The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) – Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in service with the PLA, where they are used by medium mechanized infantry units.

WZ-551s have been exported to Algeria, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, and Senegal.

The WZ-551 project began in 1979 and was the first wheeled infantry fighting vehicle developed by China. WZ-551 was developed with the experience gained from the development of the WZ-521 wheeled armored personnel carrier based on Jiefang CA-30 truck. In 1981, WZ-551 finished prototyping proof of concept designs, and the vehicle was an indigenous chassis based on the imported Mercedes-Benz 2060 truck. Production licenses for key technologies were acquired from Mercedes-Benz and Deutz AG. In 1982, multiple weapon configurations were proposed, including 35 mm autocannon, 30 mm autocannon, 25 mm autocannon, 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, or reverse-engineered 2A28 Grom from Type 86 infantry fighting vehicle. The final choice was to develop 25 mm autocannon for the IFV variant and 12.7 mm heavy machine gun for the APC variant.

Another project, WZ-523 based on the domestic Dongfeng EQ245 truck platform, was developed in parallel with WZ-551. Due to utilizing old technologies, WZ-523 was developed much faster with initial production, starting in 1983. It first appeared on the 35th National Day parade in 1984. However, it was discovered that WZ-523 chassis cannot meet the required performance standard. WZ-523 project was then refocused for export effort and did not enter large scale service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

WZ-551 project pressed on and produced several prototype vehicles with different armaments. To save development time, technologies from other Chinese vehicles were ported into the WZ-551, such as the sighting system, ventilation system, overpressure NBC system from the Type 86 IFV, 25 mm autocannon from the ZSD-89-II infantry fighting vehicle, and electrical water discharge system from the Type 63 amphibious tank. In 1984, the cooling system and transmission system finished testing. In 1986, two more prototypes were sent to northern provinces and southern Hainan island for cold and hot-weather trials. Plans were also made for an extended 4×4 and 8×8 vehicle family. In 1986, WZ-551 was confirmed by Central Military Commission as the future PLA wheeled platform, beating the internal competitor WZ-523.

Aside from IFV and APC, Chinese engineers also attempted to mount the indigenously developed Type 86 100 smoothbore cannon to the WZ-551 chassis, resulted in the Type 87 (PTL-87) assault gun prototype in 1987. Type 87 was fitted with gun-launched anti-tank missile and sophisticated fire control system, aiming to defeat Soviet T-72 and T-80 tanks. However, budgetary constraint, insufficient industrial capacity, and lack of interest from the Chinese military shelved further development beyond the initial proof of concept works.

In 1988, a deal was made with French firm GIAT to incorporate a GIAT 25-mm autocannon as the primary weapon for WZ-551 and the work on the redesign of WZ-551 began in China even before the French gun was delivered. Due to the urgent need to meet the schedule, the GIAT 25-mm autocannon was airlifted to China, as opposed to delivery via cargo ships, the usual practice at the time. The French system has a night-vision system, stabilized gun, and advanced fire control system. The new vehicle was named NGV-1, with N for "Norinco", G for "GIAT" and V for "vehicle". However, further NGV-1 development was cancelled due to the imposed EU arms embargo in 1989.

In 1990, the WZ-551 was certified with the original 25 mm autocannon.