100 million vehicles. China's automotive industry witnessed its first "hundred-million club".
On May 28, at the World Living Room at North Bund in Shanghai, with the keys to the IM LS9 Hyper handed to Momenta CEO Cao Xudong, SAIC Motor officially welcomed its global 100 millionth user. Oriental TV broadcast the event live in full. No lengthy speeches, no parameter PPTs, just a "Global Connected Delivery" spanning the Eurasian continent and involving multiple locations—from passenger cars to commercial vehicles, from independent brands to joint ventures, from China to the UK, Indonesia, and Singapore.
This is indeed worth celebrating. But more worth questioning than the number is: After 100 million vehicles, where does SAIC plan to go next?
The answer lies in the signal from the ceremony itself: How to convert the user base, technical reserves, industrial depth, and global network behind the 100 million vehicles into systemic competitiveness for the next journey.
The Value of 100 Million Users
Not Inventory, But Insights and Understanding
For SAIC, 100 million vehicles represent scale, and more importantly, a user base formed by long-term service to different markets, scenarios, and usage needs.
Equal emphasis on passenger and commercial vehicles, dual-wheel drive of independent and joint ventures, coordination between domestic and overseas markets—this "family portrait" structure gives SAIC rare user insight depth among Chinese automakers. What kind of tool vehicle does a rural grassroots worker need? Why did an overseas athlete choose a Chinese brand? How does a multinational logistics company evaluate new energy commercial vehicles? The answers to these questions cannot be derived solely from market research company questionnaires; they come more from the continuous feedback of 100 million vehicles in real-world scenarios.
This is the real context of SAIC's "Understanding Cars and Understanding You Better". "Understanding Cars" is the engineering capability, quality system, manufacturing standards, and industrial foundation accumulated by SAIC over more than 70 years; "Understanding You" is converting these capabilities into user-perceivable, usable, and trustworthy product experiences, precisely responding to users' real needs.
Therefore, 100 million vehicles are not the end point, but the starting point for SAIC to re-activate user value. Future competition will be measured not by "who has more products", but by "who can better convert user insights into product appeal".
Technology Democratization
Progression from "Having It" to "Having It Well"
In the intelligent electrification era, various technologies emerge one after another and iterate rapidly; "competing on parameters" has become something every automaker must do. When everyone shouts "technology democratization", the real dividing line is: How long does it take for technology to go from the lab to the driver's seat? How much functionality is lost from multi-million flagship models to tens-of-thousands national cars?
This is the key to what SAIC proposed as "Equity-driven Progression". Equity is far more than downgrading configurations; it is about letting more people enjoy advanced technology. Progression is not just technological innovation, but requires truly improving user experience.
The models involved in this delivery perfectly present the different levels of SAIC's technology conversion. The 100 millionth IM LS9 Hyper concentrated on showing SAIC's next-generation technology reserves: Star Super Range Extender, Full-Line-by-Wire Four-Wheel Steering, Lizard Digital Chassis 3.0, Momenta Intelligent Driving Large Model. But more worth noting is that these capabilities are being explored towards broader price ranges and usage scenarios: HuaJing S brings the Huawei Qiankun Smart Family Bucket into the 150,000-level family SUV market, making high-level intelligence no longer strongly bound to high prices; Wuling Rongguang Pure Electric Version puts a 100kW Silicon Carbide Rear-Wheel Drive Motor and a 32.6 kWh Shenlian Battery with replaceable cells into a 69,800 yuan level wealth-creation micro-van; Roewe M7 Dark Horse Version is equipped with the DMH 6.0 Super Hybrid System, responding to family users' demand for quality travel with long range and low energy consumption. High-level technology is no longer exclusive to high-end models, but enters the daily travel of more users through SAIC's product matrix.
This is SAIC's true technology moat: Relying on R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality systems, converting complex technology into safe, reliable, and convenient daily experiences. Here, "parameters" are no longer footnotes on a launch event PPT, but core value that truly meets user expectations and solves real pain points.
Open Ecosystem
Why Him as the 100 Millionth User?
Cao Xudong standing on the delivery stage was the most thought-provoking moment of the entire ceremony.
He is not a "car owner" in the traditional sense. As Momenta CEO, his relationship with SAIC has long gone beyond ordinary business cooperation - IM and Momenta were "Foundational Lighthouse Partners" from the very beginning of the brand's birth, jointly refining IM's full-series intelligent driving solutions. Now, the partner actively becomes a car owner and announces that L3-level autonomous driving will land at SAIC first, planning to use this LS9 Hyper for validation testing, turning "Open Co-creation" from an industry slogan into a touchable business reality.
This open posture has been consistent throughout SAIC's more than 70 years of development. From the Santana localization community, to joint ventures like SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC GM, to independent brand building, SAIC has always learned in openness, accumulated in cooperation, and grown in innovation. Entering the intelligent electrification era, open cooperation is entering a new stage.
On one hand, the connotation of joint venture cooperation is upgrading. In the past, Joint Venture 1.0 more meant the introduction of advanced products, manufacturing systems, and management experience; today, Joint Venture 2.0 emphasizes co-creation of technology. The delivery of SAIC Volkswagen ID.ERA 9X is a representative of this change. It is not a simple electrification of traditional joint venture products, but integrates Chinese intelligent technology, Chinese speed, and local user insights on top of German automotive heritage, presenting a new look of joint venture brands on the new intelligent electrification track.
On the other hand, SAIC's cooperation with technology partners such as Huawei, Momenta, OPPO, Doubao, and Horizon Robotics has also extended the boundary of openness from the traditional industrial chain to new fields such as intelligent driving, intelligent cockpits, AI ecosystems, and software experiences. The Huawei Qiankun ADS 4.1 on Shangjie Z7, the Huawei Qiankun Family Bucket on HuaJing S, and the deep collaboration between IM and Momenta — behind these delivery models lies an "open wall-less" industrial rainforest.
Whether it is the deep binding of joint venture partners or the ecosystem synergy of cross-industry technology companies, it is the industrial connotation of SAIC's "Beauty Shared Together" concept. 100 million vehicles are not just SAIC's 100 million vehicles, but the result jointly nurtured by this open ecosystem network.
Globalization
From "Selling Out" to "Taking Root"
At the London delivery site, intern doctor Natalia formed a deep bond with this century-old brand because of her grandfather's classic MGB, and firmly chose the MG4 EV Urban. Two generations, the same brand, spanning the technological change from fuel to pure electric, witnessing Chinese intelligence endowing the British heritage with a whole new era connotation.
This story just happens to answer the ultimate question of the outside world regarding Chinese automotive going global: Can a century-old brand operated by a Chinese automaker still win over the new generation of overseas consumers? MG answered this with the achievement of being the first Chinese brand to break one million cumulative sales in Europe.
This is also the core of SAIC's overseas strategy "Glocal 3.0": Achieve "Global thinking, local action", forming personalized and intelligent product plans for different regional markets. 3 major overseas R&D centers, 4 production bases, over 3000 dealer networks, 42 self-operated Ro-Ro ships, SAIC has built a full industrial chain going global capability that is rare among Chinese automakers. True globalization is far more than just selling cars globally. In every market, deeply combining technical advantages, industrial chain advantages, and operational experience with local needs is the only way to achieve the leap from scale going global to value going global.
After 100 Million Vehicles
It is a Test of "Systemic Resilience"
Standing at the 100 million vehicle node, SAIC is facing competition that is no longer single-dimensional. Product appeal, technological strength, institutional vitality — these three aspects jointly constitute the systemic competitiveness for the future.
The true value of this delivery lies in the signal it conveys: When the market is still trapped in short-term zero-sum games, SAIC has already given an answer with a "family portrait" spanning the globe — the ultimate end of the automotive industry is never a solo act of a single enterprise or brand, but a contest regarding systemic strength.
From the Phoenix brand to the first 100 million vehicles, SAIC took more than 70 years to witness and participate in the historical leap of China's automotive industry. The next 100 million vehicles will test not just speed, but resilience, depth, and the degree of "Understanding You". It writes a new chapter for Chinese automotive brands moving from scale leadership to innovation leadership, and from the Chinese market to the higher end of the global value chain. Everything has just begun.
