BAW initially manufactured accessories for Chinese vehicles, mainly carburetors, fuel pumps, headlights and smaller sheet metal parts.

Initial plans provided for the Jinggangshan to be mass-produced - there was talk of 10,000 copies per year[2] - and thus to meet the demand for cars in the country.

It was common practice in China at the time to take apart Soviet, European or American cars, to examine them and to recreate the respective components according to the template in their own factories.

[2] According to one source, the Jinggangshan had a four-cylinder boxer engine with a displacement of 1.2 liters and an output of 26 kW (35 PS; 35 bhp) located in the rear.

Ironically, Volkswagen's own Beetle based notchback built three years later - the Type 3 - would strongly resemble the prototype two door Jinggangshan in many ways, though this resemblance is only true for the two door prototype and not the four-door production models.