SAIC sells 6.93 million vehicles in 2017, up 6.8% YoY

SAIC Motor Corporation, the seventh largest automobile manufacturer globally and China’s largest automaker, sold 6.93 million vehicles in calendar year 2017. The company registered an overall growth of 6.8 percent compared to 6.49 million vehicles sold in the year-ago period.

SAIC’s self-owned passenger car brands MG and Roewe are the new engines for driving the company’s incremental growth. These two brands together accounted for more than 50 percent of the total new car sales of SAIC last year.

With the robust performance by MG and Roewe brands, SAIC Motor says it has further widened the lead with the No.2 player in China in 2017 to over 2.7 million vehicles, compared with a lead of about 2 million units in 2016. In China, SAIC Motor Corporation now enjoys a domestic market share of 23.2 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points against the corresponding period last year. As a result, SAIC Motor improved its ranking in the Fortune 500 Companies list, rising to Rank 41 from Rank 46 in 2016.

The incremental sales were boosted by electrification and ‘Internet Car’ models such as the MG ZS compact SUV, MG 6 sedan and Roewe’s RX5 crossover. SAIC has aggressive plans to make full use of its own leading technology advantages by introducing new energy vehicles and new products.

During the year, SAIC Motor Corporation also announced its global ambitions for the MG brand outside its home market. While Roewe is a China-only brand, the MG brand will fuel the company’s global ambitions including markets such as India, where it recently announced setting up of a manufacturing base. The first made-in-India MG car will be rolled out from the brand’s manufacturing facility in Halol, Gujarat, in 2019.