On September 3, 2025, the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War drew global attention. Among the parade equipment formations, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile (Shaanxi Auto) trucks once again passed through Tiananmen Square with a dignified posture. This marks the seventh time Shaanxi Auto has joined the “steel torrent” since its first appearance in the National Day military parade in 1984. Notably, the number of Shaanxi Auto military vehicles in this parade set a new record in all previous events, and its participating formation was also the largest among all parade formations. Each appearance is not only the highest inspection of its product quality, but also reflects the solid evolution journey of China’s heavy-duty truck industry from “following” to “keeping pace” and finally to “leading”.
Parade Highlights: From Breaking the Dilemma of “Having Artillery Without Vehicles” to Becoming the “Vanguard of National Heavyweight Equipment”
Tracing the connection between Shaanxi Auto and military parades, it has always been deeply bound to the modernization process of China’s national defense equipment. As a third-line military enterprise, China’s first generation of heavy military off-road vehicles, Yan’an 250, was born in Shaanxi Auto – the cradle of military vehicles – and won the National Science Conference Award. In the 1984 military parade celebrating the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Shaanxi Auto formed a formation with 32 Yan’an 250 off-road vehicles, which towed artillery with ammunition. Its debut ended the history of “having artillery without vehicles” in China. At that time, this fully independently developed heavy-duty truck, with its high reliability in extreme environments, filled the gap in domestic heavy military off-road vehicles and became a landmark achievement of China’s heavy-duty truck industry in making the “breakthrough from 0 to 1”.
Subsequently, in 1999, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2025, Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks appeared as scheduled every time, and each appearance carried the mark of industry-breaking technologies: In the 2015 parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the independent electronic control system it was equipped with broke foreign monopoly; In the 2019 National Day parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, new energy heavy-duty truck chassis was integrated into the parade equipment for the first time, opening a new direction of “green military industry”; In this year’s 80th anniversary parade, Shaanxi Auto set an industry record – its military vehicles, with a strong lineup of over 100 units, participated in formations including the Shipborne Air Defense Weapon Formation, Anti-Ship Missile Formation, Underwater Weapon Formation, Land Unmanned Combat Formation, Air Unmanned Combat Formation, Equipment Support Formation, Information Support Formation, Hypersonic Missile Formation, and part of the Dongfeng-5C Liquid Intercontinental Strategic Nuclear Missile Formation, forming the most outstanding “star team” in this parade. These national heavyweight equipment are also integrated with new-generation technologies such as intelligent driving assistance and all-scenario adaptive power systems. Relying on the continuous intelligent and information-based upgrading of Shaanxi Auto’s military platform, the new-generation modular military vehicle chassis with all-terrain and all-weather adaptability has become a concrete embodiment of the “military strengthening through technology” and “manufacturing power” strategies advancing in the same frequency.
Behind the seven parade appearances lies Shaanxi Auto’s role as a typical representative of China’s military-civilian integrated equipment manufacturing enterprises and its almost harsh adherence to “military-quality standards”. As a heavy-duty truck enterprise born during the “third-line construction” period, Shaanxi Auto has shouldered the mission of “striving for excellence to serve the country” since its establishment, and its product R&D has always taken “military standards” as the bottom line – from the million-time fatigue tests for parts selection, to the verification of the entire vehicle in extreme environments such as high and low temperatures, high altitudes, and heavy dust, and to the millimeter-level precision control in the production process. This “military quality control system” covering the entire industrial chain not only makes Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks a “regular guest” in military parades, but also becomes its core competitiveness in breaking through the civilian and overseas markets, supported by the integrated breakthrough of military and civilian platform technology systems. Especially in recent years, against the backdrop of the downward cycle of the domestic heavy-duty truck industry, Shaanxi Auto has continuously implemented measures such as the “three benefits” and “three magic weapons” by strengthening the product leadership strategy and continuous reform of the marketing system. Through marketing model innovation, coordinating the golden and green dual industrial chains, continuously strengthening product structure adjustment, and building the most comprehensive product lineup in the industry, it has maintained a leading position in the industry in terms of reliability, economy, and intelligence, and has continuously gained a good reputation in the industry for “saving fuel, gas, and electricity”. As of 2025, Shaanxi Auto’s sales rank among the top three in China’s heavy-duty truck industry, always showing strong market resilience and a robust development momentum.
Technological Breakthrough: From “Single-Point Breakthrough” to “Full-Chain Independence”, Reconstructing the Technical Logic of the Heavy-Duty Truck Industry
If military parades are the “touchstone” for Shaanxi Auto’s quality, then independent innovation is the “ballast stone” for it to navigate cycles and lead the industry. From focusing on the R&D of heavy military vehicles at its establishment in 1968 to now building a full-chain independent system covering the entire power spectrum of fuel, natural gas, and new energy, as well as core technologies such as intelligent driving, electronic control systems, and electric drive axles, Shaanxi Auto’s technological evolution history is a microcosm of China’s heavy-duty truck industry breaking foreign technological monopoly, witnessing the continuous rise of China’s automobile equipment manufacturing industry.
In the new energy track, Shaanxi Auto’s layout was nearly 20 years ahead of the industry. Since launching new energy heavy-duty truck R&D in 2006, launching the first product in 2009, and now building a full-chain platform covering the entire vehicle, fuel cell system, electronic control system, and electric drive axle, its technological breakthroughs have always focused on the “pain points” of the heavy-duty truck industry: To solve the problems of “short range and high power consumption” of new energy heavy-duty trucks, Shaanxi Auto’s R&D of extreme intelligent power-saving technology has made efforts in vehicle integration optimization, system performance tuning, and control algorithm upgrading, pushing the power consumption control level to the industry leading position; For different application scenarios, it has built three new energy series – Zhihui, Zhiyuan, and Zhihuan – realizing full-scenario coverage from engineering transportation to road logistics, and becoming a key force in promoting the “dual carbon” transformation of the heavy-duty truck industry.
In the field of intelligence, Shaanxi Auto has also broken the empty talk of technology through “scenario-based implementation”. Its new-generation X6000 flagship platform is not only equipped with an L2+ level intelligent driving assistance system, but also realizes the full-chain digital management of “human-vehicle-cargo-yard” through the Internet of Vehicles platform – in logistics scenarios, vehicles can automatically plan the optimal route and monitor fuel/electricity consumption in real time; in engineering scenarios, it can accurately match load requirements and reduce failure rates. This concept of “technology serving scenarios” is exactly Shaanxi Auto’s core advantage different from traditional manufacturers. In particular, by integrating top industrial resources, continuously empowering logistics intelligence with technology, and joining hands with industrial chain partners to launch the world’s first pre-installed mass-produced dual-redundancy L4-level autonomous driving new energy heavy-duty truck, it has continuously promoted the large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving heavy-duty trucks by leading the industry’s collaborative control intelligent mixed formation heavy-duty truck solution, helping the high-quality development of China’s intelligent logistics industry.
Intelligent Manufacturing Revolution: From “Manual Assembly” to “Digital Intelligent Factory”, Defining a New Benchmark for Heavy-Duty Truck Quality
Behind the “parade-level quality” is Shaanxi Auto’s in-depth layout in intelligent manufacturing. The newly put into operation Shaanxi Auto Intelligent Production Base in 2022 can be called a “5G + intelligent manufacturing factory” in China’s heavy-duty truck industry – here, 50 core processes have realized “man-machine engineering automation”, AGV robots shuttle accurately along preset paths, the bolt tightening torque error is controlled within ±3%, the oil filling amount is accurate to the milliliter level, the visual positioning system captures installation points with 0.02-millimeter precision, and laser radar can even complete nanometer-level air tightness testing.
This “exact” manufacturing precision comes not only from equipment upgrades, but also from the in-depth application of “digital twin” technology. Before production, engineers can simulate the entire vehicle assembly process through digital models to avoid process risks in advance; during production, the traceability information of each part and the quality data of each process are uploaded to the cloud in real time, forming a full-life-cycle management of “one vehicle, one file”; after production, process parameters are continuously optimized through big data analysis to realize a closed loop of “manufacturing-feedback-iteration”. This “digital-driven quality” model has improved the consistency qualification rate of Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks to the industry’s top level, and also provided a solid guarantee for its service in national defense, military industry, civil high-end logistics and other fields.
More notably, Shaanxi Auto’s intelligent manufacturing is not “intelligence for intelligence’s sake”, but deeply integrates the concept of “green manufacturing”. In the intelligent base, through technologies such as waste heat recovery, photovoltaic power generation, and water resource recycling, the energy consumption per unit output value has been reduced by nearly 20%, and the solid waste utilization rate has reached more than 95%. This “high-efficiency + low-carbon” manufacturing model not only conforms to the national “dual carbon” strategy, but also sets a new benchmark for “green intelligent manufacturing” in the industry.
Global Responsibility: From “Chinese Brand” to “World Business Card”, Writing a New Paradigm for Heavy-Duty Truck Export
As a “pioneer in going global” in China’s heavy-duty truck industry, Shaanxi Auto not only serves the domestic market with “parade quality”, but also transforms it into global competitiveness. Today, Shaanxi Auto’s heavy-duty truck products have been exported to more than 140 countries and regions around the world, ranking among the top in the industry. In markets such as Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Africa, Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks have become the first choice in local logistics and engineering fields due to their high reliability and strong adaptability – in countries along the “Belt and Road”, in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks can cope with extreme environments such as high temperature, dryness, and high humidity; in the Gobi deserts of Central Asia, they can withstand extreme temperature differences; in mining sites in Africa, they can bear high-intensity operations.
More importantly, Shaanxi Auto’s “going global” is not a simple product export, but a full-chain export of “technology + service”. It has actively built a three-in-one overseas development system of “product export + service follow-up + local cooperation”, becoming a typical paradigm for Chinese heavy-duty trucks to go global. In overseas markets, Shaanxi Auto has established localized R&D centers, production bases, and dense service networks, and customized products according to road conditions, fuel quality, and usage habits in different regions, actively promoting the implementation of the strategy of “one country, one policy; one country, one vehicle; one region, one product”. For example, to adapt to the low-quality fuel in the African market, Shaanxi Auto has optimized the engine fuel system; to meet the emission standards in the European market, it has launched new energy heavy-duty trucks that comply with Euro VI standards. This “localized innovation” strategy has transformed Shaanxi Auto from a “Chinese exporter” to a “global integrated commercial vehicle operator”, and also made the technical standards of China’s heavy-duty truck industry gain more international recognition.
With the times as the backdrop, writing a new journey for national heavy-duty trucks – from the “third-line construction” in 1968 to the current “new-quality manufacturing power”, from the first parade appearance in 1984 to the seventh glory in 2025, the development process of Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks is a vivid microcosm of China’s heavy-duty truck industry growing from weak to strong, and from catching up to leading. In it, we see the perseverance of “independent innovation”, the adherence to “military quality”, the breakthrough in “intelligent manufacturing”, and the pattern of “global responsibility”.
Conclusion
Standing at a new historical starting point, Shaanxi Auto’s mission has long gone beyond “manufacturing heavy-duty trucks” itself – it is not only a “guardian” of national defense security, a “supporter” of the real economy, but also a “driver” of the transformation of China’s manufacturing industry towards greenization and intelligence. In the future, with Shaanxi Auto’s continuous leading breakthroughs in new energy and intelligent connected technologies, Shaanxi Auto heavy-duty trucks will surely continue to take on the responsibility of “national heavyweight equipment”, contribute more “steel power” to the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation, and write a “Chinese solution” for the development of the global heavy-duty truck industry.
