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Brand Story

In 1904, an engineering student named Clarence Spicer left Cornell University and launched his entrepreneurial journey in a spare corner of a factory in New Jersey.

 

Even as a student, Spicer had already obtained a patent for designing the first practical universal joint—a groundbreaking innovation that significantly improved automotive power transmission efficiency. Prior to this, vehicles relied on chains and sprocket drives to transmit power, whereas Spicer’s invention represented a major breakthrough for the automotive industry. Buoyed by this promising start, Spicer boldly embarked on a new venture.

 

Although Spicer was a gifted engineer and inventor, he lacked both business acumen and manufacturing expertise. Even though the automobile was destined to become a global phenomenon, its future remained shrouded in uncertainty in the early years of the twentieth century.

 

It was from these uncertainties that Dana Corporation emerged and gradually became one of the world’s most influential automotive‑parts suppliers. Built on Spicer’s designs and propelled by the astute leadership of lawyer, statesman, and financier Charles Dana, the company spent a century steadily expanding its product portfolio, technical expertise, and geographic reach. Along the way, Dana also cultivated a progressive, people‑centric corporate culture, providing a powerful foundation for the products and services it offers.

 

It is precisely on the strength of these advantages that Dana Incorporated’s products have helped usher in some of history’s greatest vehicles—ranging from the Model T and World War II‑era Jeeps® to London taxis, 18‑wheel drill rigs, massive earthmovers, and every race car on the NASCAR® circuit.

 

Dana’s operations in China began in 1991, and to date the company has established ten facilities and offices, including sales centers, engineering centers, and manufacturing plants, enabling it to produce Spicer® drivetrain products, Long® thermal management products, and Victor Reinz® sealing products for the light‑vehicle, commercial‑vehicle, and off‑road vehicle markets.

 

As the company enters its second century, Dana continues to uphold these proud traditions. Dana employees remain passionately committed to innovation. For the benefit of the company’s global customers, Dana will continue to advance the science of power and motion transmission.