British Highlights Showcase Smart Manufacturing Spirit, SAIC Leads Chinese Automakers in Globalization with Glocal Strategy

Recently, MG returned to its brand birthplace, the UK, held a technology sharing session in London, then rushed to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the global premiere of two concept cars. MG Go! Agile Pure Electric Small Car and Cyber Concept Coupe SUV appeared together. On one side was the century-old British racing heritage, on the other, mature and complete Chinese intelligent electric technology. The two events did not deliberately create a buzz, yet calmly demonstrated the posture of Chinese automakers looking globally and proceeding steadily, and also just confirmed the outstanding results SAIC achieved in its overseas market in the first half of this year.

MG GO! Concept Car

MG Cyber Concept Car

Overseas Half-Year Sales Continue to Rise Steadily

In the first half of 2026, SAIC's overseas market was very fruitful, with cumulative exports reaching 735,000 units, up 48.7% year-on-year; looking at June alone, overseas sales reached 146,000 units, surging 61.2% year-on-year, setting a new sales record, consistently ranking in the first tier of Chinese automakers going global.

As the backbone of SAIC's overseas layout, MG has topped the sales of Chinese brands in Europe for 11 consecutive years, and is also the first Chinese automotive brand with cumulative sales exceeding 1 million units in Europe. In the first half, MG sold over 190,000 units in Europe, and MG4 Urban has entered mainstream households in Germany.

Looking at the global map, Europe has grown into a key 300,000-unit level market for SAIC. The five major regions of Americas, Middle East, Australia-New Zealand, ASEAN, and South Asia have stably maintained sales volumes in the 50,000-unit level. Today, SAIC's business covers over 170 countries and regions, with overseas cumulative sales exceeding 7 million units. Not only was passenger car performance outstanding, SAIC commercial vehicles also opened a new track, with SAIC Hongyan securing an order for 1,000 new energy heavy-duty trucks in Thailand, breaking the situation of foreign brands monopolizing the local heavy-duty truck market. Passenger cars and commercial vehicles proceeding on two lines, coordinating to explore overseas markets.

Diverse Products Calmly Adapt to Global Diverse Needs

Outstanding market performance has never come from piling up low prices and sales volume. Core confidence comes from SAIC's self-developed technology honed over many years. MG has built three mature technology systems facing the global market: Hybrid+ Hybrid System, SolidCore Semi-Solid-State Battery, and i-Smart Intelligent In-Vehicle System.

Scene of MG UK Technology Conference

At the London Technology Conference, MG fully displayed the full set of intelligent electric technologies, and is also the first automotive brand globally to achieve mass production implementation of semi-solid-state batteries. IM AD Intelligent Driving adapts to road conditions on all five continents. MG Parking Smart Cockpit is finely tuned for overseas driving habits, and overseas i-Smart infotainment activation volume has exceeded one million. The two concept cars debuted at Goodwood extracted the design core of MG classic racing cars, fused with new aesthetics of electrification, balancing brand history and future mobility imagination.

In the next three years, SAIC will gradually launch global new products. Powertrains cover four types: Fuel, Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, and Pure Electric. More than 10 sedan, SUV, MPV, and Pickup models will be launched successively to the market, balancing various scenarios such as city commute, family travel, outdoor self-driving, and high-end driving, gently covering global mainstream sub-markets.

Glocal Strategy Deeply Cultivates Locally According to Local Conditions

Many automakers going overseas are accustomed to directly copying domestic products and operation models, applying one standard to adapt to all regions. After landing, it is easy to be incompatible and difficult to fit local users' real driving habits. SAIC chose to walk the Glocal global localization route, doing no one-size-fits-all, slightly adjusting products and services according to regional characteristics of different markets.

European highway network is developed, regulations are strict, so targeted optimization of chassis tuning and intelligent driving logic was done. The Middle East has high temperature all year round, specially strengthened three-electric system heat resistance protection to ensure stable vehicle operation in high-temperature environments. Indian daily commute scenarios are special, continuously iterating cockpit interaction functions to fit local driving preferences. Central Asia cooperated with local automakers to land production, with SAIC Volkswagen multiple new cars landing in Uzbekistan, completing regional market layout breakthrough. Thailand launched MG SMILE exclusive service system, providing lifetime warranty for three-electric systems for pure electric models, sorting out local after-sales chaos. Currently, local MG ownership volume has exceeded 250,000 units.

Building a Full-Link Overseas Ecosystem

True long-term globalization has never been short-term whole vehicle export, but slowly building a complete overseas system integrating technology, products, production, and service. This is also the key to SAIC's overseas market having stronger risk resistance capabilities.

On the production level, emerging markets such as Central Asia and West Africa cooperated with local enterprises to build factories, production on site compresses transportation costs, steadily digging into incremental space. On the service level, building European direct sales outlets in Belgium and Luxembourg, offline service stores exceed 2,000, matching long-term warranty in various places, eliminating overseas users' driving concerns. On the operation level, relying on local teams to face consumers directly, timely capturing market changes, slowly completing the transformation from "selling cars" to "operating users with heart and accumulating brand reputation".

From simple whole vehicle export to full value chain overseas of technology, manufacturing, and service, MG's two appearances in Britain this time is exactly a true portrayal of the steady growth of China's automotive industry. Relying on the calm and pragmatic Glocal globalization system, SAIC has shined the "China Intelligence" sign in the global market, leading Chinese automotive brands to complete the solid advance from simple "Going Out", to securely "Walking Steady, Walking Far".