Tencent News "High Beam"
Author Aodun
Editor Yang Hao
As China's largest automobile group, SAIC Motor ushered in a new management this month - Wang Xiaoqiu as chairman and Jia Jianxu as president. This change has triggered widespread concern in the industry about its future strategic direction.
On July 29, SAIC held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. Chairman Wang Xiaoqiu was unable to attend the meeting due to important official duties. New President Jia Jianxu made his debut. The shareholders' meeting reviewed the proposal to by-elect the company's directors. The SAIC Board of Directors nominated Jia Jianxu for the by-election as a director of the company's eighth board of directors, with a term consistent with the term of the current board of directors.
During this shareholder meeting, SAIC did not disclose the details of its longer-term strategic plan. However, as the new management made its first public announcement, Jia Jianxu continued his "young and strong" outspoken style and answered candidly about the performance in the second half of the year. Market-level concerns such as goals, new products, reform measures and globalization strategies.
Grasp the core technology and "get out of the embarrassing period of transformation as soon as possible"
In the first half of 2024, the Chinese auto market has experienced the most "volume" half a year. From price to product, major brands have launched all-round fierce competition. In the first half of the year, SAIC Group achieved cumulative sales of 1.827 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 11.81%. Among them, the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles were 461,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 23.9%.
"SAIC Group's various segments will definitely seize opportunities and strive to increase market share." Talking about market expectations and plans for the second half of the year, Jia Jianxu analyzed that from the perspective of the overall market, the market in the second half of the year will definitely be larger than the first half. Based on core technologies such as DMH super hybrid and solid-state batteries, SAIC Motor will develop its efforts in the three tracks of fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.
In terms of technology research and development and products, Jia Jianxu revealed that SAIC has launched a 500-day production plan for all-solid-state batteries. In May this year, SAIC Group announced that its all-solid-state batteries are based on the polymer-inorganic composite electrolyte technology route and will be mass-produced in 2026. The energy density will be higher, exceeding 400wh/kg, and the volumetric energy density will exceed 820wh/l. The battery capacity can exceed 75ah.
Talking about transformation and reform measures, Jia Jianxu said that SAIC Group’s vertical integration is very deep, including parts, finance and other businesses. Today, many companies are copying SAIC’s business model. This depth also brings challenges to transformation. .
"SAIC will not take the initiative to enter the price war, but it must face the price war and provide consumers with better cost-effective products." In Jia Jianxu's view, the price war in the first half of the year is ultimately a challenge to SAIC's deep integration business, "If there is no depth, there will be no such space; we must not only meet the shareholders' requirements for us to increase profits, but also meet the cost-effectiveness requirements of consumers."
According to official disclosure, in the past ten years, SAIC has invested nearly 150 billion yuan in R&D and has obtained more than 26,000 valid patents. In Jia Jianxu's view, the fundamental of transformation is to get out of the awkward period of transformation as soon as possible and to introduce marketable products to every market as soon as possible. "Each continent has different solutions, because each country and each region has different energy strategies, different population structures, and different personnel needs. We must provide them with marketable products."
It is worth noting that SAIC is the first domestic car company to launch joint venture and cooperation projects. In the first half of this year, SAIC and its partners launched a number of joint venture and cooperation technology co-creation projects, moving from the "technology introduction" stage to the "technology co-creation" stage. For example, on May 20, SAIC and Audi signed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop a number of high-end smart electric new cars for SAIC Audi and jointly develop an advanced digitized platform intelligent digital platform; on June 27, SAIC and Volkswagen signed a new product technology cooperation agreement , jointly developed 3 plug-in hybrid models and 2 pure electric models.
"When I left SAIC Volkswagen, I signed three technical cooperation agreements. The results will be gradually reflected from 2025, and new products will be launched soon." Jia Jianxu said that in the process of joint venture cooperation, foreign parties used to bring technology. Bring good products into the Chinese market; the next step is for both China and foreign parties to jointly empower the joint venture with technology and provide the best products to our consumers in the Chinese market. Because Chinese consumers' demand for cars, including their demand for car power solutions, has undergone great changes and is very different from overseas. "It used to be that from a foreign perspective, global models would sell well in China, but now great changes have taken place."
Jia Jianxu said that in the future, SAIC's DMH technology, solid-state battery technology and even autonomous driving technology will be implemented in European brand cars and sold in the Chinese market. "In fact, this is a big thing for us at SAIC."
Although he did not disclose the second half of the year and long-term financial goals, Jia Jianxu said that he has an account in mind and must convert the words and strategies he said today into numbers as soon as possible. "I have always talked about three 'methods': first, you must have ideas. People must have ideas to live in this world; second, they must have methods; third, they must have methods." In Jia Jianxu's view, only ideas are the key to success. In the sky, only the methods have not yet been implemented, and there must be methods. "Only can we turn the strategies and everything we say into reality. This is too important to us."
"Entering urban warfare and street fighting", accelerating the construction of factories in Europe
Overseas markets are a key battlefield for SAIC. In the first half of this year, SAIC's overseas market terminal delivery volume reached 554,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 13.9%. In Europe, SAIC MG has successfully surpassed Tesla and entered the top 20 brand sales.
However, on July 4, the European Commission officially announced the results of the preliminary anti-subsidy ruling, announcing that SAIC’s countervailing duty rate was 37.6%. Adding the current 10% tariff on imported cars, the total tariff on SAIC Group will be as high as 47.6%.
In response to the above measures, SAIC has made several rounds of defense. On July 22, SAIC Motor announced that on July 19, at the request of SAIC, the European Commission held a special hearing on anti-subsidy investigations at the EU headquarters in Brussels. SAIC submitted its countervailing preliminary ruling defense opinions to the European Commission and actively defended the own legitimate rights and interests. SAIC said it expects the European Commission to make a final ruling on November 2.
Regarding the current situation of the European market, Jia Jianxu said that the current popularity of mg3 HEV models exceeds imagination. "According to market research, European consumers are very enthusiastic about HEVs. SAIC's HEV products will be in short supply. In the short term, there may be production capacity problems. Some orders It won't be delivered until the first quarter of next year."
At the annual shareholders' meeting at the end of June this year, Wang Xiaoqiu said that this time's countervailing tariffs had an adverse impact on SAIC's electric vehicle exports to Europe. "However, you can look at the electrification ratio across Europe, ranging from 90% in Norway to 2%-3% in some southern European countries. Northern Europe has a high electrification ratio, but there are still a large number of gasoline vehicles in southern Europe. This year, mg3 hev will be in Europe The advantage of this car is that it has low fuel consumption and low emissions, and it will enter the European A-class car market. Other models of mg will also be launched within the year. "
Jia Jianxu said that Japanese cars are the best in HEV. However, the technical performance of our upcoming HEV models in Europe has surpassed those of our competitors. "We are not only targeting the oil-hybrid market, but also the European plug-in hybrid market at the top, and the European fuel vehicles at the bottom. Only in this way can we truly expand our market."
SAIC Group previously said that in the future We will optimize the global production and sales layout, including the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other markets, to balance possible fluctuations in the EU market. Jia Jianxu said that SAIC is accelerating the speed of selecting sites and building factories in Europe, and will soon come up with a global layout strategy. Globalization is what SAIC will unswervingly do.
"There is no choice. Since SAIC has gone out and landed on the beach, what we have to experience is no longer a landing battle. We have to enter urban warfare and street fighting." Jia Jianxu said, "We have to use the best products to give us Bringing the best driving experience to all consumers around the world.”
Jia Jianxu revealed that SAIC will gradually announce specific measures in the second half of this year. "We must make changes, and I think SAIC has basically come out of the embarrassing period of transformation. This is very important to us."
