Customer Corner : JAC Motors - A Legacy of Deceit and Diesel-Fuelled Disregard

In the heart of Anhui province, where the air hangs heavy with the stench of industry, sits Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd., better known as JAC Motors. This state-owned titan has been spitting out vehicles since 1964, but beneath the polished surface lurks a festering mess of deceit, corruption, and a middle finger to anyone who gives a damn. It’s a tale so filthy it’d make a saint swear, and it’s got a nasty little thread tying it to Cummins, the engine giant that powers their grubby machines.

Picture it: endless lines of trucks, gleaming symbols of progress and profit. But squint a bit, and the truth hits like a slap – these aren’t just vehicles; they’re rolling fuck-ups, belching filth into the sky like it’s their job. And guess what? For JAC Motors, it bloody well is.

Emissions Fraud: Cheating the Air We Breathe

Back in 2019, JAC Motors got nabbed with its trousers round its ankles. The Beijing Municipal Ecological Environmental Bureau – yeah, say that after a pint – hammered them with a 170 million yuan fine, about $24.7 million. Why? They flogged 765 trucks with On-Board Diagnostics systems so useless they might as well have been made of cheese. These rigs were cheating emissions tests like pros, spewing crap into the atmosphere with no remorse. It’s the kind of bollocks that gets your blood up – we’re out here sorting our recycling, and these wankers are turning the planet into a giant exhaust pipe for a quick buck.

Corruption: The Rot at the Top

Then there’s 2024, and JAC’s back in the shit, this time with a corruption stink that could wake a coma patient. An Jin, their former chairman – 46 years at the helm, mind you – is under the microscope by China’s anti-graft squad. “Serious violations of discipline and law,” they call it, which is just posh for “he’s a right dodgy bastard.” Details are thin, but when the state starts poking about, you know it’s not just a whiff – it’s a full-on sewer breach. Corruption’s not a one-night stand; it’s a disease, and with a top dog like An Jin in the frame, you can bet the whole kennel’s infested.

Discrimination: Kicking the Vulnerable

As if that wasn’t enough to choke on, JAC Motors Brazil decided to up the ante in 2025. Sérgio Habib, their big shot over there, popped off on a podcast – of course it was a bloody podcast – suggesting they ditch tax breaks for folks with disabilities to shave 5% off car prices. Read that again: this prick looked at a lifeline for vulnerable people and thought, “Nah, let’s bin it for profit.” It’s so callous you’d think he’s never met a human outside a shareholder meeting. The São Paulo Ministry Public didn’t mess about – they’ve got him in court, facing up to five years inside. JAC tried to backpedal, claiming it was about “fiscal advantages,” not discrimination. Bollocks. It’s like saying you didn’t mean to nick someone’s wallet; you just fancied a closer look.

I talked to a bloke in Brazil who depends on those tax breaks. “It’s not just transport,” he said, voice tight. “It’s dignity, a shot at a normal life.” Then you’ve got Habib, sat in his cushy office, treating people like decimal points.

The Cummins Connection: Emissions Ethics Brothers

Here’s where it gets juicy. JAC Motors isn’t some lone wolf – they’re tight with Cummins, the diesel kings who shove engines into their trucks. And Cummins? They’re no saints either. In 2019, same year JAC was pulling its emissions scam, Cummins coughed up $1.675 billion to settle claims they’d stuck defeat devices – sneaky little bits of kit to dodge emissions tests – in hundreds of thousands of engines. It’s like a twisted buddy cop flick where both mates are crooked.

Coincidence? Pull the other one. Emissions scandals and Cummins customers are starting to look like peas in a pod. First JAC, now Cummins – it’s not just a fluke; it’s a bloody pattern. Is it the diesel fumes addling their brains? The relentless grind for profit? Or just plain greed? Whatever it is, these two are peas in a polluted pod, and it stinks to high heaven. And disability discrimination? It’s as if they’re twins.

We’ve all seen Chinese factories in the media – not JAC’s perhaps my friends, but near enough. The air a soup of oil and metal, workers shuffling like ghosts, worn down by a system that doesn’t give a toss. Places like that breed corner-cutting; ethics get chucked out with yesterday’s lunch.

Conclusion

JAC Motors is a cog in a machine that’s grinding us all down – our air, our trust, our future. But we’re not helpless. We can kick up a stink, demand better from the companies we fund, the governments we vote for, and the mirrors we face. Because if we don’t, we’re just another set of greasy fingerprints on this mess.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

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