SAIC

Country

China

Parent

Independent

Subsidiaries

Nanjing MG - 100%

Shanghai Volkswagen - 50%

Shanghai GM - 50%

Ssangyong (South Korea) - 51%

Brands

SAIC, Nanjing, MG, Roewe, Ssangyong.

Location

Headquarters and R&D center: Shanghai
Main assembly plants: Shanghai, Yangzhou, Shanghai (SH-VW), Shanghai (SH-GM).

Sales figures

Group sales:
2008: 1,826,158 units
2007: 1,690,542 units
2006: 1,344,073 units
2005: 1,056,387 units

2008 sales by type of vehicles:
Passenger cars: 1,117,721 units
Commercial vehicles: 708,437 units

2008 passenger car sales by division:
SAIC: 26,007 units (Roewe 550, 750)
Nanjing MG: 9,528 units (MG 7, MG TF)
Shanghai Volkswagen: 490,087 units (Gol, Polo, Touran, Passat, Santana)
Shanghai GM: 458,637 units (Buick Excelle (Daewoo Lacetti), LaCrosse, Regal, Park Avenue (Holden Statesman), Chevrolet Aveo, Epica, Captiva, Cadillac CTS, SLS, SRX)

Introduction

SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is the largest car maker in China. However, its strength is mainly contributed by its two joint-ventures, one with Volkswagen and one with GM, which helped them to dominate the fast-growing domestic market in recent years. Cars sold under its own brands (Roewe and MG) are rather insignicant. In fact, excluding those VW and GM-brand cars, most production by SAIC came from its commercial vehicles.

In recent years SAIC tried to grow itself into an self-competent manufacturer. By acquiring the intellectual property of MG Rover, it produced Roewe 750 for the domestic market, then further developed it into Roewe 550. Still, SAIC is too slow to develop its own R&D capability compare with some other Chinese car makers.

Brief History

Under planned economy, the state-owned forerunner of SAIC was founded in 1955 to produce tractors, diesel engines and generators etc. By 1978, new communist party leader Deng Xiaoping started an economic reform. Shanghai City Tractor & Automotive Industry Company, as how it was called, was selected for experiment. It signed an agreement with Volkswagen group of Germany to produce cars in China. In 1983, the first Volkswagen Santana - derived from old generation Passat - rolled off the production line in Shanghai.

The company was renamed to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) in 1990. Three years later, Santana, still the sole model produced there, reached an annual production rate of 100,000 units. The booming China market was hungry for cars !

Volkswagen Santana (1983)

Later, SAIC set up another joint venture with General Motors to produce Buicks, Cadillac and Chevrolet. Thanks to its unique financial and political strength in China (as SAIC was owned by Shanghai city government), it was able to partner with two of the world's biggest car makers. The ventures taught it the know-how of mass production process and quality control, but it still lacked its own competence in researach and development.

As the Chinese government pushed for consolidating its automotive industry, SAIC found equipping itself as a fully competent manufacturer became essential. In 2004, it purchased Korean SUV specialist Ssangyong. The same year saw it tried to take stakes in the troubled MG Rover. This did not materialize, but eventually it acquired the intellectual property of Rover 75 and K-series engines as the Britsh firm went burst. Two years later, it installed a production line in Shanghai to build a Rover 75 clone called Roewe 750.

Roewe 550 (2008)

SAIC did not have good relationship with another Chinese car maker, Nanjing Auto, as the latter rivalled it for bidding MG Rover. Nevertheless, under the guidance of government, it acquired Nanjing in late 2007, through which it got MG brand and production equipments for MG TF sports car.

Based on the still-capable Rover 75 platform, SAIC employed Western consults to develop Roewe 550 in 2008. This could be seen as the first real SAIC car. However, until today we have yet to see a car developed by its own.