SAIC Motor Corporation Limited (SAIC Motor) has seen steady growth by offering new products, expanding its sales network and optimizing its production and sales structure.

According to the auto manufacturer’s mid-year report it released on Aug 25, its operating income totaled 351.26 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 8.54 percent, with net profits to shareholders hitting 15.06 billion yuan in the same period, up 6.31 percent year-on-year.

The automaker sold 3 million vehicles from January to June, a 4.9 percent increase from the same period last year, accounting for 22.8 percent of total sales in China. In addition to maintaining its leading position in the market, SAIC Motor fully implemented its innovation-driven development strategy during the reporting period to ensure sustainable development.

Focusing on self-owned brands to nurture innovative capacity

SAIC Motor is improving its innovative capacity through self-owned brands, with a special focus on core technologies including connectivity, new-energy vehicles, and intelligent driving.

During the reporting period, its self-owned brands achieved good results -- passenger car brands Roewe and MG saw their sales surge 60.8 percent year-on-year while commercial car brand Maxus’ sales went up 37.7 percent.

SAIC Motor is making rapid progress with its Internet cars. The world’s first ever volume Internet car, the Roewe X5, hit the market on July 6, with its service platform integrating online communication and maps with offline resources. To date, SAIC Motor has received more than 25,000 orders for the model, a telling indicator of the appeal of Internet cars.

In terms of new-energy vehicles, SAIC Motor boasts world-class technologies in batteries, drive, and control systems and has launched several popular models including the electric E50 and plug-in hybrids E550 and E950. In the first seven months of 2016, the company sold more than 13,000 new-energy vehicles, a 169 percent surge year-on-year.

SAIC Motor’s second-generation intelligent vehicle, the MG-iGS, has finished 14,000 km of simulated and high-speed road tests, with more than 10 patent applications having been made. Among other things, the model can travel along a designated route and park itself automatically. SAIC Motor will showcase its intelligent transport at the coming G20 Summit in Hangzhou.

To encourage innovation, SAIC Motor has established a program called Seed Capital using an initial investment of 100 million yuan. The program has attracted more than 300 innovative entries from employees and a dozen of them, including a fast-charging battery for new-energy vehicles and multi-functional seats, have been singled out for development.

Focusing on service and trade to encourage innovative service

SAIC Motor is accelerating its pace to explore new, innovative services to facilitate additional revenue streams.

The automaker is restructuring the e-commerce website chexiang.com and expanding the network of its brick-and-mortar stores. The number of chexiang stores will reach 1,000 across 55 cities by the end of the year and total 10,000 within five years. They will gradually introduce such services as car sales and used car business.

SAIC Motor is also promoting the rental of new-energy cars, establishing a rental company called Global Carsharing, which now has more than 1,000 outlets and nearly 2,500 new-energy cars. In the first half of the year, SAIC Motor’s subsidiary Anyo Charging rolled out more than 1,500 public charging posts and 85 public charging stations.

Promoting business in emerging markets

SAIC Motor has established itself worldwide, with facilities specializing in R&D, sales, production, financing and investment, and international trade as well as 73 spare parts plants abroad.

From January to June, SAIC Motor exported 40,000 vehicles, ranking first nationwide. Of them, Maxus delivered 2,400 commercial vehicles to the UK. In its segment, Maxus ranked second in New Zealand and fifth in Australia by sales. SAIC GM exported Envision SUVs to the US.

SAIC Motor is localizing its models overseas with desirable results. It has built a global plant in Thailand to produce MG right-hand-drive cars as well as establishing a sales network.

In the first half of the year, MG ranked tenth by sales volume in the Thai market, with its sales surging 240 percent from the same period last year. SAIC GM Wuling started construction of a plant in Indonesia in 2015 which is expected to start production in 2017. The joint venture showcased its lineup of vehicles at the Indonesian auto show in August to learn more about local customers’ demands.

SAIC Motor will not only maintain its leading position in China but also speed up innovation in order to become an internationally known and competitive automaker, with a global network to provide long-term and stable returns for investors.