Reading guide: No accumulation of steps, no thousands of miles.
Text Pan Yuchen Editor Zhang Guangkai) In the past 2023, SAIC has sold a total of 502 cars090,000 units, ranking first in China's automobile sales for 18 consecutive years; Among them, the sales volume in December last year was 63700,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1875%, following November, once again set a new monthly high for last year.
But what many people don't know is that SAIC is also the leader in domestic auto exports, and has ranked first in the export sales of Chinese automakers for eight consecutive years.
In 2023, SAIC Group's export sales will be 120820,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 1875%, exceeding the annual export target of 1.2 million units. Among them, SAIC's own brand sales accounted for nearly 92%, and new energy vehicle sales accounted for nearly 24%.
In the two major fields of new energy vehicles and overseas business, SAIC Motor took the lead in 2022 to stand on the "double million" level, and then hit a record high in 2023.
In 2023, China's total automobile exports will reach 4.91 million units, a year-on-year increase of 579%。In other words, one out of every four Chinese cars sold overseas last year was produced by SAIC. As a result, SAIC Motor has become the main promoter of China's automobile exports surpassing Japan and leaping to the first place in the world.
In 2019, Yu De, then general manager of SAIC International Commerce, said that he hoped to reach 1 million exports by 2025. Now, SAIC has exceeded this target by two years ahead of schedule.
The China Association expects that China's automobile exports will reach 5.5 million units in 2024. According to Zhao Aimin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of SAIC International, SAIC's export target for 2024 is 1.35 million units, and the target will exceed 1.5 million units in 2025, accounting for more than 20% of sales in overseas markets, gradually becoming a global automobile company.
Export champion for eight consecutive years, why SAIC?
Global car" shines.
No accumulation of steps, no thousands of miles.
SAIC's history of going overseas can be traced back to 2008. However, in the early years, China's domestic auto market was still in its infancy, and Made in China had not yet become a boost to brand value, so it was difficult to establish a brand image overseas that was closer to the hearts of local consumers and their needs.
As the earliest and largest automaker in China, SAIC Motor has long been aware of this problem. Among them, the century-old brand MG became the decisive force for SAIC to expand its overseas scale.
Founded in 1924, the MG brand has left countless glorious legends in the field of sports cars. In 2007, after the completion of the overall acquisition of the Nanqi Group, the British brand with a history of 100 years was also incorporated into the SAIC system.
Next, while making steady progress in China, SAIC Motor has gradually gained insight into the diversified needs of overseas consumers with the help of MG's historical origins. In September 2019, the first batch of 500 MG EZS pure electric SUVs was exported to Europe, and it quickly became the fastest growing model in its hometown of the United Kingdom.
In 2022, MG launched its first "global car", the MG4 EV. In 2023, the MG brand will sell more than 840,000 units globally, accounting for 70% of SAIC's total overseas exports, becoming the single-brand export champion of Chinese automobiles for the fifth consecutive year, and ranking among the top 10 single-brand in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, India and other countries.
Thanks to the success of models such as the MG4 EV, the MG brand made a major breakthrough in the developed market last year, with a total of nearly 380,000 units sold in 16 developed countries including Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Developed countries account for more than 50% of total exports, making Europe SAIC's first "200,000-unit" overseas market.
As a result, SAIC MG has created a top-ranked quality of Chinese car companies going overseas, representing the first time that Chinese automobiles have gained a firm foothold in the developed country market.
MG's success in the developed world is due to its innate advantages as a British brand, but it mainly relies on the product strength of the models themselves.
As a pioneer in the European market, the MG4 EV is equipped with SAIC's self-developed "Nebula" pure electric exclusive system platform, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving and other innovative technologies. In terms of safety, the MG4 EV received a five-star score in the E-NCAP crash test, proving to European users the quality of Made in China. Based on this, the MG4 EV has won the Car of the Year Award in the UK, France, and Germany, which is the first time for a Chinese automaker.
In addition, the new generation of models such as the MG Cyberster, MG4 EV, and MG7 has laid the foundation for the next phase of the MG brand's global strategy. For example, the MG Cyberster, the first Chinese brand production car to make its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, won the F1 championship team chassis tuning and 3The 000 acceleration of 2S, once released, will trigger praise from major overseas authorities.
2024 coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the MG brand, and SAIC said that MG will sprint to the global annual sales target of 1 million vehicles. Based on models such as the MG4 EV, SAIC Motor will launch a total of 14 new "global vehicles" overseas by 2025, covering all major market segments.
Self-operated fleet escort.
As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved, and the ancients marched and fought, and the transportation of baggage and logistics have always been the top priority.
Shopping malls are like battlefields. In recent years, there has even been congestion at overseas terminals due to the significant increase in China's car exports. According to Jin Qi, general manager of SAIC Anji Logistics, Mexico has been stranded for more than 40 days in the near future, and up to 65 days.
Bank of China** data shows that as of the end of 2022, the number of car ships in the world is 757, with an average annual increase of less than 10 ships, although new ship orders have increased in the last 2 years, but considering the delivery time of about 2 years, it is expected that the overall supply of car ships will remain tight in the next 1-2 years.
It is precisely because of "more monks and less porridge" that the cost of automobile shipping is also continuing**. Clarkson data shows that in January 2023, the freight rate of a 6,500-space ro-ro ship will be 110,000 US dollars (about 790,000 yuan) days, a year-on-year increase of 1857%, more than 6 times from the 2020 low**.
In addition, the cost of sea freight is also subject to various uncertain risks, including shipping safety. For example, since the beginning of this year, the Red Sea crisis extended by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has directly pushed up the cost of shipping. Jin Qi said that the distance of the Red Sea route was originally 12,500 nautical miles, but the detour of the Cape of Good Hope was increased to 19,000 nautical miles, and the time was extended from 40 days to 60 days, and the cost would increase by 50 percent.
Therefore, despite the challenges of safety, cost, and investment cycle, major Chinese auto exporters, including SAIC, have set their sights on their own fleets as the scale of overseas transportation has expanded.
On January 17, SAIC Anji Shencheng, the first ocean-going car carrier (ro-ro ship) commissioned by SAIC to be built by China State Shipbuilding Group, started its maiden voyage. As the world's largest and most localized clean energy ro-ro ship, the "SAIC Anji Shencheng" will be the first batch of new cars carrying SAIC, Dongfeng and Yutong to Europe.
The "SAIC Anji Shencheng" is 200 meters long, 38 meters wide, 13 floors high, has 7,600 parking spaces, has a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, and uses LNG dual-fuel clean power, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30%, and has an annual transportation capacity of about 30,000 vehicles.
Anji Logistics, a subsidiary of SAIC Motor, is the world's largest automotive logistics company, taking the lead in creating a multimodal transportation mode of road, rail and water, covering nearly 600 cities in China and more than 100 countries overseas, with an annual shipment volume of 10 million vehicles.
At present, Anji Logistics has 31 automobile ships of various types, has built China's largest automobile enterprise self-operated fleet, and opened 7 international self-operated routes in Southeast Asia, Mexico, West South America, Europe, etc.
In the next three years, a total of 14 ocean-going carriers will join SAIC Anji Logistics' ocean-going fleet to support China's own brands to accelerate their cross-sea expansion. In the second half of this year, the second 7,600-space ro-ro ship will also be delivered.
Zhao Aimin said that in the face of the rapid growth of automobile exports, enterprises must predict the demand for ship capacity in advance. In the past two years, SAIC has invested more than 10 billion yuan in ro-ro ships, based on its confidence in the growth of China's auto exports.
Jin Qi is **, car ro-ro ships in the next 2-3 years to keep up with the demand for exports, the current fleet transport market price of an average of 10,000 yuan car, this year will reduce costs as an important indicator, in order to ensure the stability of the chain at the same time enhance cost competitiveness.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to meeting its own automobile export needs, SAIC Anji Logistics is also providing ocean vehicle logistics services for many Chinese car companies such as Dongfeng, Yutong and Great Wall.
Zhao Aimin said that from port terminals to first-chain procurement, if Chinese car companies can cooperate together, they can achieve more cost advantages.
Jin Qi also said that in the future, SAIC will also use the first-mover advantage to build an overseas platform, and open up the road to overseas with domestic export car companies, so as to provide valuable and safe logistics solutions for the future export of Chinese automobiles led by new energy vehicles.
According to Zhang Xiang, director of the International Cooperation and Research Center for Vodaf Digital Vehicles, in addition to the lack of ship capacity, the current automobile transportation is also related to the fact that some ships are not professional automobile transport ships, which may lead to the loss of cars in the transportation process. Therefore, it is a good thing that SAIC Motor is the first to operate professional car carriers, which will promote more car companies to invest in automobile shipping in the future, accelerate the process of Chinese cars going overseas, shorten the sea transportation time and delivery cycle, and enhance their competitiveness in overseas markets.
Extend the whole industry chain overseas.
In addition to the export of locally produced automobiles, SAIC is also actively developing the layout of the whole industrial chain of overseas business, so that it is better to teach people to fish than to teach them to fish.
The model of Chinese automakers investing directly in overseas markets has been recognized by some industry insiders. Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Automobile Association, believes that there will be major changes in the global automotive chain in the future, and with the gradual growth of China's automobile exports, it is necessary to accelerate the layout of relevant industrial chains and supporting facilities in key overseas markets. After 2030, China's overseas auto exports may be dominated by overseas production through direct investment.
As the leading company in China, SAIC is one of the few automobile companies in China that has a layout in the entire industry chain, providing a solid soil for the foundation of its overseas business.
At present, SAIC has built the entire value chain of the automotive industry overseas, including innovation R&D centers, production bases, marketing centers, first-chain centers and financial companies, and its products and services have entered more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
Among them, Southeast Asia and South Asia are the key markets for SAIC's overseas business development. Since 2013, SAIC has built production bases in Thailand, Indonesia and India. In the past 2023, SAIC CP Thailand, SAIC-GM-Wuling Motors Indonesia, and MG Motor India*** have all sold more than 20,000 vehicles. Among them, as the first Chinese car company to invest in India, MG India had a cumulative sales volume of more than 6 last year20,000 units, up nearly 30% year-on-year.
At the same time, SAIC Motor has started the site selection of its European vehicle manufacturing base, and strives to achieve local manufacturing, local sales and local service.
In addition, SAIC Motor is also increasing the international layout of parts in the upstream of the industrial chain, SAIC's parts group Huayu Automobile also has more than 100 bases overseas, and SAIC Anji has overseas logistics companies in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, and the international service network covers more than 80 countries.
At the same time, SAIC has three overseas R&D bases in London, Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. Its more than 2,800 marketing service outlets cover Europe, South America, the Middle East, North Africa, Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN markets; In addition, the company established its first overseas financial services company in Indonesia, which forms the foundation of SAIC's global system capabilities together with its vehicle parts production base.
The construction of the "global car" and "self-operated ship" and the entire overseas industry chain have created SAIC's record high performance of automobiles going overseas. Based on this, in 2023, SAIC Motor will be ranked among the Fortune Global 500 for the 19th time, ranking 84th in the overall list, 9th among car companies, and 1st among Chinese car companies, consolidating its global influence as China's largest automaker.
In 2024, relying on the strength of the globalization system, SAIC Motor said that it will continue to focus on the two major tracks of "globalization" and "value" to play a greater role in the rise of China's auto industry. Zhao Aimin said that by expanding the export business of automobiles, the global trend of Made in China is improving, relying on the advantages of Made in China and the accumulation of electrification and intelligence in China's automobile industry, Chinese car companies will surely occupy a place in the global automobile market.