May 28, 2026, Shanghai. With an IM LS9 Hyper delivered to a user, SAIC Group's cumulative production and sales officially exceeded 100 million units, marking a major milestone in the history of China's automotive industry.
Meanwhile, the 100,000,007th unit of SAIC Group rolled off the line at the SAIC Audi AUDI Intelligent Manufacturing Base. Tao Hailong, Party Secretary and General Manager of SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd., delivered the Audi E7X to user Shen Jimin, turning a new page in the history of China's automotive industry from then on.
On that day, four delivery events distributed domestically and abroad silently outlined the growth trajectory of this state-owned enterprise giant, from the industrial foundation of SAIC Volkswagen, to Buick's local affection, to the independent breakthrough of Roewe and MG, and to Wuling's globalization moves in the down-market.
SAIC Volkswagen: The Weight of the Foundation
In the noise of celebration, the silent foundation is often easily forgotten. SAIC Volkswagen is not only an important sales pillar for SAIC Group but also the "Whampoa Military Academy" of China's automotive industry modernization.
Looking back to 1984, the joint venture contract signed at the Great Hall of the People opened not just a joint venture company, but a complete chain from CKD knock-down assembly to the establishment of a localized system, from the introduction of quality standards to the cultivation of a supply chain ecosystem. It is an industry-recognized fact that without SAIC Volkswagen's system capability honing a sword for over thirty years, there would be no later accumulation and breakthrough for SAIC's independent sector.
This time delivering the Audi E7X as the 100,000,007th vehicle symbolizes that this "foundation" is undergoing a profound reconstruction. Shifting from traditional German mechanical quality to all-aluminum chassis, 900V high-voltage fast charging, and intelligent driving. This turnaround is not flashy, yet solid enough—it proves that traditional joint venture giants still possess strong engineering implementation capabilities in the wave of electrification.
Buick: The "Emotional Ledger" of Joint Ventures
Different from SAIC Volkswagen's industrial rationality, the Buick brand attempted to answer a softer question in this celebration: when joint venture brands have walked for nearly thirty years in China, besides sales, what remains?
SAIC-GM Vice General Manager Xue Haitao delivered the 100,000,100th complete vehicle—the Buick Zhijing E7—to user Liu Jia. This ordinary person, who has been giving free haircuts to left-behind children in the mountains for over a decade, attracted attention from netizens when their old car broke down on a mountain road. Buick's intervention transformed this social news into a commercial delivery about "trust".
This is not a simple public welfare event. As the inaugural work of Buick's high-end new energy sub-brand, the Zhijing E7 focuses on "The Perfect Score Cockpit for Children", returning the product origin to family and children scenarios. The report card showing delivery breakthrough of 10,000 units in the first month since launch indicates: joint venture brands have not lost their halo, but must learn to redefine products using "real needs of Chinese families".
Roewe and MG: Two Paths of Independent Breakthrough
In SAIC's 100 million unit map, the rise of the independent sector is a highly dramatic chapter. Roewe and MG represent two different breakthrough logics.
Roewe chose the "upward" path. From Roewe 750 opening the door to the mid-to-high-end market in early years, to RX5 defining "Internet Cars", to the M7 Dark Horse Edition breaking the stereotype of family cars today, Roewe is completing the leap from "manufacturing" to "quality manufacturing". At the vehicle handover ceremony, an old Roewe 750 owner passed the keys to his son-in-law. This trust spanning twenty years is more convincing than any parameter comparison.
MG takes the "broader" route. As a British brand with a hundred-year history, MG achieved identity reconstruction in SAIC's hands. Ranking first in European sales of Chinese car brands for 11 consecutive years, cumulative sales in the UK and Europe market exceeded one million—this marks that China's automotive export has progressed from "product trade" to "brand output". That couple of international students who met MG in the UK and still chose MG4 after returning home is exactly a footnote to this globalization identity.
Wuling: The Silent Base and Secret Export
Outside all spotlights, Wuling is a very large and silent cornerstone in SAIC's 100 million units. Hongguang, Baojun 730, Hongguang MINIEV... these models constitute the real capillaries of China's county economy.
"Wuling builds whatever the people need." Behind this slightly simple slogan lies the precise capture of supply chain cost control and user pain points. More strategically significant is its delivery ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia. Unlike the brand output of Roewe and MG, Wuling adopted "moving the chain overseas"—packaging and replicating the manufacturing chain, supply chain, and sales chain to the ASEAN market.
Relying on the Indonesia pivot, radiating to Malaysia, Thailand, and even the entire ASEAN, Wuling is solving the deep-seated problem of "going global" for China's automotive industry: how to make Chinese manufacturing standards take root in a foreign land.
Zhang Guan Commentary: The Exam Paper After 100 Million Units
Standing on the threshold of 100 million units and looking back, SAIC's scorecard is a microcosm of China's automotive industry catching up and running side by side.
However, 100 million units is both a milestone and a brand new exam paper. When incremental dividends fade, when competition shifts from "capacity war" to "system efficiency and brand thickness", the challenges faced by SAIC are more severe: How to maintain strategic resolve within a multi-brand matrix? How to progress from "selling cars" to "operating brands" in the overseas market?
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