Summary of Key Points
SAIC has invested 150 billion yuan in electrification and intelligence initiatives. Under the leadership of Jia Jianxu, who took over during a difficult time, SAIC finally stopped its six-year decline in sales by 2025. In the first half of 2026, it even surpassed BYD to become the market leader (although the annual outcome remains uncertain). However, SAIC's independent brands have mixed results: although the proportion of its domestic sales contributed by these brands has increased to 71.8% (surpassing Geely and Chery), high-end brand Zhi Ji has underperformed, the Huawei-backed Shang Jie has not met expectations, and Roewe is in an awkward position. Only Ming Jue has managed to drive growth through its new energy transformation. Meanwhile, SAIC's overseas market share has been overtaken by BYD, highlighting the difference between a "conservative defense" and a "aggressive offensive" strategy. Overall, although SAIC has reversed its downward trend, it still has a long way to go in terms of developing high-end independent brands and improving its overall brand image.
Detailed Analysis
1. Sales Recovery: A Bright Surface with Two Hidden Concerns
SAIC's sales exceeded those of BYD in the first half of the year, which is certainly impressive. However, two issues cannot be ignored:
- The Annual Market Leader Status is Still Uncertain: BYD plans to increase its production capacity by 20,000 to 30,000 units per month in the second half of the year, aiming for 5 million vehicles. It remains uncertain whether SAIC can maintain its lead.
- Overtook in Overseas Markets: SAIC was once the leader in overseas sales, but BYD sold 789,000 units in the first half of this year (a 68% increase), while SAIC only managed 735,000 units (a 48.7% increase). The reason is simple: BYD benefits from rising oil prices (which make its new energy vehicles more appealing) and is aggressively expanding into overseas markets, while SAIC is still focusing on steady growth.
There is some good news, though: the proportion of SAIC's domestic sales contributed by independent brands has risen from 63.5% last year to 71.8%. Even without considering Wuling, this figure exceeds that of Great Wall, indicating that SAIC no longer relies solely on joint ventures for its success.
2. Zhi Ji: The Most Invested Brand with the Worst Performance
Zhi Ji is a high-end brand jointly developed by SAIC and Alibaba (targeting prices above 300,000 yuan), intended to be a symbol of SAIC's new energy capabilities. However, it has failed to meet expectations:
- Poor Sales: Only 39,700 units were sold in the first half of the year, averaging just over 6,000 units per month—less than half of the sales of brands like Landwind (around 80,000 units) or even Geely Electrified (over 15,000 units). With a total of 230,000 units sold in four years, its performance is inferior to that of leading new energy brands in just two months.
- Price Cuts and Extended Range Models Didn't Help: To boost sales, Zhi Ji reduced the price of one model by 100,000 yuan and introduced extended-range models (such as the LS6). Although the LS6 has become a sales driver, the overall base remains small. Recently, dealers in Kunming and Zhuhai have closed, indicating that poor sales are affecting the brand's presence in the market.
- Challenging Sales Targets: The goal is to sell 110,000 to 130,000 units this year, but only 30% to 36% of this target was achieved in the first half. To meet the target, SAIC needs to sell 12,000 to 15,000 units per month in the second half. Whether this will be possible depends on the success of the newly launched LS8 and LS9 models.
3. Shang Jie: A "Test Bed" for Huawei's Cooperation
Shang Jie is a brand developed in collaboration with Huawei and HarmonyOS (targeting prices around 200,000 yuan). It sold 31,000 units in the first half of the year, averaging 5,000 units per month. Although this seems decent, given the support of two giants, the results are not satisfactory. However, Jia Jianxu's focus on Shang Jie is not solely about short-term sales:
- Learning from Huawei's Best Practices: SAIC traditionally relied on joint ventures and did not define its products or understand customer needs independently. Shang Jie serves as a testing ground to adopt Huawei's methods (such as product development and marketing processes), which has helped optimize several business areas.
- Filling a Gap in Huawei's Portfolio: With Huawei aiming for 1 million sales, Shang Jie targets the mid-to-high-end market segment. Even if it is not yet successful, this initiative can benefit SAIC's entire independent brand portfolio.
4. Ming Jue and Roewe: Mixed Successes for SAIC's Established Brands
SAIC's core brands are Ming Jue and Roewe, with contrasting fortunes:
- Ming Jue: Once popular overseas but not so much domestically, Ming Jue has seen a turnaround this year. It invested 10 billion yuan in new energy initiatives and launched the MG4 (starting at less than 70,000 yuan, equipped with semi-solid-state batteries), which has become a bestseller. Although the success is partly due to its low price, it has opened up the domestic market. The brand plans to launch higher-priced models in the future.
- Roewe: Roewe faced difficulties this year, as only one fuel-powered model (i6) was released in the first half of the year. To adapt to the new energy era, it is collaborating with ByteDance's火山引擎 (Volcano Engine) on AI-powered vehicles (the "Jia Yue" series), hoping to leverage AI for a comeback. Roewe's struggles reflect the challenges faced by traditional brands trying to keep up with the new trends.
5. Was the 150 Billion Yuan Investment Worth It?
SAIC has invested 150 billion yuan over ten years in electrification and intelligence efforts. The results are as follows:
- Positive Aspects: Sales have stopped declining, the proportion of independent brands has increased, Ming Jue's transformation is showing progress, and reforms based on Huawei's methods have begun.
- Negative Aspects: High-end brand Zhi Ji has not performed well, Shang Jie has not achieved significant success, and Roewe is still searching for its direction. The investment has not yet led to the creation of a strong high-end brand or the maintenance of a leading position in overseas markets.
In summary, SAIC's investment has not been in vain, but it still needs time to realize its full potential. The success of its independent brands—especially Zhi Ji and Shang Jie—will be crucial in determining whether the 150 billion yuan was worth it.
Final Conclusion
Although SAIC has temporarily regained its market leadership, its independent brands still have significant weaknesses. The effects of the 150 billion yuan investment will only become apparent over time. In the coming half year, it will be crucial to see how Zhi Ji, Shang Jie, and Roewe perform.