BEFORE we test-drove and visited the Shanghai Motor Passenger Vehicle Co.’s (SMPV) factory, Design Center, Crash Test and Climatic Wind Tunnel in Lingang, Shanghai, recently, top executives of SAIC Motors provided us a better understanding of their background and tremendous growth, as well as their foresight as a response to the rapid change in the global business environment.
“While looking ahead to the future and taking action to face challenges, our aim and vision is to serve people worldwide with electrification, intelligence, e-commerce sharing and globalization toward a clean society,” said Lu Ying, VPP of Design senior manager.
SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.), the manufacturer of the British brand MG and ROEWE, is determined to meet and achieve sales of 600,000 vehicles by 2020, which represents a 120-percent increase in the market. The company said they have partnered with Alibaba, the Chinese multinational conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail and internet for their MG ZS I-Smart technology system.
SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd. (SAIC Motor) is the largest auto company on China’s A-share market (Stock Code: 600104), and has a total equity of 11 billion shares. SAIC is trying to grasp the industry development trend and speed up the pace of transformation and innovation, which is upgrading from the traditional manufacturing enterprises, to an integrated industry supplier that provides consumers with comprehensive automotive products and services.
SAIC Motor’s affiliated vehicle companies include SAIC Passenger Vehicle, SAIC Maxus, SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, Shanghai General Motors Wuling (SGMW), Naveco, SAIC-Iveco Hongyan and Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corp. (Sunwin).
SAIC undertakes three R&D centers in Shanghai, Nanjing and the UK, and five major manufacturing bases in Lingang of Shanghai, Pukou of Nanjing, Zhengzhou of Henan, Ningde of Fujian (in construction) and Rayong of Thailand. Since the company was founded, dozens of products (NEV included) have been launched, covering upper-medium vehicle, compact car and SUV, building a good brand image. A comprehensive product portfolio has taken its shape, which is synchronized with the global automotive technology development and covers every segment of the mainstream passenger vehicle market. The annual sales volume of 2018 exceeded 700,000—overtaking 520,000, in 2017.
“Innovation centers have been built in California, USA, and Israel to seize new energy, connectivity, intelligent driving and algorithm,” added Ying.
Through a decade’s development, the company has possessed the world-class new technology and independent innovative research capability, especially in traditional powertrain, new energy vehicle, Internet and intelligent driving technology. The company has conquered the technical barriers of overseas automobile opponents and self-mastered the core technology that is highly competitive in the world in essence of quality comparing with joint ventures.
The company has also formed a complete set of 3E (electric drive, battery and electric control) technologies that are world-class and leads the domestic new energy vehicle domain.
The construction of Shanghai technical center started in 2005, which was divided into three phases and put into use separately. At the end of 2015, phases one and two were completed with an investment of 4 billion yuan, covering 419,000 square meters and 242,000 sq m of gross area.
Currently, Shanghai technical center has built a variety of facilities, including design building, thermal energy emission lab, architecture lab, NVH, thermal wind tunnel lab, powertrain lab, new energy lab, chassis lab, safety lab, electronic and electrical laboratory, pilot build workshop, etc. It has become a world-class passenger vehicle technical center, as well as the largest and fully equipped one in China.
The third-phase construction is being planned, into which several new laboratories like aerodynamic wind tunnel, vehicle EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility), intelligent driving, etc., will be established.
“Advanced Design Studios are currently being developed in the United Kingdom and three manufacturing bases are now ongoing in Thailand, India and Indonesia. Soon in the United States,” said Ying.
SAIC has now established regional branch companies in the UAE, Chile, Australia, the Netherlands, and representative offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Vietnam. In 2018, Shanghai Motor International Co. (SMIL) sold 28,000 units of MG brand cars with year-on-year growth of 222 percent.
In terms of the international commercial trade, the company has established mutually beneficial relations with more than 300 suppliers and clients around the world, providing a complete supply chain services for OEMs. In 2018, the sales revenue was approximately $0.55 billion. As one of the first pilot parallel-import car enterprises in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, SMIL has over 20 years of vehicle import and distribution expertise. Besides, SMIL also serves as the biggest integrated services of raw-material supplement on sheet panel and special steel, and performed the turnover of $1.47 billion in 2018.
In terms of the international investment and financing, SMIL has invested in nine overseas companies ,such as SAIC Europe S.a.r.l., SAIC Motor International Indonesia and MG Motor India, among others.
In the Philippines, the MG brand is distributed by The Covenant Car Co. Inc. They are currently selling the MG6, MG RX5 and MG ZS.