Semi-annual report suggests SAIC Motor development decisions
SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (SAIC Motor) released its semi-annual report on Aug 30, summarizing its performance in the first half of 2017.
According to the report, from January to June SAIC Motor sold 31.75 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 5.8 percent; domestic market share increased to 23 percent; operating income hit 396.4 billion yuan ($60 billion), a year-on-year growth of 12.85 percent; net shareholder profit was 15.96 billion yuan, a 5.96 percent increase on the first half of 2016. SAIC Motor’s market value now exceeds 350 billion yuan.
In recent years, SAIC Motor has been growing into a comprehensive provider of automotive products and services by utilizing its complete industrial chain, high market share and innovative ability.
Self-owned and joint venture brands both sold well
In the first half of last year, SAIC Motor focused on customer demands for new models and upgrades.
Sales of self-owned brands continued rapid development while the sale of passenger vehicles increased by 113 percent year-on-year. New energy vehicles (NEVs) and internet-enabled products saw strong growth. The release of the Roewe vehicles, including the electric ERX5, internet-enabled i6 sedan and plug-in hybrid ei6 and eRX5, as well as MG ZS “Internet SUV”, helped SAIC Motor improve its brand image and sale volumes. SAIC Maxus saw year-on-year growth of 30 percent over the first six months while also establishing a consumer-to-business (C2B) customization business. The newly launched Maxus T60 Pickup and D90 SUV were also well received.
The production and sale of joint venture brands were also heavily promoted in the first half of 2017. SAIC Volkswagen launched the New Tiguan L and the full-size seven-seat Teramont SUV. The Buick GL8, produced by SAIC General Motors (SAIC GM), drove the domestic development of high-end multipurpose vehicles (MPV). Cadillac also saw increasing sales. The new Wuling Baojun SUV510 model was well received, strengthening SAIC GM’s lead in the micro car market. SAIC Iveco Hongyan distinguished itself in the heavy truck market, achieving sales growth of 150 percent.
In the first half of 2017, SAIC Motor saw year-on-year growth of 44.4 percent in vehicle exports and overseas sales, ranking first in China. Export earnings also increased by 25.4 percent over the same period. SAIC Motor-CP Co – SAIC's joint venture in Thailand with Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group – committed to expansion and saw a 50 percent increase in sales. SAIC GM Wuling’s production base in Indonesia was also completed and produced its first vehicle model in July. Popular in Australia and New Zealand, SAIC Maxus leads light car and truck market rankings. Included in Brand Finance’s Top50 Commercial Service Brands list and Interbrand’s Best China Brands 2017 Rankings, SAIC Motor further strengthened its reputation in foreign markets.
SAIC Motor eyes future development
Taking guidance from technological, market-based and industrial trends, SAIC Motor is presenting a development strategy integrating electrification, interconnection, intelligence and sharing. SAIC Motor joined with Alibaba Group to develop internet vehicles, the two sides planning to release an upgraded internet system, Banma Intelligent Driving 2.0, later this year. SAIC also cooperated with China mobiles and Huawei Technologies to develop the 5th Generation communication technologies for in-vehicle use, and with battery manufacturer CATL and Infineon Technologies to improve core electric-driven parts.
SAIC Motor is the only enterprise in China to master the advanced technologies of plug-in hybrid, pure electric and fuel cell power. With newly developed frameworks exclusive to electric vehicles, SAIC accelerated the second-generation of electric driven units and improved core parts layout for new energy vehicles.
Striving for interconnection, SAIC Motor established a development system for vehicle-mounted hardware facilities and internet systems. Launched at the 2017 Shanghai International Automobiles Exhibition in April, the pure electric internet vehicle, VISION-E, can reach 100 kilometers per hour in 4 seconds and has a maximum endurance mileage exceeding 500 km powered purely by electricity. Cutting-edge technologies, such as augmented reality-head up displays (AR-HUD), automatic parking and wireless charging, have been adopted into the VISION-E in an effort to improve the overall driving experience.
SAIC Motor has been developing a controller platform for intelligent driving and a high-definition electric map for automatic driving, while also accelerating its development of big data and cloud platforms. SAIC Motor’s California innovation center was recently granted a license to conduct automatic driving testing for local government, the first automobiles enterprise in China to do so.
Initiating the development of vehicle models exclusive to new energy sharing and charging ahead with the building of service ecosystems and smart traveling platforms, SAIC Motor’s Global Car Sharing and Rental Co Ltd expanded into more than 30 cities nationally, with 13,000 vehicles in service. With more than 1 million members, the company is China’s biggest new energy vehicle sharing platform.
SAIC Motor is also gearing up to construct an intelligent traveling service ecosystem. Chexiang, the first full-life-circle online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce platform built by SAIC Motor, has more than 94 million registered members and has opened more than 1,000 physical stores. SAIC’s insurance company is also exploring new business avenues and models, like the sobriety-based UBI auto insurance.
SAIC Motor is striving to be a globally competitive and influential automobiles enterprise by transferring its focus from vehicles and products to clients and services, by transforming from a traditional State-owned enterprise to an innovation-and-technology-oriented enterprise.
