The Olympic flame is alight and the Olympiad inspires everyone with a passion. China is having a big jubilee and the world is fixing its eyes on the great event. The Olympic spirit of being “faster, higher, stronger” encourages SAIC to tackle the technical hard nuts and overcome difficulties with concerted efforts. Encountered with changeful domestic market, SAIC has made great endeavor in 2008 to build up its self-owned brand, overcome all difficulties in integrating various resources and seize the vantage point of the market. For this purpose SAIC did a good and careful job in all aspects at an early enough time without failure, as a result, achieved a sales volume of nearly one million vehicles in the first half of the year, still keeping the leading position on domestic auto market and vividly displaying the Olympic spirit of being “faster, higher, stronger.” 

Quick pace is what SAIC always pursues in its endeavor to seize the vantage point of the market. In the first half of this year, SAIC carmakers launched one new model after another. Successor models like SVW-made Lavida were put onto the market at a quick tempo, posing a strong challenge to the competitors in the various market segments, which enabled the carmakers to score remarkable achievements in the first half of the year. SGM sped up its model upgrading and development of new energy vehicles, and its car sales also rose steadily. SAIC-GM Wuling Automobile Co. stepped up its network building, improved its product quality and increased the product value. In a matter of 3 years, the company has become the giant in the mini vehicle segment from previous ranking “among the top 3” taking half of the market share for the products of the same class. It is expected that the company’s sales volume will exceed 600,000 units. Apart from the above-mentioned, since the cooperation of SAIC with Nanjing Auto, cars of MG 7 series, MG TF sports cars, cars of MG 3SW series, etc. were put onto the market successively, fully reflecting the quick market responsiveness of the new Nanjing Auto.

A high starting point is the requirement that SAIC sets out to itself for building up its self-owned brand. Roewe 750, a vehicle that carries the dream and mission of generations of SAIC people, is the upper-medium sedan with SAIC’s own intellectual property right. With a nice exterior styling, an elaborate interior trim, a state-of-the-art technology and excellent performance plus an exquisite blending of the British tradition with the Chinese culture, Roewe 750 received high attention from the market as soon as it made its debut, and has become a wonderful piece of work among the various products with Chinese intellectual property rights. In March this year, Roewe 750 1.8T bravely challenged the “No. 1 Zigzag Highway in the World” in Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie. The strong power, solid chassis, good drivability and precise steering response that the vehicle convincingly displayed in the test drive earned it a greater renown. Roewe 550 was launched onto the market in June this year. Innovatively adopted digital technology that leads the world today, Roewe 550 fully indicates its resolute determination to lead the medium end auto market.

Full and solid strength is the foundation that ensures SAIC’s leadership on the Chinese market. Ridding the auspicious wind of reform and opening up as well as the economic globalization, and on the strength of the 20-odd years of practice and experience in utilizing the resource advantages both at home and abroad, SAIC now boasts advanced vehicle development and parts supply systems, including the systems for developing passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, and they have enabled SAIC to build itself at a quickened pace into a big auto conglomerator that has its core competitiveness and capability for international competition. In July this year, SAIC was included in the list of the world’s top 500 for the fourth time by Fortune, ranking 373th among the top 500, which fully indicates SAIC’s strong competitiveness.

The Olympic spirit of being “faster, higher, stronger” will continue to encourage SAIC to take quicker steps, exert its utmost to fulfill the annual targets of the “Three Major Tasks”, and meet the new-round challenge of the three strategic targets, i.e. “an annual output of 2 million vehicles, including 600,000 vehicles for SAIC’s own brand, and 5 billion US dollars of foreign exchange via export.”