SAIC Motor leads China in car sales for 17 consecutive years
SAIC Motor, the largest carmaker in China, sold 5.3 million vehicles in 2022, ranking first in China for 17 years in a row. It was also China’s first automobile enterprise to sell 1 million new energy vehicles (NEVs), as well as the first Chinese carmaker with more than 1 million overseas volume.
In 2022, sales of its self-branded cars, NEVs, and vehicle exports all maintained rapid growth, which have enabled SAIC Motor to expand.
According to statistics, sales of its self-owned brands exceeded 2.78 million last year, accounting for 52.5 percent of its total sales. SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Company, one of its subsidiary corporations, sold 839,000 units during the period, hitting a new record. Sales of its NEVs exceeded 1.07 million, up 46.5 percent year-on-year, and ranked first in the world.
Its self-owned brands and joint ventures also achieved a surge in NEV sales last year. SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Company sold a total of 243,000 NEVs, growing by 50 percent year-on-year, while the company’s brand Maxus sold 37,000 NEVs, a year-on-year increase of 72.1 percent.
The carmaker’s joint ventures SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM sold 99,000 and 49,000 NEVs in 2022, increasing by 72.7 percent and 81.9 percent year-on-year, respectively. During the period, SAIC GM-Wuling recorded NEV sales of 622,000 units, up 35.9 percent year-on-year.
In 2022, SAIC Motor’s overseas sales hit a record high of 1.01 million units, up 45.9 percent year-on-year, which helped it retain the top spot among China’s carmakers for seven consecutive years.
Europe became a main overseas market for SAIC Motor to sell more than 100,000 vehicles. Overseas sales of MG-branded vehicles ranked among the top 10 brands in nearly 20 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Thailand, and Chile.
MG4 Electric, SAIC Motor's new EV model, hit the market in nearly 30 European countries last year, and received more than 10,000 new orders every month. In 2022, Maxus sold 220,000 vehicles overseas, and its sales in developed countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom accounted for more than 80 percent of its total overseas sales.
IM, an electric car startup jointly owned and operated by SAIC Motor, Alibaba and ZJ INNOPARK, has taken a new step in high-end development. IM saw its first L7 Beta version roll off the assembly line in late 2021, and delivered the first batch of L7s in September 2022.
The new model is equipped with an intelligent driving assistance system to provide users with a "human-like" intelligent driving experience. More than 7,000 orders were received for the pre-sale of the medium and large luxury SUV IM LS7. The SUV R7, a new model launched by SAIC Motor's Rising Auto, entered the market at the end of September 2022 and was well received by consumers due to its minimalist design, top configuration, and high-end intelligent driving experience. The SUV R7 has entered the "first echelon" among medium and large pure electric SUVs.
The “5G+L4” intelligent heavy truck developed by SAIC Motor’s UTOPILOT, completed the annual transportation goal of 100,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2022, and the intelligent heavy truck accumulated more than 4.4 million kilometers of L4 autonomous driving test mileage, reaching the leading level of the international commercial vehicle industry. L4 means that in most cases, the car can drive automatically without a human driver.
The first L4 Robotaxi vehicles powered by SAIC Mobility were officially put into operation in Shanghai, Suzhou and Shenzhen last year. The commercial use of the L4 Robotaxi was heavily promoted last year, and more than 120,000 autonomous driving trips have been provided to users, with a user satisfaction rate of 98.8 percent.
This year, SAIC Motor plans to focus on the high-end, intelligent and green transformation of the automobile industry, promote the industrialization of new technologies, and accelerate its transition to a user-oriented high-tech company.