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Meet our parent company: SAIC Motor

29-01-2021
Customers and international media are positive and even slightly surprised by the high quality of the MG models of the renewed car brand from China. But it’s not that surprising given the fact that MG operates under the banner of SAIC Motor. Learn more about our powerful and progressive parent company.

SAIC Motor (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) was founded in 1958 and is the seventh largest automotive manufacturer in the world. It’s the largest carmaker in China as well. It sold 5.6 million vehicles in 2020, ranking first in China for the past 15 years.

The company is also known as the first in China to set up a joint venture in the field of car production. In 1984, in partnership with Volkswagen. Since then, SAIC Motor has been producing Volkswagens for the Chinese market under the name SAIC Volkswagen. In 1997, SAIC Motor and General Motors created a similar joint venture.

Expansion of own brands

Another undeniable progress within SAIC Motor is the development of more and more own brands. Starting with MG obviously. But also brands like Maxus, Roewe, R brand, the recently launched new car brand IM and several others. This has done the company no harm. SAIC Motor made a number of achievements over the past years. It also sold a record 2.6 million self-branded vehicles in 2020, accounting for 46.4% of its total sales.

Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) – a term to designate battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles – by SAIC Motor saw a year-on-year increase of 73.4% in 2020. This represents the fastest growth rate and highest sales figures in China.

Focus and commitment

An obvious strength behind this success is the unbridled focus and commitment. Especially on electrification, intelligent connectivity, sharing and globalization, speeding up the independent control of core technologies, and cultivating differentiated competitive advantages.

  • Electrification: SAIC Motor fully implemented the technical routes of BEVs, PHEVs and FCEVs. It formed a complete product matrix and industrial chain, and launched more than 50 products. In addition, SAIC Motor and Infineon jointly set up IGBT (new energy vehicle power semiconductor), a core components company forming an industrial alliance with CATL for a new energy battery.
  • Intelligent connectivity: SAIC officially became a member of the 5G Automotive Association. It reached a strategic cooperation with China Mobile and Huawei to jointly develop intelligent mobility and 5G-V2X vehicle communication technology. At present, SAIC Motor established five innovation centres. That includes AI, big data, cloud computing, cyber security and software development. It actively deployed core hardware such as sensors, chips and domain controllers as well.
  • Sharing: ‘SAIC Mobility’ has raised more than 300 million RMB through a strategic financing round jointly invested by Alibaba and CATL. Another example is ‘SAIC Mobility Rental’, which provides car hailing service in 20 cities in China with more than 20 million registered users.
  • Globalization: SAIC Motor has entered into more than 60 countries and regions in the world. It has also set up more than 810 overseas marketing & service outlets, and formed nine ‘scale’ overseas markets in Thailand, the UK, the European Union, Indonesia, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, Middle East, India and Egypt. SAIC Motor export and overseas sales ranked first in China for five consecutive years.

Clear mission

But what about MG? Well, you can imagine that after more than thirty years, SAIC Motor has built up lots of expertise in how to develop a high-quality car according to the high standards. Along with the attractive designs created by SAIC’s design studios in Shanghai and London, and the unbridled focus and commitment to create a successful brand, MG is uniquely capable of producing a Chinese car that exceeds the expectations of European motorists. And that’s a first for a Chinese car brand, according to European media.

SAIC Motor introduced the renewed MG brand with a very clear mission. As an electric brand available for a new generation, with one of the best warranty conditions in a very demanding market.

Disrupting the EV market

MG is disrupting the EV market as a smart and new choice. Our aim is to offer technological advanced cars, which are well designed, safe and smart. A perfect example is the 5-star Euro NCAP rating of the MG ZS EV. As this is the first battery-electric car in the B-SUV segment to achieve this maximum score. The 5-star rating for safety also applies to the petrol version on which the new MG EHS Plug-in Hybrid is based.

And there is more to come. MG has announced new promising electric vehicles from the second quarter of 2021. SAIC Motor is committed to make electric and electrified driving accessible in Europe, with the MG brand leading the way.

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