Chinese car-maker SAIC Motor, together with Shanghai Tobacco Group Co, donated six school buses and two ambulances to Enshi city in Hubei province on May 4, 2017.

The Guardian Star school buses will help ensure rural students’ safety during journeys to and school, while the V80 ambulances will serve Enshi Center Hospital.

The donated vehicles are V80 light vans, a leading product of SAIC Motor’s subsidiary –– SAIC Maxus. As a professional brand manufacturing school buses, the Guardian Star was the first of its kind that passed the overturn test and in-car air quality test, and now meets the national standards for school buses as well as the National V emission standards. Currently, 80 percent of Shanghai schools operate Guardian Star vehicles as their school buses.

The donation was also part of a long-term SAIC Maxus charity initiative called “Da Ai Tong Xing,” through which SAIC Maxus aims to contribute to education.

As an international brand of SAIC Motor, SAIC Maxus has witnessed soaring growth in the past six years. In 2013, the sales volume of the V80 series exceeded 10,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 60 percent, bringing its market share to 8 percent and putting it in the lead among its peers.