Dongfeng EQ140 History

The EQ140, introduced in 1978, was Dongfeng's first civilian vehicle. A 5-ton medium-duty truck derived from the military EQ240, it used technology partly informed by the FAW Jiefang CA-10 lineage but engineered by the Second Automobile Works under its own roof.

In its first year of production, 5,120 trucks were built; at peak the EQ140 held an extraordinary 66% market share in China's medium-duty truck class. That dominance transformed Dongfeng from a loss-making state project into a profitable enterprise and financed the company's later move into passenger vehicles.

Production of the EQ140 continued for over three decades — running from July 1978 all the way to 2011 across multiple variants; the truck became the backbone of China's logistics network during the country's rapid post-reform economic expansion.