“Chongqing-Made” Goes Global | Dajiang Power: Chongqing-Made Lawn Mowers Tending to Millions of European Home Gardens

Editor’s Note: Record highs and nine consecutive increases! Over the past year, the total value of China’s goods trade imports and exports grew by 3.8%, reaching 45.47 trillion yuan, a record high, maintaining its position as the world’s largest trader in goods. Among this, Chongqing emerged as a standout performer, with its total annual import and export value exceeding 800 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12%. “Chongqing-Made” products have transformed from laptop computers being the sole standout to a situation where “multiple highlights are blossoming.”

Chongqing Daily is launching the “‘Chongqing-Made’ Goes Global” series of reports, telling the stories of “Chongqing-Made” products traveling across oceans, decoding the advanced code of Chongqing manufacturing’s journey from “going out” to “going steady” and “going far,” and showcasing the robust strength of “Made in China.”

Product Profile · Agricultural Machinery

As the Spring Festival approaches, the workshop of Dajiang Power Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in Bishan District is operating at full capacity. Six lawn mower assembly lines run on double shifts, with a thousand workers rotating shifts, producing 6,000 units per day. “We must deliver 900,000 units before March to meet Europe’s peak lawn maintenance season from April to May,” said Xiong Yafei, Deputy General Manager of Supply Chain, his tone urgent.

In 2025, this Chongqing enterprise, which successfully transitioned from the motorcycle industry, topped the global sales chart for gasoline-powered lawn mowers with 1.05 million units exported and 4 billion yuan in sales revenue. Over 800,000 of these units were sold to Europe, becoming a “garden staple” in European households. What remains little known is that behind this achievement lies a journey of struggling for survival and breakthrough.

▲▲ Dajiang Power lawn mower production workshop. Photo by reporter Zhou Yu / Visual Chongqing

Breaking Through via Cross-Border E-commerce: Opening the European Market

Dajiang Power is a quintessential example of a company transitioning from motorcycles to general machinery. Its predecessor was Dajiang Motorcycle, established in 1993, which once produced 1 million engines and 500,000 motorcycles annually, ranking among Chongqing’s top 50 industrial enterprises. After 2000, with tightened domestic policies restricting motorcycles and rising overseas trade barriers, the motorcycle business fell into the predicament of overcapacity.

In 2004, leveraging its engine technology, Dajiang Power entered the general machinery sector, developing products like generators and water pumps for export to Europe under OEM arrangements, but with meager profits and little bargaining power.

In 2015, the company discovered that a large number of the engines it produced were being supplied to lawn mower manufacturers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, which then exported finished mowers to Europe. Recognizing that European households commonly have private lawns, leading to high repurchase rates for lawn mowers and significant market potential, Dajiang Power leveraged its mature engine technology and Chongqing’s robust mechanical parts supply chain to develop high-performance, low-cost lawn mowers within six months. However, it encountered market barriers: long-standing European brands monopolized sales channels, making self-built distribution prohibitively expensive; traditional OEM partnerships were dominated by coastal Chinese enterprises; and strict European certifications made brand owners reluctant to switch suppliers.

“No matter how good the product, it’s useless if we can’t sell it,” Xiong Yafei admitted. The team scoured European trade shows but failed to secure decent orders. Some dealers bluntly stated they “only recognized established local brands.”

At a critical juncture, Dajiang Power set its sights on the new frontier of cross-border e-commerce. “If traditional channels are blocked, we’ll break through online!” The team collaborated with European partners to co-create a new brand, focusing on platforms like Amazon and eBay. They highlighted the product’s 12 international certifications and assembled a professional team for after-sales support. Tailoring strategies for different markets—emphasizing technology in Germany, design in France, and environmental friendliness in Scandinavia—and leveraging prices 30% lower than European brands, their products quickly gained traction.

From 2018 to 2020, export volume soared from 130,000 to 500,000 units. In 2024, the company established a marketing center in Düsseldorf, Germany, signed contracts with over a hundred distributors, and got its products into retail chains like Metro and OBI. That year, exports surpassed 1 million units, solidifying its position in the European market.

▲Dajiang Power Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. production workshop. (Source: Bishan Release)

Winning with the “Three Fast” Advantages: Rapidly Responding to Market Needs with Customized Products

“Being able to establish ourselves in the fiercely competitive European market, our ‘Three Fast’ advantages are our winning formula,” Xiong Yafei said. The “Three Fast” refer to fast market response, fast product development, and fast production delivery—a capability perfectly demonstrated during a collaboration with a major European client.

In 2022, a well-known European retailer approached Dajiang Power with stringent requirements: a compact body delivering 3.8 kW of rated power, operating noise below 60 decibels, and the ability to run continuously for over 17 hours on a full tank under 25% load.

“This was virtually unprecedented in the industry. Combining compact size with high power and low noise seemed like a contradiction,” some said, suggesting they abandon the order.

Xiong Yafei knew this was a critical opportunity to break into mainstream European channels. “If others can’t do it, we’re determined to try!” He immediately assembled a task force of over 200 core R&D personnel, working 24-hour shifts to tackle the challenge. They iterated on engine structure and body design, testing hundreds of noise control solutions alone. Within 45 days, they completed three rounds of design revisions and modeling. In just 15 days, they assembled prototypes using over 200 molds and parts. In just over three months, they completed a development task that typically took the industry an average of six months.

When the samples arrived, the client’s technical director personally tested them. After 17 hours of continuous operation with no power degradation and noise levels remaining within limits, he immediately gave a thumbs-up. “I never expected a Chinese company to deliver such a high-quality product in such a short time!” This customized product subsequently sold over 100,000 units annually for several consecutive years, becoming a flagship product in the European market.

This ability to rapidly develop products was no accident. The company invests no less than 5% of its annual revenue in R&D, building on deep expertise in engine technology. Coupled with the support of Chongqing’s general machinery industrial cluster—with an annual production capacity exceeding 15 million units, accounting for 55% of the national total and forming a complete industrial chain—Dajiang Power collaborates with nearly 200 supporting enterprises to achieve “one-stop” procurement and production, compressing delivery cycles and costs. With over 20 models covering the full range, its iteration speed far surpasses competitors.

▲大江动力设备制造有限公司的生产车间。（图源：璧山发布）

Accelerating Market Transformation：Advancing Towards Electric, Intelligent, and Global Frontiers

After claiming the top spot in global gasoline-powered lawn mower sales, Dajiang Power keenly sensed market shifts and accelerated its transition towards electrification and intelligentization.

With tightening European environmental policies driving demand for electric mowers, Dajiang Power invested ahead of the curve, ramping up R&D. In 2025, it exported 100,000 lithium-ion battery mowers, a 40% year-on-year increase, and nearly 10,000 units of its first intelligent robotic mower upon its initial launch. This product features RTK navigation and boundary-free technology, autonomously planning routes and avoiding obstacles, at a price point one-third that of European brands, garnering widespread acclaim.

To expand production of new energy products, Dajiang Power is investing 1 billion yuan in a 53,000-square-meter (approx. 80 mu) new energy intelligent equipment base, planning 30 smart production lines focused on manufacturing electric mowers. “After the base becomes operational in 2026, new energy products will account for over 60% of our output, further solidifying our advantage in the European market,” Xiong Yafei explained.

Simultaneously, the company is actively expanding into global markets: its Vietnam plant, which began operations in 2019, targets the U.S. market, exporting 150,000 units in 2025. Leveraging the Belt and Road Initiative, it is promoting its own brand “DUCAR” to penetrate emerging markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, offering customized products for high-temperature, high-humidity, and sandy environments, exporting over 5,000 units in 2025.

From navigating motorcycle industry difficulties to breaking into Europe via cross-border e-commerce, then establishing a foothold with the “Three Fast” strategy and advancing towards electrification, intelligence, and globalization, Dajiang Power’s precise transformational breakthrough has brought Chongqing-made lawn mowers into millions of European home gardens. It also provides a vivid illustration of “Chongqing Manufacturing” going global.

Data · Chongqing Agricultural Machinery Industry

Source: New Chongqing – Chongqing Daily
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