The history of SAIC can be traced back to the 1940s, when its predecessor was one of the few automobile manufacturers in the Mao Zedong era. At that time, SAIC's first car was born, named SH760. At present, Shanghai Automobile has established joint ventures with a number of foreign automobile companies, including Volkswagen and General Motors, all of which are internationally renowned automobile manufacturers. At present, SAIC has both joint venture brands and independent brands. At present, SAIC's two main independent brands are MG and SAIC Roewe.
SAIC rose at the end of last century. If Chery and Geely introduced before are both young, then SAIC can be said to have a history. To trace the history of SAIC, it can be traced back to World War II, that is, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period. At that time, SAIC was a small car assembly plant. Of course, it has been 10 years since it really took shape and started mass production of cars.
In 1970s, the demand for automobiles in China began to increase. Of course, in this special period, many domestic industries are in a state of neglect. When SAIC really rose, it should be 1984 when it signed an agreement with the German Volkswagen Group, and 1985 when it became Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. and began mass production of Shanghai Volkswagen Santana. Today, Santana and Shanghai Volkswagen are almost two inseparable concepts, although the model promoted by SAIC is no longer Santana.
In the 1990s, SAIC developed rapidly. During this period, it established its own whole supply chain system, which greatly improved product quality and production efficiency. In the initial stage of cooperation between SAIC and Volkswagen, most parts of Santana were provided by German Volkswagen, and later more parts were gradually provided by SAIC. 1987, only the tires, radios and antennas in Santana were made in China, but by 1998, more than 90% parts of the whole vehicle were provided by local manufacturers. Accelerating localization was also the result of the Shanghai municipal government at that time. It can be said that the success of SAIC is inseparable from the support of the Shanghai Municipal Government.
There is no denying that SAIC's early success has a lot to do with its successful cooperation with the German public. Probably seeing the opportunity brought by this successful cooperation,1In June 1997, General Motors Group also decided to cooperate with SAIC to set up a joint venture company, Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., and the cooperation with GM was also very successful. From 2000 to 2004, SAIC's total sales doubled, most of which came from the contribution of Shanghai GM.
Enter Europe under the MG brand. It is worth mentioning that the British MG brand acquired by SAIC officially started mass production in April, 20 1 1 in England, and the mass production model was MG6. Although this brand is British, it is now completely owned by China SAIC, and it is worthy of recognition that it can set up factories overseas, especially in an old capitalist country like Britain.
Besides putting into production in the UK, SAIC also opened a new North American management center (20 12) in Birmingham, Michigan, USA in June this year. The opening ceremony also invited Rick Snyder, governor of Michigan, and senior management of General Motors. Therefore, the cooperation between SAIC and GM is likely to be not limited to China, but also extended to North America.