5 Minutes
By the end of May, SAIC Motor is expected to cross a line no other Chinese carmaker has reached before: 100 million vehicles delivered worldwide. That number is more than a corporate trophy. It is a marker for how far China’s auto industry has come, and how one company helped push it from local manufacturing roots to global scale.
SAIC’s story stretches back to 1955, when its origins were tied to auto parts production rather than the sprawling automotive empire it is today. Decades later, in 1983, the company played a defining role in China’s modern car industry by pioneering joint venture cooperation. That was the year the first locally built Volkswagen Santana rolled off the line, a moment that still carries weight in the history of Chinese passenger cars.
Since then, SAIC has grown into one of the biggest automotive groups in China, and increasingly, far beyond it. Its international push began in earnest in 2001 with its first passenger car export. Today, the company says its vehicles and services reach more than 170 countries, while cumulative overseas deliveries have moved past 7 million units.
That expansion has not happened by accident. SAIC now runs more than 100 overseas auto parts production bases and works through a dealer network of over 3,000 outlets. It has also built what it describes as China’s leading self operated vehicle logistics fleet, a less glamorous piece of the business, perhaps, but one that often decides how efficiently a carmaker can scale across borders.
The global footprint is backed by engineering and manufacturing muscle. SAIC has established three major research and innovation centres, including one in London, and operates four manufacturing hubs in Thailand, Indonesia, India and Pakistan. In practical terms, that gives the company a stronger local presence in key growth markets while reducing its dependence on shipping finished vehicles from China alone.
The next chapter will not write itself
This year, SAIC has begun talking more openly about its so called Glocal Strategy, launched for overseas markets in 2025. The idea is familiar but important: combine global scale with local adaptation. In plain English, that means building cars and technologies that can travel well, while tailoring products to what buyers in different regions actually want, need and can afford.
A big part of that plan is a new overseas product offensive covering multiple vehicle segments. SAIC is also betting that its latest hybrid powertrain system can give it a broader appeal in mainstream markets, especially in places where full EV adoption is still moving unevenly. That matters, because the global car market is no longer split neatly between petrol and electric. For many brands, hybrids have become the bridge customers are willing to cross.
Still, milestones can glow even as the numbers underneath them turn less comfortable. SAIC’s sales performance in 2025 has been soft. From January to April, the group sold 1,301,589 vehicles, down 1.50 percent from the same period a year earlier. April alone looked weaker, with total sales falling 12.66 percent year on year to 328,841 units.
The sharpest drop came from SAIC Volkswagen. Its April sales slid 51.53 percent to 40,000 vehicles, a striking decline for a joint venture that once stood as one of the pillars of the company’s volume story. It is the kind of figure that changes the mood around a milestone. Yes, 100 million deliveries is historic. But it also arrives at a moment when SAIC is being forced to rethink where its next wave of growth will come from.
And that is what makes this moment more interesting than a simple celebration. SAIC is not just closing a chapter. It is standing between two eras: one built on scale, partnerships and domestic dominance, and another defined by hybrid technology, overseas localisation and fiercer competition than ever. Reaching 100 million vehicles is huge. Holding relevance in the next 100 million may prove even harder.
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