In 2024, most players in the automotive industry are struggling, just like the second half of a marathon. Although they are exhausted by price wars and technology wars, they still have to rely on willpower to persist in the field. After all, no one wants to fall on the eve of the dawn.

In the fast-paced era, the agile new forces have inherent advantages, with simple structures, rapid transformation, and efficient execution; while the traditional giants are like elephants turning around, with complicated levels and greater resistance to transformation. But after several years of planning, the course of these giant ships has basically been turned around and they have begun to show new momentum.

Take SAIC Motor as an example. This automaker, which has long been the leader in China in terms of sales, revenue, and profits, has also experienced the pain of transformation at the transition node. However, in the context of the vigorous development of the smart electric vehicle industry in the new era, SAIC Motor, as an industry leader, has actively responded to the national innovation-driven development strategy, insisted on deepening reforms, accelerated transformation and upgrading, and continuously promoted the innovation of smart electric technology and industrial integration, and achieved remarkable results in independent innovation, market expansion, brand building, and technology upgrading.

Sales volume increased month-on-month, stock price rose several times, and the reform achieved remarkable results

As of the end of November, SAIC Motor's sales have achieved month-on-month growth for five consecutive months. In addition, SAIC Motor's stock price has increased by 36.6% in November, with two trading days of daily limit. For a giant with a market value of more than 200 billion yuan, such a large increase reflects that the capital market is quite optimistic about its development prospects.

Specifically, SAIC Group achieved wholesale sales of 479,000 vehicles in November, a month-on-month increase of 19.1%, and the year-on-year decline narrowed to single digits. In terms of independent brands, SAIC-GM-Wuling achieved wholesale sales of 180,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 12.5% and a month-on-month increase of 28.1%, and Zhiji achieved wholesale sales of 10,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 15.0%; in terms of joint venture brands, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC GM achieved wholesale sales of 133,000 and 56,000 vehicles respectively, a month-on-month increase of 16.7% and 55.1%, and joint venture sales have returned to a healthy state.

In terms of new energy, SAIC Group's new energy sales in November were 175,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 16.1% and a month-on-month increase of 11.3%; the cumulative sales from January to November were 1.08 million units, a year-on-year increase of 19.5%.

In terms of overseas business, SAIC actively digested the adverse impact of the EU's additional tariffs on Chinese new energy vehicles through a series of measures such as increasing the launch of various power types. Its main overseas brand MG achieved sales of more than 220,000 vehicles in Europe in the first 11 months, maintaining positive year-on-year growth. It can be said that SAIC's joint venture, independent, new energy, and overseas sectors are all showing a healthy and upward development trend.

On November 11, Shanghai leaders went to SAIC for research and proposed that "we must unswervingly focus on our core business, self-revolution, focus on the domestic market and the development of new energy vehicles to promote systematic reform. All relevant departments in the city must work together and pool their wisdom to further form a strong synergy to support SAIC's firm transformation and development and ensure the smooth implementation of various reform tasks." Many favorable conditions are jointly driving the giant ship of SAIC Group to sail to new waters.

Independent resource integration, seven major technical bases to promote multi-path development

Since the beginning of this year, cost reduction, efficiency improvement, resource integration, and technology collaboration have become the key words in the industry. Compared with those who can take off in a favorable situation, those who can tap into the internal driving force of the enterprise and form a differentiated development model in an unfavorable situation are more capable.

Feifan Auto's return to Roewe is an excellent example. In the wave of new energy and intelligentization, competition in the automobile market is becoming increasingly fierce. The return of Feifan Auto enables SAIC Motor to better respond to market challenges, accelerate product innovation and upgrades, and enhance overall competitiveness by integrating the resources and technological advantages of both parties. As a high-end series of the Roewe brand, Feifan Auto will enhance the competitiveness and reputation of the Roewe brand in the market.

At present, Roewe Feifan has begun to show the innovative power after integration. In terms of marketing, it has built a "1+4+8+N" new media matrix, including 1 official platform, 4 major production bases, 8 major regions, N dealer partners and MCN. The number of stores jointly authorized by both parties is expected to expand to 100 dealer stores by the end of this year.

On the other hand, Zhiji Auto, incubated by SAIC Group, has gradually gained a firm foothold in the high-end smart electric track and recently received 9.4 billion yuan in round B financing, which will help the group further expand its voice in the smart electric track and seize the market.

Since the beginning of this year, the growth rate of the pure electric market has slowed down, while the growth rate of the plug-in hybrid/extended range market has accelerated. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to November 2024, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in my country will be 11.262 million units. Among them, the sales volume of plug-in hybrid (including extended range) models reached 4.519 million units, a year-on-year increase of 85.2%; during the same period, the sales volume of pure electric vehicles was 6.738 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.0%.

Under this trend, SAIC Motors seized the opportunity and made early arrangements. According to the plan, Roewe Feifan will launch plug-in hybrid and extended-range models in the future, and Zhiji Auto is also expected to launch two extended-range models in 2025.

It is worth noting that although the products have not yet been launched, SAIC Group has already had reserves of these leading technologies in its arsenal.

At present, SAIC Group has three major vehicle platforms covering pure electric, hybrid and hydrogen energy, as well as "seven major technical bases" covering batteries, electric drives, super hybrid systems and full-stack solutions for smart cars. Behind this is more than ten years of research and development accumulation and a huge investment of 150 billion yuan. Especially in the current hottest field of smart driving, SAIC Group is open to cooperation. In combination with the positioning of each brand under the group, choose to cooperate with cutting-edge technology companies such as Horizon, Huawei, momenta, and DJI. Realize intelligent driving solutions that meet the needs of users in all price segments. For example, with the help of end-to-end large models, Zhiji Automobile has achieved the industry-leading level of NOA, which can be driven and driven easily across the country. At the same time, it is also the first automobile brand in the industry to achieve L2, L3, and L4 mass production capabilities.

It can be said that with the support of seven major technological foundations and the mechanism and system of open cooperation, SAIC Group has taken the initiative in "playing cards" into its own hands.

China and Germany renew their "marriage" and usher in a new era of joint venture cooperation 2.0

Leveraging the first-mover advantage of its independent segment in the smart electric vehicle sector, SAIC Group is transferring it to its joint venture segment, and through a "reverse joint venture" approach, is driving the latter to adapt to the pace of the Chinese market more quickly.

At the "Co-creation of Beauty and Innovation—Audi Launch Ceremony" held in November, SAIC and Audi deepened their cooperation and launched a new brand, AUDI. This marks that the joint venture cooperation in China's automobile industry has entered the 2.0 era, which is of far-reaching significance.

This cooperation is no longer a simple technology introduction, but a process of joint development and technology co-creation. In this process, the two sides cooperated on an equal footing, and the models jointly created based on the intelligent digital platform not only inherited Audi's century-old luxury heritage, but also integrated SAIC's intelligent electric innovation technology, achieving complementary advantages and jointly promoting the high-quality development of the automotive industry. This cooperation model will become a benchmark case for the automotive industry to move towards the era of electrification and intelligence.

In the same month, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC Group and Volkswagen Group renewed their contract and extended the joint venture period of SAIC Volkswagen to 2040. This renewal not only marks the recognition of the results of 40 years of cooperation by both China and Germany, but also the strong confidence in the future development of the joint venture, China's automobile industry and even China's economy. It also means that the future development blueprint of SAIC Volkswagen has become clear and solid. The leading level of SAIC's intelligent electric innovation technology has been fully recognized by its partners. At the same time, it is also accelerating the development of key technologies such as solid-state batteries, high-level intelligent driving, and intelligent chassis. The strong technical reserves and heritage can continue to empower SAIC Volkswagen's technology and create more good products that better understand the Chinese market and Chinese users.

From products to industries, the global leader creates a full industrial chain for global expansion

From the perspective of the broader global market, SAIC Group is undoubtedly an important window for understanding the great innovations achieved by China's automobile industry in terms of technology and manufacturing.

From January to November 2024, SAIC's overseas wholesale sales reached 937,000 units, continuing to rank among the top in the industry. In 2024, despite the adverse impact of the European anti-subsidy investigation, SAIC Group still achieved an increase in local sales. From January to November, the cumulative sales of the MG brand in the European market reached 220,000 units, maintaining year-on-year positive growth, and is expected to set a new record in 2024.

It is worth noting that, unlike simply exporting cars, SAIC is creating an independent closed loop from self-built docks to self-built ships to better control every link of going to sea. This is undoubtedly a forward-looking move in the turbulent global market economic policy environment.

In December, the Haitong Taicang Automobile Terminal, which SAIC Group participated in building, was officially put into operation. As the largest automobile ro-ro terminal in the Yangtze River Basin, it has an annual throughput of 1.3 million vehicles. The LNG dual-fuel clean-powered ro-ro ship "Anji Weixin" with 7,800 parking spaces was also delivered to SAIC's Anji Logistics this month and put into operation. As a world-renowned automobile logistics company, SAIC Anji Logistics has built a leading self-operated fleet for Chinese automobile companies, with a total of 33 automobile ships of various types, including 11 river ships, 9 domestic trade ships, and 13 foreign trade ships, and has opened 8 international routes to Southeast Asia, Mexico, West South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In the future, the fleet size will continue to expand, and route resources will further cover the main export destinations of Chinese automobile companies such as the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, the United Kingdom, the East Coast of the United States, and the West of South America, further supporting China's independent brands to accelerate their cross-ocean expansion.

at last

From independent to joint venture, from technology to organization, from products to industry, from domestic to overseas, SAIC, as a leading enterprise in the domestic automobile market, has demonstrated its enthusiasm for all-round reform in the new era. It has not only contributed new ideas to how traditional Chinese automobile groups can stimulate the synergy of independent and joint venture, but also provided practical support for Shanghai to build an intelligent and efficient automobile industry ecosystem and a city of technological innovation.

The temporary market rotation is a normal cyclical phenomenon. In the face of a once-in-a-century major change, SAIC has a longer-term vision and a strategic determination to survive the ups and downs. Once the giant ship sets sail, it will ride the wind and waves.