SAIC Motor, one of the world’s leading auto makers, has announced record sales of over 7.05 million vehicles for 2018 in its home market of China, in addition to major growth in international sales – up 62.2 percent year-on-year to over
270,000 units.
Against the backdrop of a decline in overall vehicle sales in China, SAIC Motor recorded an increase of 1.75 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high with a domestic market share of around 24 percent. Notably, the company enjoyed robust growth from its self-owned brands, in particular MG, MAXUS and ROEWE. Combined, sales of MG and ROEWE models accounted for 701,900 units, an industry-leading increase of 34.45 percent.
SAIC Motor’s growing presence on the international stage means that it has now held the title of China’s largest vehicle exporter for the past three years. Demonstrating the company’s growing international popularity, 23 percent of all MG ZS models sold in 2018 were bought by an overseas buyer. To facilitate its global approach, the company has set up three overseas manufacturing bases (Thailand, Indonesia and India), 11 marketing service centres in areas such as Europe, North America and the Middle East, and nearly 500 marketing service outlets.
2018 once again saw a major focus on New-Energy-Vehicles (NEVs) and related core technologies. SAIC Motor sold more than 140,000 NEVs, up 120 percent on the previous year, with MG and ROEWE accounting for 96,000 of these vehicles. SAIC Motor is the only automaker in China that is simultaneously developing electric vehicles, plug-in electric hybrid vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, and has launched more than 20 NEV models to date.
“This outstanding performance is a result of SAIC Motor’s dynamic approach to maximising business opportunities, investing in a careful but robust manner, following a development path that is clearly differentiated from others, and leveraging its competitive advantages,” said Tom Lee, Managing Director for SAIC Motor Middle East. “Car buyers in the Middle East are already benefiting from this strategy. Sales of cars from the British-born brand, MG were up by 453% across the region in 2018, helped by the launch of three new models– the MG RX5, face-lifted MG GS, and the all-new MG6.”
China’s biggest car manufacturer is currently ranked 36th on the Fortune Global 500 list. As well as its self-owned brands, SAIC Motor is also involved with a number of high-profile joint ventures. These include SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling. In 2018, SAIC Volkswagen ranked first among all Chinese passenger vehicle makers for the fourth consecutive year.