Chinese JMC cars on Avtotor: Vigus pickup and two cabover trucks

The Kaliningrad plant Avtotor continues to expand cooperation with Chinese automakers: following the passenger models SWM, BAIC and Kaiyi, trucks from JMC received Russian registration — Vigus, Carrying and Conquer.

JMC (Jiangling Motors Corporation) is known mainly for its cooperation with Ford, this year JMC and Ford even launched a new Dadao brand, under which they will produce high-tech pickups, SUVs and light commercial vehicles, but they gave us simpler equipment for localization, no way unrelated to Ford. The production of three JMC models has been established not at the main production complex of Avtotor on Magnitogorskaya Street, but “on settlements” — in the village of Pereslavskoye, Zelenogradsky District, Kaliningrad Region.

JMC Vigus 1/5 JMC Vigus 2/5 JMC Vigus 3/5 JMC Vigus 4/5 JMC Vigus 5/5

Vigus is the export name of the JMC Yuhu pickup truck, its Chinese company developed it independently and put it into production back in 2012, since then it has been upgraded several times, we will have a fairly fresh version of the 2022 model year with a new interior design, in which the screen of the multimedia system is not integrated into the front panel, but sticks out of it in the form of a tablet. The instrument panel is old school, with analog speedometer and tachometer.

JMC Vigus 1/2 JMC Vigus 2/2

Overall length JMC Vigus — 5345 mm, width — 1835 mm, height — 1782 mm, wheelbase — 3085 mm, ground clearance — 200 mm. Carrying capacity is impressive for its class of 1.2 tons. Under the hood is a 2.5-liter turbodiesel with a capacity of 128 hp. paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox, JMC does not offer an “automatic” for this “workhorse”. No other details yet, no price announced.

JMC Carrying 1/3 JMC Carrying 2/3 JMC Carrying 3/3

The Carrying is a cabover truck with GVW from 3.5 to 5 tons wheelbase — 3360 mm, chassis length — 5900 mm. Engine — 2.8-liter turbodiesel with 109 hp

Conquer is a larger and heavier cabover with a gross weight of 9.4 tons, a wheelbase of 3815 mm, and a chassis length of 6990 mm. Engine — 2.9-liter turbodiesel with 156 hp

JMC Conquer 1/5 JMC Conquer 2/5 JMC Conquer 3/5 JMC Conquer 4/5 JMC Conquer 5/5 a wide range of superstructures are offered: vans, flatbeds, refrigerators, auto-hydraulic lifts, garbage trucks, tow trucks, etc. />

Now Avtotor is engaged only in the assembly of the above JMC models, but upon reaching the required production volume, a phased transition to full-cycle production with welding and painting is envisaged. When and under what conditions this will happen, the press release does not say. It is also not yet clear in what legal status JMC will operate in the Russian Federation — through a representative office or some central distributor, but it is reported that the Russian dealer network of JMC already has more than 25 outlets in different regions.

Anonymous Naveco C500 on Avtotor

JMC is clearly not the last Chinese partner for Avtotor: a photo with no emblems was included in the press release about cooperation with JMC 12 ton truck Naveco C500, already well known in Russia, but not yet localized. In the spring, the Russian representative office of Foton reported that the Kaliningrad plant would produce an electric version of the Foton S85 medium-duty truck, but there was no official announcement from Avtotor about this yet.