Good at Building Cars, Better at Understanding People: The Internal Logic Behind SAIC's Creation of the "100 Million Vehicle Enterprise" Milestone

SAIC's "Small Goal", A Milestone of China's Automotive Industry

Written by | Daye

Edited by | Routers

On May 28, at the World Living Room of the North Bund in Shanghai, SAIC Motor (hereinafter referred to as "SAIC") grandly held the ceremony for delivering the vehicle to its global 100 millionth user. The 15 complete vehicle brands and 19 models under SAIC completed delivery synchronously in multiple cities nationwide and globally with the unique form of "Countdown + Continuous Delivery", and Dragon TV broadcast it globally throughout.

SAIC has become the first automotive group in the history of China's automotive industry to achieve a production and sales scale of 100 million vehicles while simultaneously achieving the delivery of the 100 millionth user. This time, SAIC also adopted a new form and new gameplay of "Global Relay Delivery" within the industry, and pioneered a new narrative method for Chinese car brands.

So, what kind of milestone did SAIC exactly cast for the development history of China's automotive industry? What does this historical achievement that leads the industry, as well as brand narrative innovation, mean?

To accurately answer these questions, we must return to the three internal logics behind SAIC casting the 100 million vehicle milestone—that is, what SAIC has done and done well in terms of users, brands, and technology—SAIC's continuous renewal and redefinition of user-centric enterprises, brand and trust assets, and technology and standards, to see clearly what new ideas and inspirations SAIC has brought for the future development path of Chinese automobiles.

I. The User Always in the Center

Throughout the entire live broadcast process, there were no speeches by leaders, no product presentations, nor product data displays, thoroughly saying goodbye to the fixed presentation mode of the "Enterprise Show" commonly seen in the industry in the past, and also placing the "User" in the absolute Center Stage of the delivery activity.

This attempt and innovation of global relay and online live broadcast delivery by users in multiple domestic locations and overseas countries has at least three highlights.

First, the essence of the delivery form innovation is the "return" of the user, this main character.

Unlike traditional enterprise press conferences which focus on leader speeches, product parameters, and highlight displays, this time SAIC left all the time of the event for the core action of "Delivery", allowing users to change from "Witnesses" to "Main Characters".

For example, from grassroots fighters to public welfare guardians, behind the delivery of every new car is a true and moving story: The bulk users of commercial vehicles cover logistics, infrastructure, public transport, and tourism; every commercial vehicle is a "wealth creation tool" for fighters; A public welfare blogger who cut hair and provided companionship to left-behind children in the mountains of Guangxi for five consecutive years was moved by the "Full Score Cockpit" of Buick Zhijing E7, etc.

These true life stories of these "Main Characters" gave exclusive memory and brand warmth to the cold industrial machinery and delivery numbers. Allowing users to become "Main Characters" from "Witnesses", what is delivered is no longer just a car, but a life story that is respected.

Secondly, the "Decentralized" global relay delivery is the release of user expression rights.

SAIC also broke the time-space limitations of a single stage, connected delivery scenes of different skin colors, different languages, and different car models through Dragon TV's global live broadcast. Under the same theme, including 19 models of 15 brands, wide coverage from 60,000 level to 500,000 level, completing marathon-style relay delivery from commercial to passenger use. This "Decentralized" process design makes every delivery site become an equal and transparent brand narrative node, and also makes every user a vivid and lively narrator of brand history and culture.

Thirdly, expand the concept of "User", from understanding the new generation to embracing ecosystem partners.

Car owners Yang Chen, the 99,999,999th, located at the Shanghai Anting delivery site, and Natalia, the 100,000,001th, an intern doctor, located at the UK London delivery site, witnessed the deep understanding, insight, and response capabilities of two international brands that have been deeply localized for many years—Volkswagen and MG—for the personalized needs of new era, new generation users.

Among them, the 100 millionth user who connects the past and future—IM LS9 Hyper car owner is Momenta CEO Cao Xudong. This exquisite arrangement and design profoundly interprets an ecological concept of beauty shared and mutual pursuit—in the smart electric era, enterprises, users, and partners are no longer the supply and demand relationship of the traditional industrial chain, but a value community of symbiotic growth.

In the opinion of Routers, the successful holding and format innovation of this delivery gala is also a dimension upgrade of the "Understand Cars, Understand You Better" brand and user concept proposed at the "2025 SAIC Night", and also a self-evolution and proactive renewal around building a user-centric enterprise.

Tightly focusing on the action of "Delivery", the event unfolded with "Users" as the main characters, is not only a vivid footnote to SAIC's deep transformation from "Manufacturing Enterprise" to "User-centric Enterprise", but also clearly conveys a signal to the outside world—that in the new era, SAIC possesses the underlying cognition and system capabilities to redefine and build a "User-centric Enterprise".

II. Trust is the Biggest Brand Asset

From "Product Delivery" to "User Return", essentially, this process is also a "Delivery of Trust". 100 million vehicles are not just production and sales numbers, but also a brand trust asset that has been continuously accumulated. Thus, what SAIC has built is far more than a milestone of the manufacturing system, but a dimension upgrade of a brand value logic set—centered on users, a review and renewal of brand trust assets.

This courage of bold innovation and sincerity of active dimension upgrade is also the confidence and confidence behind SAIC moving towards the next 100 million vehicles. This move achieved at least two significant effects that refreshed industry cognition.

First, such a "Cross-Space-Time" delivery, first in the industry, requires enterprises to have complete capabilities such as full brand matrix, full category products, global layout, and full industry chain system, all of which are indispensable.

Thus, SAIC concretely demonstrated the "Family Bucket" capability of mobilizing "Full Brand Matrix, Full Category Products, Global Layout, Full Industry Chain System". At the same time, it also proved to the outside world with actions that, so far, only SAIC possesses the scale and strength of "Global Relay Delivery".

Secondly, Product is History, User is History. Through the method of global live broadcast, the process of delivering every car to the hands of every user, actually, is also opening a "Miniature History of the Evolution of China's Automotive Industry" concretely to the global market through each user's concrete story and individual memory.

Thus, an innovation of brand narrative was achieved—from the one-way preaching mode commonly seen in traditional enterprise activities in the past, upgraded to a "Mobile Public Lesson" about SAIC or even the history of China's automotive industry.

From another perspective, what SAIC has accumulated over its 70-plus years of development history is already not just the brand assets built by the 15 brand matrix, but also the continuous accumulation of enterprise "Trust Assets". Thus, SAIC has also become a benchmark, demonstration, and sample for Chinese brands going global in 2026 to "Value Chain Going Global".

For example, in this delivery gala, independent and joint-venture brands under SAIC gathered, passenger and commercial vehicles advanced together, and domestic and overseas markets were linked, fully displaying a brand and enterprise "Trust Asset" that covers the widest age group, the broadest customer group, and the widest market.

This valuable trust asset has not only translated into SAIC's overwhelming lead in domestic sales, but also into its unparalleled performance and pioneering spirit in the overseas market.

Data shows that in January-April 2026, SAIC sold a cumulative 1.302 million units, ranking first among Chinese automotive companies in sales for four consecutive months. Among them, independent brand sales reached 910,000 units, accounting for nearly 70%; New energy vehicle sales reached 412,000 units, firmly maintaining the industry forefront; Overseas market sales reached 459,000 units, surging 50.2% year-on-year.

As the leading pioneer of Chinese car companies with the earliest steps and biggest strides going out, SAIC's influence globally is of course far more than the repeatedly broken sales records—Products and services spreading over more than 170 countries and regions around the world, cumulative overseas market sales breaking the scale of 7 million units, MG consecutive 11 years as the sales champion of Chinese brands in Europe, and the first Chinese car brand to break 1 million cumulative sales in Europe and the UK, is even more a systemic layout—SAIC has built more than 100 parts production bases overseas, more than 3000 dealer networks, possesses 3 major R&D innovation centers such as London, and 4 production centers in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and has formed China's first, globally leading independent vehicle logistics fleet.

The travel choices of 100 million families globally not only witness the growth and expansion of China's automotive industry, but also represent SAIC leading the output and expansion of Chinese automobiles facing globalization. The effective establishment and continuous renewal of this brand and enterprise "Trust" asset is the result of SAIC building a national brand with one hand and a global brand with the other, the two dialectically developing and complementing each other.

III. The Witness and Promoter of Technological Leap

Only with the big data demand mining and precise insight of 100 million+ retained users, and the brand "Trust Assets" built synchronously covering the whole country, the whole world, and even all age group users, can SAIC's full industry chain system and full value chain closed-loop underlying capabilities continuously promote every generation of technological leap, and achieve rapid mass production and implementation in all brands and all price bands.

Furthermore, every moment of fulfilling the original intention of "Understanding You" is also the continuous advancement and comprehensive implementation of SAIC's "Understanding Cars" capabilities—keeping pace with the times, continuously renewing the core capabilities of technology and product definition.

In every historical stage, in every window period of technological change, SAIC firmly holds the definition rights of technology and products.

From 1958, when SAIC workers hammered out the first "Phoenix" sedan with a hammer, achieving the "Zero Breakthrough" of Shanghai sedan manufacturing, to today's cross-border open cooperative ecosystem, SAIC collaborates and co-creates with Chinese Tech Companies such as Huawei Qiankun, Momenta, OPPO, Doubao, Horizon Robotics, etc., carrying out exploration and expansion of "Software Defined Vehicles". It can be said that the development history of SAIC,串连起来 by one by one technological leaps and mass production implementation, is a condensed history of technical progress in China's automotive industry.

This year, new products and new technologies released and launched by SAIC domestically and internationally, especially the new products with multiple brands, multiple categories, and diverse technological paths unveiled at this delivery event, also have the most concentrated and cutting-edge presentation.

For example, unlike the logic of localization and domesticization when global models were introduced to the domestic market in the Joint Venture 1.0 stage which used European and American technology and standards as a reference system, as the latest result of joint venture enterprises in the "Joint Venture 2.0" stage, new models such as Audi E7X, Buick Zhijing Family, etc., are all based on the current local supply chain of the Chinese market, and a deep co-creation with multinational partners covering intelligence, digitalization, and customization, becoming a vivid footnote of Chinese automobiles from "Market for Technology" to "Technology Co-creation".

For example, in 2025, the overseas "Glocal Strategy" (Global + Local) was released, and SAIC comprehensively promoted a strategic upgrade from product export to full value chain output, allowing "Made in China" to quickly go global.

Based on this strategic concept, in March 2026, MG globally premiered the SolidCore semi-solid state battery and Hybrid+ hybrid technology at Frankfurt, Germany, and landed in the European market. Currently, MG models equipped with Hybrid+ hybrid technology have surpassed 20,000 units in monthly sales overseas, becoming a new business card of "Made in China" in the overseas market.

For example, as the 100 millionth new car delivered this time, and also the focus of the entire delivery gala, IM LS9 Hyper is the collection of SAIC's 70-plus years of technological accumulation, and at the same time, it is also a top-level technology new flagship of the "Software Defined Vehicle" era.

The new car is fully equipped with the industry's most cutting-edge leading technologies in all dimensions such as power, chassis, smart cockpit, smart driving, safety, including Stellar Super Extended Range and Whole Domain 800V High Voltage Platform, Gecko Digital Chassis 3.0 and Three-Motor Vector Four-Wheel Drive System, Full Wire-Controlled Steering Technology, 520-Line Super-View LiDAR and Momenta R7 Smart Driving Large Model, as well as the "Intrinsic Safety" technology jointly developed by Zijinshan Laboratory, etc., becoming a hardcore footnote of Chinese car companies from "Following Running" to "Defining Standards".

As seen above, SAIC's three major "Technology Bases" in the three core technology fields of Smart Cockpit & Driving, Car Body & Chassis, and Power System—Smart Brain, Healthy Body, Powerful Heart, are not exhibits and samples staying in the laboratory, nor "Futures" in marketing and public relations rhetoric, but batch mass production and implementation across all brands and all price bands. At this point, SAIC has also walked out of the unique development path of "Defining Products by Technology, Verifying Technology by Blockbusters" and leads the industry.

Epilogue

Placed in the "Century-Old Unprecedented Changes" in the automotive industry, 2026 is the "Year One" of AI Agent entering cars, and also the year of the outbreak of Physical AI. At this time, SAIC welcomes the historic moment of delivering the first 100 millionth user, and also casts the first "100 Million Car Enterprise" milestone in the history of China's automotive industry.

Every leap of SAIC in the dimensions of users, trust, and technology is proving: Who can always stand on the user's standpoint to think and practice, who can accumulate trust assets through full industry chain layout, who can embrace new technology and define new standards with the times, who can stand at the forefront of history, know the origin, and understand the future.

For over 70 years, SAIC, relying on this vision, breadth, and temperament of embracing rivers and seas, has become the trendsetter of China's automotive industry, and is reshaping the new global coordinates of Chinese automobiles at this new turning point in the history of the global automotive industry.

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