Own-Brand Moves Up, Joint Ventures Innovate, Overseas Expands, SAIC Leaves None Behind

In just two years, transitioning from 'planning and layout' to 'all-out sprinting', SAIC's layout and perspective have rapidly expanded.

August 5, 2026, Shanghai World Living Room. SAIC Motor and General Motors officially signed a strategic renewal agreement, extending the SAIC-GM joint venture period by an additional 20 years to 2047. This is currently the longest-term agreement among existing joint venture car enterprises in China.

Overall structural breakthrough, new growth logic for the automotive group

This cycle-spanning renewal is particularly worth pondering in today's industrial context. The 2026 Chinese automotive market is already unrecognizable compared to the past, with independent brands breaking the 70% market share and the halo effect of joint ventures fading. However, SAIC answered with a 20-year renewal agreement: joint ventures are not obsolete; after completing a paradigm upgrade, they have entered a more vibrant 2.0 era.

SAIC-GM's renewal is not an isolated case. Since SAIC Volkswagen extended its joint venture term to 2040 in November 2024, to Audi deepening strategic cooperation with SAIC in April 2026 and establishing Audi Innovation and Technology Center in Shanghai, SAIC's first 'full value chain' R&D entity outside Europe, to General Motors' renewal this time — all three joint venture sectors have completed the construction of new cooperation models facing the smart and electrified era.

Unlike the past 'technology introduction, Chinese manufacturing' one-way flow, the upgraded Joint Venture 2.0 presents distinct common features: 'Co-creation and Co-research, Local Decision-making, Global Output'.

SAIC Volkswagen explicitly plans to launch 18 new models by 2030, of which 15 are exclusively developed for China; SAIC Audi relies on the next-generation high-end digital platform ADP to co-develop multiple new models customized for the Chinese market; SAIC-GM has established a new operational mode of 'Chinese R&D Manufacturing, Global Market Sales', and the Buick ZhiZhen E7 will start overseas exports this year.

At the same time, reform in the independent sector continues to deepen. The 'Major Passenger Vehicle' sector integrates SAIC Passenger Vehicle, General R&D Academy, and LingShu Technology, connecting the full link from product definition to marketing; the 'Major Commercial Vehicle' strategy anchors top three in light vans, new energy, and exports; the overseas Glocal 3.0 strategy shifts from product export to standard export in all aspects.

In just two years, SAIC's strategic puzzle across joint venture, independent, commercial vehicle, and overseas four sectors is fully complete, moving overall from 'planning and layout' to the new stage of 'all-out sprinting'.

The most direct change brought by the strategic loop is reflected in the market's real data. From January to July 2026, SAIC Motor's cumulative vehicle sales reached 2.384 million units, continuing to rank first among domestic vehicle enterprises.

Behind this group of numbers, structural breakthroughs in three dimensions are redefining the growth logic of China's largest automotive group.

Sales structure reshaping, growth momentum completed switching

Behind the continuously leading sales data, the source of growth has undergone systematic adjustments, and the model of a single sector pulling growth has been replaced by a pattern of diversified synergy. From an overall scale perspective, SAIC delivered 339,000 units in July alone, continuing the growth rhythm of the first half of the year, with independent, new energy, and overseas three business sectors releasing incremental growth simultaneously, and the operational structure continuously optimizing.

Obviously, independent brands have become the core support for group growth. From January to July this year, independent brand cumulative sales reached 1.725 million units, rising to 72.4% of the group's total sales, achieving seven consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth. Additionally, in sub-sectors, SAIC Passenger Vehicle growth performance was outstanding, with sales increasing 53.4% year-on-year from January to July, while SAIC-GM Wuling stably maintained a monthly sales scale of over 100,000 units, and SAIC Maxus simultaneously maintained a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 30%, with the pattern of independent brands blooming at multiple points gradually taking shape.

In addition, the new energy business formed a pattern of independent and joint venture double-line acceleration. Official data shows, from January to July, SAIC's full-series new energy models cumulative sales reached 973,000 units, up 27.4% year-on-year, with growth rate higher than the industry average. Among them, IM Motors and SAIC Passenger Vehicle new energy sectors showed significant growth, while Wuling and MG multiple models maintained stable delivery. SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM new energy products simultaneously increased volume, and joint venture new cars such as Audi E7X, ID.ERA 9X, etc., quickly entered the sub-segment mainstream interval after listing.

Comprehensive view, the pattern of diversified sectors collaborative growth means SAIC's scale base no longer relies on a single category support, and the stability of growth and anti-cycle ability are further improved.

Technology rights equality lands, product matrix fully iterated

To be honest, achieving such results in 2026 is not easy for any car company, and the underlying power supporting sales structure optimization is the continuous new product launch and large-scale landing of cutting-edge technologies throughout the year, and also the product system covering the full price band that SAIC built around 'technology rights equality'.

Since the 2026 Beijing Auto Show launched the new product cycle, SAIC has cumulatively launched more than twenty smart-electric models, covering the 50,000 to 500,000 price range, while laying out pure electric, extended range, and plug-in hybrid all technical routes. Previously hard technologies such as semi-solid-state batteries, steer-by-wire, and AI-native architectures, which were stuck in the R&D stage, have gradually achieved mass production and installation.

Among them, the IM LS9 Hyper launched in July, as the group's 100 million vehicle milestone model, has become China's first mass-produced vehicle to land the steer-by-wire national standard, bringing high-end digital chassis technology into the 300,000 level market.

Of course, SAIC's cutting-edge technology is not limited to high-end models, price inclusiveness also became a core feature of product iteration.

For example, in the entry market, the 60,000-level Roewe i6 comes standard with the Qualcomm 8155 chip and Doubao Large Model, and the 90,000-level MG4X all series carries semi-solid-state batteries. In addition, the 120,000-level MG 07 downgrades the 800V high-voltage fast charging platform, and the 150,000-level Shangjie, Wuling Huajing S all series carries high-level intelligent driving solutions, allowing users of different consumption levels to access mainstream intelligent configuration.

In addition, multi-brand stratification and positioning also allowed SAIC to form complete mobility scenario coverage: Wuling focuses on entry-level commuting, Roewe focuses on the home market, MG targets young consumer groups, IM Motors, and Cadillac layout high-end tracks, Maxus covers commercial mobility needs. At the same time, SAIC completed deep strategic cooperation with Huawei Qiankun and Audi, relying on external technology synergy to make up for product capabilities. After multiple new car listings, order data remained stable, reflecting market acceptance of the technology inclusiveness route.

It should be said that continuous new product launches and technology downscaling have allowed SAIC's product competitiveness to transform from single model blockbusters to balanced output of the full matrix.

Value chain going out, globalization strategy advancement

We also see, while SAIC completed structural upgrades in the domestic market, relying on Glocal 3.0 strategy, SAIC constantly pushes overseas business transformation from product export to full value chain going out, and the development logic of overseas markets has changed essentially.

Official data shows, as of the first half of 2026, SAIC overseas cumulative vehicle sales exceeded 7 million units, business coverage 170+ countries worldwide, forming one 300,000-level core market in Europe and 5 50,000-level regional markets including Americas, ASEAN, etc., the group set 2026 European market 400,000 units annual sales target.

And SAIC's overseas operation core is also rapidly shifting from product output to technology output.

For example, in July MG held a technology conference in London, centrally displaying 'Hybrid+ hybrid technology', 'SolidCore solid/semi-solid battery technology', 'i-SMART intelligent driving technology' three global unified technology labels. In addition, simultaneously appearing Goodwood Festival of Speed released two-door pure electric small car MG Go! and sedan SUV Cyber Concept two concept cars, all became new business cards displaying Chinese smart manufacturing to the whole world.

Of course, SAIC's 'going out' has never been simple product and technology export, but it is 'going in' where beauty is shared, going into local manufacturing, supply chain, service industry and all aspects.

SAIC's local supporting system is further improving. Currently, SAIC has set up three R&D centers abroad, multiple vehicle KD factories and over forty self-owned ocean ro-ro ships, established direct sales companies in Belgium, Luxembourg, Thailand, Central Asia landing local production and exclusive service standards, commercial vehicle sector synchronously achieved Southeast Asia new energy heavy truck batch delivery.

For SAIC, overseas business does not only pursue sales scale expansion, but through technology, manufacturing, service standards synchronous output, build a sustainable localized operation system, providing a referenceable development path for domestic car enterprises globalization.

Car Cloud Summary

Overall, 2.384 million units cumulative sales, is the intuitive embodiment of SAIC industry accumulation, at the same time also its three development leaps together constitute enterprise high-quality development main line.

It can be said, SAIC has preliminarily completed independent and new energy diverse momentum switching. And at product end, it connected full price band mobility needs with technology rights equality, overseas business also achieved upgrade from selling cars to outputting technology standards.

In addition, relying on technology synergy of industrial investment enterprises such as Momenta, CXMT Technology, etc., SAIC synchronously responds to '15th Five-Year Plan' new quality productive force development requirements, with whole vehicle chain host identity connecting chips, AI, energy storage and other cutting-edge tracks.

In the second half of the year, Roewe Jiayue 07, MG 07 and other new products will be launched in succession, collaborating with overseas localized capacity continuous landing, this set of development model balancing scale and quality, may continue to release growth potential, truly providing reference for domestic automotive industry transformation.