Milestone Moment
May 28, 2026, Shanghai.
A brand new IM LS9 Hyper slowly drove off the production line. SAIC Motor Group officially completed a historic leap belonging to China's automotive industry — cumulative production and sales broke through 100 million vehicles.
From the successful trial of the first Phoenix sedan in 1958 to the delivery of the 100 millionth vehicle in 2026, spanning 68 years.
This is the first "100-million-vehicle enterprise" in the history of China's automotive industry. The Chinese automotive industry turns a new page from here.
This "100 million" is not a simple accumulation of numbers, but a condensed footnote to the industrialization process of an ancient civilization. According to CPCA data, for every 3 vehicles sold globally, 1 comes from China. Behind these 100 million vehicles lies the complete narrative of China's manufacturing industry enduring hardship and striving for strength for 68 years.
Seventy Years of Storms: From "Phoenix" to "100 Million"
1958, Shanghai.
In an era of scarce resources, Chinese engineers built the first sedan — the Phoenix Brand — by hammering it by hand. Performance indicators were unimaginable, and craftsmanship precision was even rougher, but it was the first step taken by the Chinese people in the automotive field.
For the next 20-plus years, sedans remained an unreachable dream for ordinary Chinese people.
In 1983, the situation changed. SAIC Motor Group and Volkswagen Group established a joint venture. The three words "Santana" were written into the well-known dictionary of Chinese families from then on. In 1983, the first domestically assembled Santana was successfully completed, marking the start of China's automotive "trading market for technology" era.
The 40-year joint venture road planted three seeds for the Chinese automotive industry: a relatively complete supply chain system, a batch of management talent who understand automotive manufacturing, and a generation of Chinese engineers who have seen "Made in Germany". This was the foundation soil for later domestic brands to rise.
In 2009, China's automotive production and sales exceeded the United States for the first time, reaching number one globally. The Chinese car market completed its role transition from "chaser" to "incremental contributor" in the global landscape.
In 2015, SAIC launched the world's first mass-produced internet car, Roewe RX5. The industry pattern changed again — the era of "software-defined vehicles" arrived, and Chinese car companies stood at the forefront of global technology for the first time.
In 2026, SAIC's cumulative production and sales broke 100 million vehicles. In 68 years, the Chinese automotive industry completed the feat of going from 0 to 100 million.
"100 Million" Behind the System Capability
The value of SAIC's 100 million vehicles far exceeds the numbers themselves.
Behind the production and sales scale is a product matrix covering all categories.
From 100,000-level mass market consumption to 400,000-level-plus luxury markets, SAIC covers multiple brands under its banner:
100,000-level: Wuling Starlight L (Plug-in Hybrid)
150,000-level: Roewe D7 DMH (Plug-in Hybrid Energy Consumption 3.9L/100km)
200,000-level: MG Cyberster (All-electric sports car)
300,000-level: IM LS6
400,000-level: IM L7 (Benchmarking BBA executive class)
Overseas Market: MG ranked 1st in European sales for Chinese brands for 11 consecutive years
Full price range coverage, multi-brand synergy, SAIC-GM-Wuling's user mindset of "Build what the people need" together formed the foundation of 100 million vehicles.
Behind the scale is the technical support of independent R&D.
From January to April, SAIC's independent brand sales reached 910,000 units, up 6.9% year-on-year, accounting for 69.9% of the group's total sales. This means the label of "joint venture dependency" is being torn off.
SAIC Motor Group has cumulatively invested over 150 billion yuan in new energy and intelligentization fields in the past decade, possessing nearly 26,000 valid patents. This is the hardcore support for 100 million vehicles.
Behind the scale is the market depth of a global layout.
From January to April, SAIC's overseas market cumulative sales reached 459,000 units, up 50.2% year-on-year. The MG brand has ranked 1st in European sales for Chinese brands for 11 consecutive years, selling 120,000 units in the European market from January to April, up 22% year-on-year. Overseas cumulative deliveries exceeded 7 million units, building 3 major R&D centers such as London and 4 production bases such as Thailand and Indonesia.
From "Made in China" to "Sold Globally", SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a truly global achievement.
Coordinates of China's Automotive Industry Seen from 100 Million
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is an observation window for the development of China's automotive industry.
Scale Coordinate: China's annual car sales are number one globally, new energy penetration rate exceeds 60%, and 6 out of 10 new cars have green plates. Behind this number is the position of China's automotive industry in the global division of labor — from "contract manufacturing base" to "source of innovation".
Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of CPCA, clearly stated: "SAIC breaking 100 million marks that China has formally entered the first tier of the global automotive industry. This is not the achievement of one company, but a microcosm of the upgrade of China's entire manufacturing industry, proving that we have changed from followers of 'trading market for technology' to definers of 'trading technology for market'."
Shangguan News positioned it as a "model for industrial synergy in the Yangtze River Delta": SAIC's 100 million vehicles drove the rise of thousands of parts companies in the Yangtze River Delta, building the world's most complete automotive industry chain closed loop.
Global Coordinate: Toyota cumulative production and sales exceed 300 million, Volkswagen Group nearly 280 million, General Motors about 220 million — previously, the global "100-million-vehicle club" was only monopolized by four countries: US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. SAIC, with 100 million vehicles, has joined the core position of the global second tier, becoming China's only and the world's fifth car company to break 100 million.
But we must see clearly: there are still gaps in core chassis and high-end transmission technologies for traditional fuel vehicles; high-level autonomous driving algorithms and vehicle software ecosystems still have obvious generation gaps compared to Tesla.
Brand Coordinate: The market share of Chinese brand passenger cars has broken 60%. The era of "driving a joint venture car was prestigious" is becoming history. Young consumers no longer blindly believe in foreign brands, and Chinese car companies have gained the right to define "good cars" for the first time.
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a milestone node for China's automotive industry going from "Big" to "Strong".
After 100 Million Vehicles: New Propositions for China's Automotive Industry
Breaching 100 million vehicles is a node, and also a starting point.
The Chinese automotive industry is facing three new propositions:
Proposition 1: How to go from "Getting Big" to "Getting Strong"?
Scale is easy to get, but brand is hard to establish. Chinese car companies still have a gap in premium capability in the global market compared to luxury brands like BBA. The scale of 100 million vehicles proves the capability of Chinese manufacturing, but to establish true brand recognition in the global market, Chinese car companies still need time to cultivate deeply.
More critically, SAIC's premiumization path is still under attack. IM Motors cumulative sales from January to April 2026 reached 23,900 units, skyrocketing 130.35% year-on-year. Single-month sales in April broke 10,000 units, up 201.14% year-on-year. Despite the strong growth momentum, compared to the scale of NIO and Li Auto with over 30,000 units per month, there is still a significant gap in high-end market recognition.
Proposition 2: How to establish barriers in the second half of intelligentization?
Automotive competition has entered the second half — intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits have become new core battlefields. SAIC adopted a "Self-developed + Ecosystem" dual-track strategy in the intelligent driving field: Self-developed "Galaxy Intelligent Driving" focuses on the popularization of basic functions, while obtaining top algorithm support through strategic investment in Momenta (global third-party intelligent driving market share 61%), and launching the Shangjie brand for deep cooperation with Huawei, forming a multi-level technology layout. But it cannot be denied that the market volume of its single intelligent driving brand still lags behind Huawei and Tesla.
The competition in intelligentization is essentially a competition of data and algorithms. Whether Chinese car companies can maintain the lead in this competition depends on the speed and depth of technology iteration.
Proposition 3: How to establish cultural identity in the global market?
The export of Chinese cars is shifting from "selling cars" to "selling brands". MG's cumulative deliveries in Europe have broken 1 million units. Sales in 2025 reached 307,000 units, ranking 16th in the total list of the European market, being the only Chinese brand to enter the top 20. Its success relies not only on price-performance ratio, but also on a century-old British brand heritage and localization operations, but brand premium capability still has a gap compared to European local brands, and it faces long-term challenges of EU anti-subsidy investigations.
Truly global brands require not only product strength, but also a cultural output.
Written in Conclusion: From "Phoenix" to "100 Million", A New Beginning
68 years ago, when Shanghai craftsmen hammered out the first Phoenix sedan by hand, Chinese people did not yet know what the concept of 100 million vehicles was.
68 years later, SAIC Motor Group completed the leap from "chaser" to "definer" with 100 million vehicles.
From "No Own Engines" to "New Energy Technology Globally Leading", from "Trading Market for Technology" to "Trading Technology for Market", from "Low-end Contract Manufacturing" to "High-end Intelligent Manufacturing" — these 100 million vehicles are a microcosm of the upgrade of China's manufacturing industry.
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a new starting point, not the end point, of China's automotive industry.
The next 100 million vehicles may come faster.
May 28, 2026, Shanghai.
A brand new IM LS9 Hyper slowly drove off the production line. SAIC Motor Group officially completed a historic leap belonging to China's automotive industry — cumulative production and sales broke through 100 million vehicles.
From the successful trial of the first Phoenix sedan in 1958 to the delivery of the 100 millionth vehicle in 2026, spanning 68 years.
This is the first "100-million-vehicle enterprise" in the history of China's automotive industry. The Chinese automotive industry turns a new page from here.
This "100 million" is not a simple accumulation of numbers, but a condensed footnote to the industrialization process of an ancient civilization. According to CPCA data, for every 3 vehicles sold globally, 1 comes from China. Behind these 100 million vehicles lies the complete narrative of China's manufacturing industry enduring hardship and striving for strength for 68 years.
Seventy Years of Storms: From "Phoenix" to "100 Million"
1958, Shanghai.
In an era of scarce resources, Chinese engineers built the first sedan — the Phoenix Brand — by hammering it by hand. Performance indicators were unimaginable, and craftsmanship precision was even rougher, but it was the first step taken by the Chinese people in the automotive field.
For the next 20-plus years, sedans remained an unreachable dream for ordinary Chinese people.
In 1983, the situation changed. SAIC Motor Group and Volkswagen Group established a joint venture. The three words "Santana" were written into the well-known dictionary of Chinese families from then on. In 1983, the first domestically assembled Santana was successfully completed, marking the start of China's automotive "trading market for technology" era.
The 40-year joint venture road planted three seeds for the Chinese automotive industry: a relatively complete supply chain system, a batch of management talent who understand automotive manufacturing, and a generation of Chinese engineers who have seen "Made in Germany". This was the foundation soil for later domestic brands to rise.
In 2009, China's automotive production and sales exceeded the United States for the first time, reaching number one globally. The Chinese car market completed its role transition from "chaser" to "incremental contributor" in the global landscape.
In 2015, SAIC launched the world's first mass-produced internet car, Roewe RX5. The industry pattern changed again — the era of "software-defined vehicles" arrived, and Chinese car companies stood at the forefront of global technology for the first time.
In 2026, SAIC's cumulative production and sales broke 100 million vehicles. In 68 years, the Chinese automotive industry completed the feat of going from 0 to 100 million.
"100 Million" Behind the System Capability
The value of SAIC's 100 million vehicles far exceeds the numbers themselves.
Behind the production and sales scale is a product matrix covering all categories.
From 100,000-level mass market consumption to 400,000-level-plus luxury markets, SAIC covers multiple brands under its banner:
100,000-level: Wuling Starlight L (Plug-in Hybrid)
150,000-level: Roewe D7 DMH (Plug-in Hybrid Energy Consumption 3.9L/100km)
200,000-level: MG Cyberster (All-electric sports car)
300,000-level: IM LS6
400,000-level: IM L7 (Benchmarking BBA executive class)
Overseas Market: MG ranked 1st in European sales for Chinese brands for 11 consecutive years
Full price range coverage, multi-brand synergy, SAIC-GM-Wuling's user mindset of "Build what the people need" together formed the foundation of 100 million vehicles.
Behind the scale is the technical support of independent R&D.
From January to April, SAIC's independent brand sales reached 910,000 units, up 6.9% year-on-year, accounting for 69.9% of the group's total sales. This means the label of "joint venture dependency" is being torn off.
SAIC Motor Group has cumulatively invested over 150 billion yuan in new energy and intelligentization fields in the past decade, possessing nearly 26,000 valid patents. This is the hardcore support for 100 million vehicles.
Behind the scale is the market depth of a global layout.
From January to April, SAIC's overseas market cumulative sales reached 459,000 units, up 50.2% year-on-year. The MG brand has ranked 1st in European sales for Chinese brands for 11 consecutive years, selling 120,000 units in the European market from January to April, up 22% year-on-year. Overseas cumulative deliveries exceeded 7 million units, building 3 major R&D centers such as London and 4 production bases such as Thailand and Indonesia.
From "Made in China" to "Sold Globally", SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a truly global achievement.
Coordinates of China's Automotive Industry Seen from 100 Million
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is an observation window for the development of China's automotive industry.
Scale Coordinate: China's annual car sales are number one globally, new energy penetration rate exceeds 60%, and 6 out of 10 new cars have green plates. Behind this number is the position of China's automotive industry in the global division of labor — from "contract manufacturing base" to "source of innovation".
Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of CPCA, clearly stated: "SAIC breaking 100 million marks that China has formally entered the first tier of the global automotive industry. This is not the achievement of one company, but a microcosm of the upgrade of China's entire manufacturing industry, proving that we have changed from followers of 'trading market for technology' to definers of 'trading technology for market'."
Shangguan News positioned it as a "model for industrial synergy in the Yangtze River Delta": SAIC's 100 million vehicles drove the rise of thousands of parts companies in the Yangtze River Delta, building the world's most complete automotive industry chain closed loop.
Global Coordinate: Toyota cumulative production and sales exceed 300 million, Volkswagen Group nearly 280 million, General Motors about 220 million — previously, the global "100-million-vehicle club" was only monopolized by four countries: US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. SAIC, with 100 million vehicles, has joined the core position of the global second tier, becoming China's only and the world's fifth car company to break 100 million.
But we must see clearly: there are still gaps in core chassis and high-end transmission technologies for traditional fuel vehicles; high-level autonomous driving algorithms and vehicle software ecosystems still have obvious generation gaps compared to Tesla.
Brand Coordinate: The market share of Chinese brand passenger cars has broken 60%. The era of "driving a joint venture car was prestigious" is becoming history. Young consumers no longer blindly believe in foreign brands, and Chinese car companies have gained the right to define "good cars" for the first time.
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a milestone node for China's automotive industry going from "Big" to "Strong".
After 100 Million Vehicles: New Propositions for China's Automotive Industry
Breaching 100 million vehicles is a node, and also a starting point.
The Chinese automotive industry is facing three new propositions:
Proposition 1: How to go from "Getting Big" to "Getting Strong"?
Scale is easy to get, but brand is hard to establish. Chinese car companies still have a gap in premium capability in the global market compared to luxury brands like BBA. The scale of 100 million vehicles proves the capability of Chinese manufacturing, but to establish true brand recognition in the global market, Chinese car companies still need time to cultivate deeply.
More critically, SAIC's premiumization path is still under attack. IM Motors cumulative sales from January to April 2026 reached 23,900 units, skyrocketing 130.35% year-on-year. Single-month sales in April broke 10,000 units, up 201.14% year-on-year. Despite the strong growth momentum, compared to the scale of NIO and Li Auto with over 30,000 units per month, there is still a significant gap in high-end market recognition.
Proposition 2: How to establish barriers in the second half of intelligentization?
Automotive competition has entered the second half — intelligent driving and intelligent cockpits have become new core battlefields. SAIC adopted a "Self-developed + Ecosystem" dual-track strategy in the intelligent driving field: Self-developed "Galaxy Intelligent Driving" focuses on the popularization of basic functions, while obtaining top algorithm support through strategic investment in Momenta (global third-party intelligent driving market share 61%), and launching the Shangjie brand for deep cooperation with Huawei, forming a multi-level technology layout. But it cannot be denied that the market volume of its single intelligent driving brand still lags behind Huawei and Tesla.
The competition in intelligentization is essentially a competition of data and algorithms. Whether Chinese car companies can maintain the lead in this competition depends on the speed and depth of technology iteration.
Proposition 3: How to establish cultural identity in the global market?
The export of Chinese cars is shifting from "selling cars" to "selling brands". MG's cumulative deliveries in Europe have broken 1 million units. Sales in 2025 reached 307,000 units, ranking 16th in the total list of the European market, being the only Chinese brand to enter the top 20. Its success relies not only on price-performance ratio, but also on a century-old British brand heritage and localization operations, but brand premium capability still has a gap compared to European local brands, and it faces long-term challenges of EU anti-subsidy investigations.
Truly global brands require not only product strength, but also a cultural output.
Written in Conclusion: From "Phoenix" to "100 Million", A New Beginning
68 years ago, when Shanghai craftsmen hammered out the first Phoenix sedan by hand, Chinese people did not yet know what the concept of 100 million vehicles was.
68 years later, SAIC Motor Group completed the leap from "chaser" to "definer" with 100 million vehicles.
From "No Own Engines" to "New Energy Technology Globally Leading", from "Trading Market for Technology" to "Trading Technology for Market", from "Low-end Contract Manufacturing" to "High-end Intelligent Manufacturing" — these 100 million vehicles are a microcosm of the upgrade of China's manufacturing industry.
SAIC's 100 million vehicles is a new starting point, not the end point, of China's automotive industry.
The next 100 million vehicles may come faster.
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