With the end of the Spring Festival holiday in the Year of the Dragon, the competition in the domestic auto market started instantaneously. Some large new energy manufacturers took the lead in "turning their faces and lifting the table", and at the beginning of the year, they threw out the "king bomb" and fired the first "gun" of the involution war. This "gun" seems to have set the tone for this year's auto market, many manufacturers have begun to follow up with an "involution" war for the sake of beautiful sales, and this year may become the most volatile year in the history of China's auto market. However, in such an involuted and competitive year 2024, a mainstream joint venture car company has ushered in a good start to the Year of the Dragon.
In January 2024, SAIC-GM and its three brands delivered a total of 72,803 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 538%。Among them, the number of new energy vehicles increased the most, reaching a total of 7,033 units, a year-on-year increase of 4622%。It is worth affirming that while the mainstream joint venture car companies are steadily grasping the fuel vehicle market, they are also strong and steady new energy highlands.
At the same time, this series of data just illustrates SAIC-GM's keen insight into the Chinese market and the diversified needs of consumers. It is also the best verification of the words of Bai Li, president of General Motors China, to bring the best products, the best technology and the best service to the Chinese market.
Becoming one of the leading luxury mid-size car groups, the CT5 has sprung up.
At a time when peers and friends are fighting sales, SAIC-GM has handed over a report card with real gold content, which is enough to show the confidence and stamina of traditional joint venture manufacturers. In the field of fuel vehicles, SAIC-GM has made efforts to increase its efforts in the mid-to-high-end model market by deeply cultivating the market segment, in order to break through the barriers of traditional luxury car BBA dominating the screen for a long time. This is due to the Cadillac brand.
If you want to talk about the contribution behind SAIC-GM's year-on-year growth, the Cadillac brand is definitely one of the trump cards. The new CT5 has become the absolute focus. Since the launch of this model, it has achieved a good performance of selling more than 10,000 units for three consecutive months from October to December 2023, not only ranking first in the sales of luxury mid-size sedans in 74 cities in 10 provinces, but also setting a new quality benchmark for the Cadillac brand.
In January 2024, the number of vehicles insured for the Cadillac CT5 alone reached 9,860 units, a year-on-year increase of 240%, which is evident in the recognition of this model by consumers and the success of SAIC-GM's decision-making in the strategic transformation of the market. With the continuous hot sales of the Cadillac CT5, SAIC-GM has begun to become one of the leading groups of first-tier luxury mid-size sedans, and the new ABBC pattern may be directly finalized.
The Buick brand is making steady progress, and GL8 continues to lead the segment.
As one of the three major brands, Buick's sales growth rate is significant. Its Buick GL8 and Buick Century have shown strong competitiveness and are firmly in the leading position in their respective points markets. The Buick GL8, for example, was sold in January with 8,469 units. Continued to lead the sales list of large MPVs. Buick Century has also achieved good performance in the field of 500,000-level luxury cars, with 1,790 units on the market in January, ranking firmly in the first-line camp of the luxury MPV market of more than 500,000 units.
Buick Regal sold 7,006 units in January, up 23% month-on-month8%, an increase of 86 percent year-on-year6%, LaCrosse was insured in January with 3,226 units, an increase of 116%, a year-on-year increase of 154%, these two cars are at the forefront of the mid-to-high-end sedan market.
Envision Plus sold 4,741 units in January, up 4% month-on-month4%, a year-on-year increase of 607%, Envision S sold 3,334 units in January, up 117%, a year-on-year increase of 786%。In general, the performance of LaCrosse, Regal, Envision PLUS, and Envision S under the Buick brand is also quite bright, and all of them have achieved year-on-year and month-on-month growth.
In line with the direction of the times, SAIC-GM has increased its electrification and intelligence.
By 2025, SAIC-GM will also invest 70 billion yuan in R&D in the field of new technologies for electrification and intelligent networking. It will successively launch 12 new energy models, including the Autoneng pure electric model and the new generation PHEV plug-in hybrid model. As a major joint venture manufacturer with the most advanced new energy technology and the most abundant reserves, SAIC-GM is about to launch the "strongest plug-in hybrid technology in the joint venture", which will truly achieve "consistent performance under all working conditions" in the industry, realize power shortage, and bring customers the true performance experience in the broadest and most demanding scenarios.
It is worth looking forward to the new PHEV SUV that will be launched by the Chevrolet brand of SAIC-GM, which has the reputation of "the strongest plug-in hybrid SUV in the joint venture". The new car will give users a new experience of using the car in terms of acceleration performance, pure electric range, fuel consumption level and other technical indicators. This car not only further sharpens the brand image of Chevrolet, but also brings greater growth momentum to the brand and injects new vitality into SAIC-GM.
"Green GL8" is expected to be available. In 2023, with the blowout launch of new energy MPV models, Buick GL8, which has been firmly in the sales crown of China's MPV market for many years, has also begun its transformation, with the launch of the high-profile Buick GL8 PHEV model, Buick GL8 will make up for the "green card camp" and play a complete combination of oil and electricity on the same stage, and its position in the high-end MPV market will also be further consolidated, making it more competitive in the segmented field.
In addition to the launch of the "green card" electrified models, SAIC-GM has made great efforts in the intelligence of vehicles, and when friends are still buying intelligent equipment and general equipment, SAIC-GM has created its own software and digital center to comprehensively promote the integration of intelligent networking. Only by understanding what vehicle intelligence is all about can we provide users with better vehicle intelligence services.
The new generation of VCS intelligent cockpit system will launch an upgraded platform equipped with Snapdragon 8195 chip, and successively launch new functions such as rear seat entertainment and four-tone voice recognition, improving the user's multi-mode interactive experience in an all-round way. AI voice model technology will be deeply applied to business scenarios such as VCS intelligent cockpit. This major upgrade elevates the intelligent experience of traditional gasoline vehicles to the level of electric vehicles. It directly reduces the trouble of consumers when choosing a car and makes the purchase experience to a higher level.
This year, the NOP high-speed pilot assisted driving function will also be introduced, and the Buick Century model will be the first to apply this function, making driving easier and safer. Users will get a more intelligent car life, and the comfort experience of the whole car will be further upgraded.
Write at the end. When the time comes to 2024, with the fierce competition in China's auto market, not only the "delisting wave" of new car-making forces continues, but also some joint venture manufacturers that were once quite mainstream will not escape the market reshuffle. Only manufacturers who actively seek change and adapt to the needs of the times can improve their market "battery life". SAIC-GM is at the forefront of active change, providing insight into market trends and consumer needs in advance, turning pressure into driving force, daring to seek change and self-innovation, and closely linking the requirements of the times with product strategy and R&D. It is indeed worthy of praise to provide the best products, the best technology and the best service to Chinese consumers with practical actions.