it was the company’s 10th appearance in the annual fortune global 500 list and also the first time that a chinese carmaker has ever entered the top 100 of the list.
in the first half of 2014, saic remained the market leader for sales in china and further strengthened itsposition in independent innovation and overseas operation, as the company strived to sharpen its international competitive edge and increase its brand influence to pursue a sustainable development.
after achieving record global manufacturing and sales of over 5.1 million units in 2013, saic seized market opportunities in the first half of last year and maintained a sales growth above the market average: its sales exceeded 2.86 million units from january to june, up 11.57 percent from the previous year, a new record high.
at the 2014 beijing auto show, saic released its newest generation of power trains and became the first enterprise to break the “power bottleneck” for the chinese auto industry. cube-tech, the new generation of power train that was designed to catch up with world advanced levels, was the result of saic’s independent r&d efforts as well as its joint development work with general motors. cube-tech has mge and the sge series direct injection engines, tst 6-speed dual-clutch transmission, tst 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and a new generation of engine stop-start system.
as the first chinese carmaker that joined forces with a leading multinational motor giant in developing such core technology as power train, saic shared intellectual properties (property rights?) with large international auto groups across the world. the new power train has been adopted by the company’s roewe and mg series of cars. it can also be applied to other carmakers’ products and thus nurture the chinese auto industry.
furthermore, mass production of new energy vehicles is an important part of saic’s independent innovation, a key step for the company to implement the national energy strategy and seize the industry’s commanding heights for future development.
in the first half of 2014, saic officially released the roewe 550 plug-in hybrid, its comprehensive fuel consumption being just 2.3 liters per 100 km and driving mileage per charge reaching 500 km. as the car is in sync with the world’s leading hybrid technologies and lives up to manufacturing standards for world-class new energy vehicles, roewe 550 plug-in has proved to be so popular with customers that the supply can hardly meet the demand.
shanghai sunwin bus corp, a joint venture by saic motor, volvo (china) investment corp and volvo bus corp, capitalized on a fast growing new energy bus market by rolling out a variety of competitive products like hybrids, range-extended hybrids and pure electrics, which saw their sale numbers totaling in excess of 1,200 units from january to june.
as far as the overseas front is concerned, saic made much progress on the southeast asian market in the first half of 2014 in yet another step forward in increasing its international competitiveness. in june, the first mg6 rolled off the production line at the thailand plant of the saic-cp group joint venture, the saic chia tai automotive co.
saic maxus delivered the first batch of v80s in thailand. furthermore, other enterprises under saic, such as huayu automotive systems co and anji automotive logistics co, also materialized their joint production plans in thailand, thus helping saic complete its preliminary industrial layout in the country.
after its independent brands made entry into thailand, saic plans to accelerate the pace of tapping into emerging markets like asean, the association of southeast asian nations, the middle east and south america in order to further expand the company’s overseas presence. saic’s middle east company has been registered in dubai and officially put into operation while its south american company is up and running after registration in santiago. both companies are actively pushing ahead with relevant local programs.
in addition, saic kept close track of the industrial innovations and development trends, actively responding to cross-industry challenges as presented by the internet, and made comprehensive efforts to press ahead with business model innovations. for example, in the first half of 2014, the company launched the first online-to-offline e-commerce platform on the chinese car market, providing customers with one-stop solutions covering services ranging from the internet to car dealers.
