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Official Site: SAICmotor.com
Wikipedia: SAIC Motor Page Sections History Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's SAIC Motor page on 13 August 2020, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (SAIC, formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is a Chinese state-owned automotive design and manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai, with multinational operations. A Fortune Global 100 company and one of the "Big Four" state-owned Chinese automakers (along with Changan Automobile, FAW Group, and Dongfeng Motor Corporation), the company had the largest production volume of any Chinese automaker in 2014 making more than 4.5 million vehicles. Its manufacturing mix is not wholly consumer offerings, however, with as many as one million SAIC passenger vehicles being commercial vans.
SAIC traces its origins to the early years of the Chinese automobile industry in the 1940s, and SAIC was one of the few carmakers in Mao's China, making the Shanghai SH760. Currently, it participates in the oldest surviving sino-foreign car making joint venture, with Volkswagen, and in addition has had a joint venture with General Motors since 1998. SAIC products sell under a variety of brand names, including those of its joint venture partners. Two notable brands owned by SAIC itself are MG, a historic British car marque, and Roewe, one of the few domestic Chinese luxury car brands.
Origins to 2000
Although it has a long history, originating from an automobile assembly factory established in Shanghai sometime around World War II, SAIC, unlike domestic rivals FAW Group and Dongfeng Motors, has only recently attained a position of prominence in the Chinese vehicle industry. A small company in the 1970s, SAIC owes its rise to more than an increase in domestic demand for passenger vehicles. A cooperative agreement made with Volkswagen in 1984 followed by the formal establishment of Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co Ltd in March 1985 allowed it to produce competitive cars with foreign technology. Early success at SAIC may also be a result of guidance provided by local Shanghai authorities; at one time SAIC was simply an extension of the Shanghai Municipal government. For these two reasons and more, SAIC grew swiftly. In the 11 years leading to 1996, annual production capacity increased ten-fold to 300,000 units/year, and the company established itself as one of the leading Chinese automakers.
During this period, SAIC effectively built an entire modern automotive component supply chain in Shanghai from scratch, and the number and quality of locally produced auto parts rose significantly. Cars that were previously assembled in China from knock-down kits provisioned by Volkswagen became products built from parts produced in Shanghai, and between 1990 and 1996 the city more than doubled its contribution to the national output of automotive components. In 1987, the only local parts used in one car, the Volkswagen Santana, were tires, radio, and antenna, but by 1998 over 90% of the components used in its manufacture were locally sourced. A goal set by the Shanghai Municipal government, creation of a local parts industry is an example of the influence that the local government has had on the development of SAIC.
In June 1997, SAIC formed a second major joint venture, Shanghai General Motors Co Ltd, with General Motors. The new joint venture began operations in 1998, and helped to drive a doubling in SAIC's vehicle production between 2000 and 2004. Initially partnering with foreign automakers, creating joint ventures with component suppliers, such as the American Visteon, may now help underpin SAIC success.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 12 February 2004 | Behr Forms Second Joint Venture in China | Behr GmbH & Co. KG |
| 28 October 2004 | Chinese Firm Purchases Majority Stake in South Korean Automaker | Voice of America |
| 7 April 2005 | Konkurs bei britischem Autohersteller  | Wikinews |
| 22 July 2005 | Chinesisches Unternehmen Nanjing übernimmt Rover | Wikinews |
| 15 November 2010 | Chinese Automaker Seeking Stake in GM | VOA Breaking News |
| 28 February 2011 | US-Chinese Joint Venture Recalls 233,000 Cars | VOA Breaking News |
| 26 May 2016 | Aimetis Symphony™ Provides SAIC-General Motors with a Stable, Scalable, and High Performance IP Surveillance System | Aimetis Corp. |