May 28, Shanghai North Bund World Living Room. An IM LS9 Hyper drove into the delivery area; the number "the 100,000,000th vehicle" on the car body was particularly eye-catching — behind it lay a journey spanning more than 70 years; before it stood a new height never reached by China's automotive industry.
On this day, SAIC Group officially became the first Chinese automotive group to accumulate production and sales exceeding 100 million vehicles. This marked the birth of the first "100-million-level car company" in the history of China's automotive industry. In the more than 70-year history of China's automotive industry, only manufacturing giants from automotive powerhouses such as the United States, Japan, Germany, and South Korea had entered this rank before.
From "Hammers" to "100 Million Vehicles", a Microcosm of 70 Years of Industrial Breakthrough
In 1958, Shanghai workers used hammers to produce the first "Phoenix brand" sedan, achieving a "zero breakthrough" in Shanghai sedan manufacturing. In 1983, the Santana landed, opening the prelude to joint ventures for Chinese sedans; In 1997, Shanghai GM established a factory and produced a vehicle in 23 months, creating the fastest speed record for global automotive joint ventures at that time; In 2006, the Roewe brand was born, marking SAIC's transition from "helping others build cars" to "building their own cars".
Thereafter, the world's first internet car Roewe RX5 and the high-end intelligent electric brand IM were launched successively, completely outlining an upward curve from technology imitation to independent innovation, from joint venture dependence to brand self-reliance.
Running through this curve is the user concept that SAIC Group has always upheld: "Understanding cars, understanding you better." "From 1955 to 2026, from the first user to the first 100 million users, SAIC will continue to persist in "Understanding cars, understanding you better" as the user concept for further development in the future." A person in charge of SAIC Group said.
As the "protagonist" of the milestone, the first 100 millionth delivery model IM LS9 Hyper is positioned as a masterpiece collecting SAIC's more than 70 years of technical accumulation. The model is equipped with the industry-first full steer-by-wire four-wheel steering chassis, 520-line super-view LiDAR and NVIDIA Thor chip, full domain 800V high-voltage platform and Star Super Range Extension, and comprehensively pre-embedded redundant capabilities for L3 and above high-order intelligent driving. At the same time, IM LS9 Hyper is equipped with SAIC's Gold Label Hurricane Three Motors, jointly launched "Endogenous Security" technology with Purple Mountain Laboratories globally, expanding the security boundary from "Physical Security" to "Information and System Security".
The identity of the first 100 millionth user is particularly special — Momenta CEO Cao Xudong. As the core strategic partner of SAIC in the field of intelligent driving, the intelligent driving technology co-created deeply by both parties has empowered multiple SAIC independent and joint venture brands. This delivery of "Partner becomes Car Owner" is regarded by the industry as a typical case of deep resonance between smart car ecosystem partners.
Independent Brands Account for Nearly 70%, Overseas Growth Exceeds 50%
The landing of the 100 million milestone is not a single point sales achievement, but the result of whole industry chain synergy. At the delivery ceremony site, more than a dozen whole vehicle brands and 19 models under SAIC completed delivery synchronously in the form of "Global Relay Delivery", covering personal travel, family life, commercial operation, logistics transportation and other multiple scenarios.
Data confirms this system strength. From January to April 2026, SAIC Group cumulative sales reached 1.302 million vehicles, ranking first among Chinese car companies' sales for four consecutive months. Among them, independent brand sales reached 910,000 vehicles, accounting for nearly 70%, up 5.5 percentage points year-on-year; New energy vehicle sales were 412,000 vehicles; Overseas market sales were 459,000 vehicles, a surge of 50.2% year-on-year, and cumulative overseas sales have exceeded 7 million vehicles. Independent brands have become the absolute main force of group sales, and the "Independent Upward" strategy is entering a period of comprehensive harvest.
The achievement of the 100 million milestone is also inseparable from SAIC's long-term investment in the field of globalization. Currently, SAIC has more than 100 parts production bases and more than 3,000 dealer networks overseas, and has built 3 major R&D innovation centers such as London and 4 production and manufacturing centers in Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan; Anji Logistics operates 42 roll-on/roll-off ships, opening 8 international routes covering Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
The MG brand has ranked first among Chinese brand sales in Europe for 11 consecutive years. In 2025, European annual sales exceeded 300,000 vehicles, becoming the first Chinese automobile brand to exceed one million in cumulative sales in Europe and the UK. Based on this pattern, SAIC is accelerating the shift from "Product Going Global" to "Value Chain Going Global".
Industry experts point out that the birth of China's first "100-million-level car company" shows the development process of China's automotive industry from small to large and from weak to strong, and also reflects the trend of China's automotive industry moving further towards intelligence and greenization. "The landing of the 100 million milestone marks that the domestic automotive industry has officially entered a new stage of "systematic, globalized, intelligent" stock quality improvement. Single sales growth is no longer the core competition indicator, whole industry chain integration capability, technical self-research landing capability, and overseas market operation capability have become the core barriers for top car companies to widen industry gaps and achieve long-term stable development." Industry insiders analyzed.
For SAIC, 100 million vehicles is far from the end. "SAIC Group Chairman Wang Xiaoqiu said: 100 million vehicles is not just a number scale, but 100 million users' trust. The enterprise is accelerating globalization layout, advancing from product going global to value chain output. For China's automotive industry, 100 million vehicles is not the end, but a "springboard" to continue creating brilliance."
Final Remarks
In 2014, SAIC led the comprehensive investment in new energy transformation. Twelve years later, in April 2026, China's new energy passenger vehicle retail penetration rate first broke through 60%. From the "one horse leading" of intelligent and electric transformation to the "ten thousand horses galloping" of independent and joint ventures, passenger and commercial use, domestic and overseas, SAIC proposed to continue to deepen intelligent and electric transformation with the posture of "second entrepreneurship", and run "Understanding cars, understanding you better" through the wilderness towards a broader global stage.
Setting sail from Shanghai Internal Combustion Engine Parts Manufacturing Company in 1955, to the delivery of the first 100 millionth IM LS9 Hyper in 2026 — the 100 million mark of China's automotive industry is thereby marked.
