SAIC, with its "falling" voice, can only count on Zhiji Automobile?

Among the large domestic automobile groups, SAIC has been among the best in terms of popularity and sales volume for a long time.

According to public information, SAIC was founded in 1984 and has been in existence for 40 years. It has a number of joint venture car companies including SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling. At the same time, there are Roewe, MG, Datong and Zhiji, which are independent automobile brands.

As early as 2006, with the hot sales of SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM, the annual sales volume of SAIC has exceeded 1.22 million, becoming the sales champion of domestic car companies.

Since then, SAIC has been firmly on the throne of the sales champion of domestic car companies for 18 consecutive years.

In 2023, although the sales volume of SAIC decreased by 5.31% year-on-year, the annual cumulative sales volume still reached 5.02 million, although it successfully defended the sales champion of car companies. However, by 2023, the overall sales volume of SAIC has declined for five consecutive years.

At the same time, SAIC has not been able to successfully complete its annual sales target for six consecutive years.

In other words, SAIC, which is still strong on the surface, is actually not optimistic.

Just recently, SAIC officially released the production and sales data for September. Among them, the output was 337,000 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 24.33%. The sales volume was 313,000 vehicles, down 35.03% year-on-year.

In terms of brand, SAIC Volkswagen (including SAIC Audi and Skoda) sold 94,000 vehicles in September, down 21.67% year-on-year; SAIC-GM (including Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet) sold 22,000 vehicles in September, a year-on-year decrease of 77.95%.

Relatively speaking, the market performance of SAIC-GM-Wuling in September was better, with 111,000 vehicles sold, down 18.52% year-on-year.

It should be noted that SAIC-GM-Wuling is also the only brand under the SAIC Group whose sales volume exceeded 100,000 vehicles in September.

After talking about the joint venture brand, let’s look at SAIC’s own automobile brand.

SAIC passenger cars (including Roewe and MG) sold 54,000 vehicles in September, down 41.12% year-on-year; SAIC Chase sold 15,000 vehicles in September, down 20.15% year-on-year.

The new energy brand Zhiji Automobile, although the sales volume is only 0.63 million, the year-on-year growth rate is as high as 246.98%. It was the only automobile brand that grew year-on-year among the brands of SAIC in September.

So, SAIC, the sales champion of domestic car companies for many years in a row, will pin all its hopes on Zhiji Automobile in the future?

In the car quick review, it’s not that simple.

Although on the surface, Zhiji Automobile is really remarkable among all brands of SAIC. However, looking at the domestic auto market, among all the new car-making forces, the sales of Zhiji Auto are actually in the last echelon.

Similarly, taking the sales data in September as an example, the sales volume of Zhiji automobile, which has a double growth in the same period of last month, is far less than that of Ideal, Boundary and Zero Run. These three new car-making forces all sold more than 30,000 vehicles in September. The gap can’t be said to be a world apart, but it is really a bit big.

To sum up, SAIC, whose sales volume dropped in September, has to focus on Volkswagen, GM, Wuling and Roewe if it wants to maintain its position as the champion of car sales.

As for Zhiji automobile, it will take a long time to grow.