September 23, Buick welcomed the "200 million GL8 family deliveries" offline ceremony. Before that, GL8 set a new high in monthly sales this year in August, and closely approached one million units, regaining the MPV market's monthly sales champion title. With Buick's GL8 new energy (parameter | inquiry) transformation pace accelerating, Landy PHEV quickly pushed up Buick GL8 sales, since June opened for delivery, sales have continued to rise, terminal supply cannot meet demand, and current orders have exceeded 30000 units.

However, 20 million is only a new starting point for the company, and SAIC-GM still needs a revolutionary change. Recently, the top management of the company has started a large-scale replacement, Lu Xiao, former general manager of General Motors Technology Center, took over as CEO of SAIC-GM, and Xue Haitao, former vice president of SAIC-GM Wuling, was appointed as vice president in charge of marketing at SAIC-GM. At this media communication meeting, the two leaders repeatedly emphasized that "SAIC-GM will blow the horn of counterattack in 2025", "and become the leader of the joint venture 2.0 era".

■Buick GL8 plug-in hybrid takes the lead, to compete for more SUV users in the future

New energy vehicles have completely changed the layout of China's automotive market. In August this year, for every 100 passenger cars sold in the Chinese market, there were 53.6 new energy vehicles. Over the past few years, SAIC-GM has also been "accelerating electrification" continuously. Since GM announced its all-electric and autonomous driving strategy in 2021, it has placed a bet on the "Otton" platform, and GM has high expectations for Otton's performance in China.

According to the original plan, GM will launch 15+ models based on the Otton platform in China before 2025, and has prepared two new factories with an annual production capacity of 1 million vehicles in Shanghai and Wuhan for this purpose. However, as the domestic market price war becomes increasingly fierce, neither the sharp-shooting Buick, nor the pure electric SUVs E4 and E5, have caused a big ripple on the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, the maturity of Chinese-branded plug-in hybrid models is gradually threatening the sales and profits of gasoline cars, with even General Motors' star product Buick GL8 being challenged by the Geely D9 PHEV last year.

Shui Hai Chao called these setbacks "dozing off" at SAIC, he believes that the company's product logic, brand logic and user logic are all online. In a predicament, internal reflection and adjustment need to be made constantly. "For an enterprise or a brand, it is a marathon, not a static snapshot."

Currently, the arrival of the all-new GL8 Lusin PHEV has brought new vitality to the MPV market, and the GL8 has once again defended its "throne". On the day when it reached 2 million sales, SAIC General also released the "Eight Golden Rules for MPVs", helping the entire industry to continue evolving, and giving consumers more reference standards when purchasing an MPV.

Meanwhile, on the basis of MPV, Buick also launched a new energy MPV concept car - OMVP. As a concept car, Buick OMVP pioneered the application of organic avant-garde aesthetics. The interior space is no longer a fixed single scene, but through connecting the Internet, IoT, and V2X, from the perspective of human habitation, it has been made into an all-scene, multi-form dynamic scenario.

"Buick GL8 has already done six generations, we still want to pursue more, can't just do business." Lu Xiao said, "We hope this car as a new concept of organic life, to compete for more SUV dad car users, we are not afraid of such ambition. In fact, our MPV market share has quickly risen to first, and will continue to consolidate, the market share is definitely won't be lower than 20%."

Talking about the follow-up product planning, Lu Xia emphasized, "We will fully electrify all Buick products to be released next year, from plug-in hybrids to extended-range electric vehicles, and pure electrics, everything that should have it will have."

■To Strike Four Campaigns, Open Up and Catch Up

According to Lu Xiaotong, SAIC General Motors has decided to fight four battles. Two of the battles are mainly marketing channels and user-end system optimization. The other two are product battles, namely the GL8 battle and the Cadillac XT5 battle. "The meal must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and the war must be fought one battle at a time. We have already seen some successes and have hope for even more victories in the future."

Noteworthy is that from Lu Xiao's resume, as a "old Panasian", he has led the development of models such as Buick Regal, LaCrosse and Chevrolet Cruze, etc. He was also the first Chinese general manager of General Motors' global platform, and can be called the "first brain" in the field of technology at SAIC-GM. His technical research background has also allowed the industry to predict that SAIC-GM will enter a new technological layout period.

Considering the actual situation of the Chinese market, the future technology R&D mode of SAIC General will indeed undergo changes. Specifically, product definition and development will be more local, faster, more open, and more reliable, which is a key to reshaping SAIC General's technological and product competitiveness and has been recognized and supported by both shareholders.

Since the founding of SAIC General Motors, both sides have jointly invested in establishing a Pan-Asia Automotive Technology Center, which has set a precedent for multinational automotive companies to establish R&D centers in China. After years of development, the Pan-Asia Automotive Technology Center has become a technological leader in the Chinese automotive industry.

For example, the Buick GL8 plug-in hybrid is a product of General Motors' headquarters giving up power. According to industry insiders, "originally planned for several models to use 2.0T engines paired with Voltec hybrid systems, the plan was developed based on traditional gasoline engine and transmission layouts. However, last year SAIC-GM suddenly changed its strategy, deciding to redesign and instead adopt SAIC Group's P1+P3 series parallel DHT hybrid scheme."

In the future, SAIC General will have more decision-making power on localizing product R&D, meaning that many new models' product definitions and R&D will be 100% tailored to meet China's market needs. This change not only ensures products better meet domestic consumers' demands and preferences but also significantly reduces R&D costs and speeds up product launches.

However, Lu Xiaoye also emphasized that "public network security is a general requirement for the three brands, such as, you can give GL8 all the rights and don't need to monitor at all, but the underlying functional safety is a bottom line that General Motors has insisted on. Therefore, in this era of over-competition, I am not opposed to the price being rolled up, but we should roll up quality, performance, and security more."

■Clear inventory, light equipment, and set off again

From the current market competitive situation, the strategy of reducing prices to promote sales is facing challenges. In 2024, inventory squeeze and dealer bankruptcy are seen frequently. As the sales channels are reorganized and fierce price competition intensifies, pressure is gradually shifting to car manufacturers. Starting from July, in order to protect the damaged dealership network and restore the disrupted business pace, some high-end automobile brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz announced their withdrawal from the price war.

For SAIC-GM, given its tight bond with dealers and vast dealer network, channel management is crucial to the company's success or failure. "Over the past month, we have removed around 35,000 units of inventory from dealerships, but inventory depth remains low and pressure still exists," said Shui Hai Tao. "We are actively discussing strategies and measures for October to resolve the unreasonable inventory problem." He added that dealer management is crucial in the sales process. To meet terminal consumers' demands, the company plans to streamline its entire production chain to save a lot of costs. The company aims to complete light asset stripping by December 31 to cope with future challenges.

Actually, SAIC General has already implemented a series of rapid and effective strategies this year, including adjusting the production and sales linkage mechanism, as well as strengthening commercial policy support for dealers, with the aim of alleviating pressure on the distribution network and seeking a balance between sales volume and profitability. "From January to August this year, we have cleared 140,000 units in inventory, and SAIC General's terminal sales also exceeded 50,000 units in August. The boss is also letting us relax and then go out with light equipment again. Although the performance was slightly lagging behind, but the entire new management team is holding its breath, how to tell and use well the future products, this is a problem."