufacturer of

motorcycles A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

and automotive components, and

Dongfeng Motor Dongfeng Motor Corporation Ltd. is a Chinese State-owned enterprises of China, state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei. Founded in 1969, it is currently the smallest of the "Automotive industry in China, Big Four" state ...

evaluated the possibility of manufacturing

microvans A microvan is a van or minivan which is within the Japanese kei car classification or similar, and is smaller than a mini MPV. In China, these vehicles are nicknamed ''miàn bāo chē'' ("bread-loaf vehicle") because of their shape.

intended for small Chinese businesses. Dongfeng had experience producing cars for PSA, but had not yet produced vehicles in the light commercial segment, and approved the project. In 2003 the

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

''Dongfeng Yu'an Automobile'', headquartered in

, was formed and work began on the construction of a new factory. Yu'an Group provided the design for the microvans, and acquired licensing for the production of

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, and components for microvans from

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

. Dongfeng was responsible for the engineering and testing of the vehicles. In 2005, they debuted their first small van, called the C-Series. It was offered in multiple configurations (paneled, passenger minibus and pick-up) with Suzuki engines and

rear-wheel drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-whee ...

. At its debut, the Yu'an Group changed its name to Chongquin Sokon Industry Group (abbreviated to ''Sokon'' in English or ''Sokon'' in Chinese) and the joint venture consequently became Dongfeng Sokon Automobile (abbreviated to DFSK). In the Chinese market the vehicles are sold as Dongfeng Sokon while in the export markets the name DFSK is used. In both cases, the brand on the grille is Dongfeng's “Dual Wings”. Subsequently, DFSK presents numerous other models of minivans and starts exporting them also in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

; in the UK they will be distributed by subsidiary Sokon Automobile while in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Giotti Victoria Giotti Victoria is an Italian manufacturer of pickup trucks, vans, and microcars. The company also serves as an importer of cars produced by DFSK Motor, under the ''Glory'' brand. History Giotti Victoria was founded by brothers Lorenzo and Fed ...

. In September 2003, Chongqing Ruichi Automobiles (瑞驰新能源公司), a fully-funded subsidiary of Chongqing Sokon Group was established. As an enterprise for the manufacturing, sales and services for the pure electric commercial vehicles, Ruichi is one of the earliest enterprises in China with qualifications for the production of pure electric commercial vehicles. Chongqing Ruichi Automobiles is now a fully-funded subsidiary of

Seres Seres may refer to: People * Codruț Șereș (born 1969), Romanian politician * Ferenc Seres (born 1945), Hungarian wrestler * Francesc Serés (born 1972), Catalan writer * Georges Sérès (1884–1951), French cyclist * Rudolf Seres (born ...

, with products being rebadged electrified versions of DFSK's microvans and trucks. In 2013, DFSK decided to enter the lucrative

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definition ...

market by starting the design of a seven-seater mid-size vehicle using Dongfeng technologies; this vehicle was designed so that it could have an aggressive price classifying itself as a low-cost family car and had to be sold both in China and abroad. The project debuted in 2016 called Dongfeng Fengguang 580, a five and seven-seater front-wheel or four-wheel drive SUV with

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

engines. The brand name Fengguang (translated into Fengon in English) is used to distinguish them from the production of minivans called Sokon. On foreign markets, this vehicle will be renamed DFSK Glory (easier to pronounce) using the Dongfeng Dual Wings emblem on the grille, interior and rear. In the same years, the production of the minivan range was started in Indonesia and Thailand and exports also to South America and Eastern Europe. DFSK began to assemble and market products in Indonesia in 2015. Plans at the time of launch included an expected production of 50,000 units/year. In 2017, joint venture of DFSK an
Regal Automobile
began assembly in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Plant in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

producing SU
Glory 580
variants, C-37 Van
Humsafar
MPV, K01 Pickup truck etc. Total sales in 2017 reached 402,000 vehicles and in November 2018 Chongqing Sokon Group attempted to acquire the remaining 50% of the DFSK joint venture from Dongfeng for 621 million euros, becoming 100% owner. The deal was abandoned in July 2019 In September 2019, Sokon acquired the remaining 50% of the DFSK joint venture from Dongfeng. Seres continued to produce vehicles using the Dongfeng logo and under the DFSK brand while phasing out the Dongfeng logo on the Fengguang brand after it was renamed to Fengon. In April 2020, Chongqing Sokon Industrial Group purchased 50% of DFSK's equity from Dongfeng Motor Group, making DFSK a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sokon Group. As of 2021, DFSK has a total of 4 production bases in China, two of which are located in Shiyan, Hubei and two in Chongqing. In October 2023, Dongfeng Sokon Automobile was renamed to Seres Automobile (Hubei).

Products

Fengon

Fengon (or DFSK Glory for foreign markets) formerly known as Dongfeng Fengguang (), is the sub-brand of Seres that produces passenger vehicles. Established in 2008, Fengon brand targets at affordable compact MPVs and SUVs. It used to be a joint-venture brand with Dongfeng Group but was fully acquired by Seres Group in 2022. The Fengon brand began to replace the former Dongfeng logo and replaced it with its own Fengon logo in models after the acquisition.

Current model

Source: Car * Fengon Mini EV (2022–present), city car SUV *

Fengon ix5 The Fengguang iX5 (or Fengon iX5) is a compact crossover SUV produced by the Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., under the DFSK (Sokon), Dongfeng Sokon (DFSK) sub-brand since 2018. First debuted at the 2018 Beijing Auto Show in China, the i ...

(2019–present), compact SUV * Fengon 580 (2016–present), mid-size SUV * Fengon 500 (2019–present), subcompact SUV * Fengon S560 (2017–present), compact SUV MPV/Minivan * Fengon 380/E380 (2022–present), compact MPV * Fengon 330S (2019–present), compact MPV * Fengon 330 (2014–present), compact MPV File:DFSK Fengon 5 1X7A7306.jpg,

File:DFSK Fengon 500 IMG 8162.jpg, Fengon 500 File:Fengon 580 II 002.jpg, Fengon 580 File:2018 Dongfeng Fengguang S560 (front).jpg, Fengon S560 File:2022 Fengon 380 001.jpg, Fengon 380 File:2016 Dongfeng-Fengguang 330, front 8.4.18.jpg, Fengon 330 File:Dongfeng Fengguang 330S 001.jpg, Fengon 330S File:Fengon Mini EV 01.jpg, Fengon Mini EV

Discontinued model

SUV * Fengon E1 (2020–2023), city car, rebadged Dongfeng Nano EX1 * Fengon E3 (2019–2022), subcompact SUV, EREV variant of Fengon 500 * Fengon ix7 (2020–2023), mid-size SUV MPV/Minivan * Fengon 370 (2016–2020), compact MPV * Fengon 360 (2015–2017), compact MPV * Fengon 350 (2016–2020), compact MPV File:DFSK Fengon 7 1X7A7302.jpg, Fengon ix7 File:2017 Dongfeng-Fengguang 370, front 8.5.18.jpg, Fengon 370 File:Dongfeng Fengguang 360.jpg, Fengon 360 File:Dongfeng Fengguang 350 -- Auto China -- 2014-04-23.jpg, Fengon 350 File:Fengon E3 001.jpg, Fengon E3

DFSK

The DFSK (Dongfeng Sokon, ) is a brand of Seres that produces light commercial vehicles. Currently available products include: * C-Series ** Sokon C37/C36 ** Sokon C31/C32 * K-Series ** Sokon K05 ** Sokon K07 ** Sokon K09 ** Sokon K05S ** Sokon K07S ** Sokon K01/K02 * V-Series ** Sokon V07S- microvan ** Sokon V21- single cab pickup ** Sokon V22- crew cab pickup ** Sokon V25- microvan ** Sokon V26- microvan ** Sokon V27- microvan ** Sokon V29- microvan/ pickup *E-Series **DFSK E5 - export version of Fengon 580 * Ruichi (瑞驰) EV ** EC35- mid-size van ** EC31- small box truck ** ED75- mid-size van based on a reverse-engineered copy of the Toyota HiAce body

Landian

Landian () is a brand of Seres for budget electric vehicles which was established in March 2023. The word Landian literally means ''blue electricity'' in Chinese. * Landian E5 (2022–present), compact SUV, rebadged

PHEV A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable electric-vehicle battery, battery pack that can be directly replenished via a power cord, charging cable plugg ...

variant of Fengon 580 * Landian E3 (2023–present), subcompact SUV, rebadged Fengon E3 File:Landian_E5_at_Auto_Guangzhou_2023_20231126.jpg, Landian E5

References

External links

* {{authority control Dongfeng Motor joint ventures Electric vehicle manufacturers of China Bus manufacturers of China Truck manufacturers of China Chinese brands Car brands Manufacturing companies based in Chongqing