Days ago, we reported that SAIC was suffering a sales crisis and that, going forward, the company would be increasingly reliant on the Wuling joint venture. This is a three-way JV, with SAIC having 50.1%, General Motors 44%, and Guangxi Automobile Group (previously Liuzhou Wuling Motors) 5.9%. News emerged on August 22 that will likely help the sales woes of both SAIC and GM, thanks to a 30% increase in sales during the early part of August for the Wuling JV.
According to a CCTV news report, the driver has been the recent doubling of the government cash for clunkers trade-in scheme. The scheme was initially announced in April and runs until the end of the year. Initially, buyers could receive up to a 10,000 yuan (1,400 USD) rebate when trading in a national standard three emissions car or an NEV registered before April 30, 2018, and buying a new NEV. The car traded in would then be scrapped. At the end of July, it was announced that the amount would be doubled up to 20,000 yuan (2,800 USD) and that people who had already participated in the scheme would receive the higher amount./
Accordingly, it’s reported that SAIC GM Wuling saw a sales increase of 30% month-on-month and 25% year-on-year in early August, giving the company a market share of 5.7%. The performance of individual cars was even better, with the Bingo family receiving an 87% month-on-month increase and a 73% year-on-year increase. The Baojun Cloud increased by 57% month-on-month and 97% year-on-year.
Sales have been particularly good in Shandong and Henan provinces, where dealers are experiencing inventory supply problems. Such interest has been spurred not just by the government subsidies but also by various promotional activities organized by dealers, which have included door-to-door test drives to aid convenience for potential customers and onsite secondhand car evaluation for trade-ins.
Cumulative sales of the JV exceeded 29 million in June 2024, with the Hongguang Mini EV alone contributing 1.3 million units in the four years since the car launched. The Wuling Bingo (see specs) series has also been a success, with sales of 280,000 in the 15 months since the model’s launch.
Editor’s note:
Although the sales performance of the Wuling JV is welcome for both SAIC and General Motors, the news is bittersweet. Sales by the SAIC-GM joint venture have plummeted this year by 55%. This means that in China, General Motors is almost entirely reliant on the Wuling JV for profits. SAIC itself is in a slightly better position thanks to its many business units; however, the only one that currently comes close to the sales figures of the Wuling JV is the Volkswagen JV, and the future performance of that unit is far from guaranteed, as evidenced by the collapse of the GM JV’s sales. It should be noted that almost the whole Wuling range costs less than 150,000 yuan (21,000 USD), with many models priced considerably lower. Reliance on sales from such a unit does not bode well for the long-term profitability of either SAIC or GM in China.
Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology
