SAIC-GM

SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited (commonly known as SAIC-GM; ) is a joint venture between General Motors and SAIC Motor. The company was founded in 1997 as Shanghai General Motors Company Ltd or Shanghai GM (). Headquartered in Shanghai, the company manufactures and sells Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac brand automobiles in mainland China, and exports its cars to several overseas markets.

History SAIC-GM was founded on 12 June 1997, with 50% investment each from each partner. SAIC-GM began assembling the venture's first vehicle, the Buick Regal, in Shanghai, China in April 1999. This later followed with the Chinese-built Buick GL8 minivan which was a Chinese-exclusive vehicle and was not offered in the United States and Canada.

By 2003, China became the second largest single market for General Motors, selling 201,188 vehicles, an 81.6% percent increase over the previous year. In that year SAIC-GM achieved a 13% market share in mainland China, second only to Volkswagen Group China among foreign carmakers. Sales dropped in 2004 when the company retired the Buick Sail and the release of its replacement, the Chevrolet Sail, was delayed to February 2005, knocking General Motors Shanghai to seventh place in mainland China market share. SAIC-GM market share climbed back to nearly 9.8 percent, placing SAIC-GM among the top three passenger car manufacturers in mainland China.

In June 2004, the Cadillac brand was introduced to China followed by Chevrolet in January 2005.

In May 2005 SAIC-GM completed construction of a new assembly plant, the South Plant, at its facility in eastern Shanghai's Pudong district, more than doubling its annual production capacity to 320,000 vehicles.

SAIC-GM was the top passenger vehicle producer in China in 2006, with sales of 413,400 vehicles. In 2011, SAIC-GM sold 1,200,355 vehicles in the Chinese market. SAIC-GM is the largest joint venture GM has in China.

In February 2010, SAIC acquired an additional 1 percent stake in the joint venture for US$85 million and assistance in securing a US$400 million line of credit to boost SAIC's total share of SAIC-GM to 51%. In April 2012, GM regained 50% control of the joint venture.

With the growth of China's electric vehicle industry, SAIC-GM's sales have dropped rapidly. From 2020 to 2024, its sales dropped from 1.4 million to 435,000 vehicles.

In mid-2025, reports emerged that SAIC-GM was removing the Chevrolet brand from the Chinese market. SAIC-GM general manager Lu Xiao stated that “rumors that the Chevrolet brand will withdraw from China are false news”, and “we will not give up Chevrolet”. Three planned models were cancelled: the Equinox, the Equinox EV, and the next-generation Blazer. In August 2026, GM and SAIC extended their joint venture agreement to 2047, sharpening its focus on the Buick and Cadillac brands. SAIC-GM will no longer produce or sell any new Chevrolet models, but it will continue to provide aftersales support for existing cars, while GM will continue to export SAIC-GM-Wuling models to be marketed under the Chevrolet brand.

Exports In September 2006, General Motors launched the Chevrolet Corsa Plus in Chile built by SAIC-GM, an export version of the first-generation Chevrolet Sail which in turn is a version of the 4-door Opel Corsa with a 1.6-liter engine. It is the first export market to receive a vehicle manufactured by SAIC-GM.

In 2010, SAIC-GM started exporting the second-generation Chevrolet Sail to Latin American markets, starting with Chile. The third-generation Sail or Aveo, also built by SAIC-GM, was exported to Mexico and the Caribbean since 2017 until 2023, when SAIC-GM-Wuling took over the development and production of the Sail/Aveo.

In 2016, General Motors started importing the Buick Envision into the US from China. The Envision is built by SAIC-GM at its Dongyue Motors plant. Buick expected to sell 40,000 to 50,000 units of the Envision annually in North America.

Since 2020, SAIC-GM also exports the Chevrolet Equinox to Uzbekistan. SAIC-GM also assisted UzAuto Motors, the largest Uzbek automaker formerly known as GM Uzbekistan to produce Chevrolet vehicles such as the Onix.

Facilities NameCityOpenedDescriptionCurrent productsSAIC-GMJinqiao, Pudong district, Shanghai1998Occupies an area of . There are 3 vehicle production plants (North, South, & East). North was the original plant built in 1998. South began production in 2005. The East or Cadillac plant began production in 2016. Cadillac CT5 Cadillac CT6 Cadillac XT4 Cadillac XT5 Cadillac XT6 Chevrolet Malibu XL Buick GL8 ES/Avenir (Mk III) Buick GL8 Century (Mk IV) Buick LaCrosse Buick Regal (E2XX) Engines Engine components Transmissions Ultium batteriesSAIC-GM Dongyue Motors Co., Ltd.Yantai, Shandong2001Originally founded in 2001 as Yantai Bodyshop Corp. which built Daewoo vehicles (Daewoo Lanos) under license from Daewoo Motor Co. SAIC-GM took over the plant in 2002. There are two vehicle production plants, North and South. SAIC-GM Dongyue Motors joint venture is owned 50% by SAIC-GM, 25% by GM China, & 25% by SAIC. Buick EnvisionSAIC-GM Dongyue Powertrain Co., Ltd.Yantai, Shandong1999Originally founded in 1999 as Shandong Daewoo Automotive Engine Co., Ltd., a 50/50 joint venture between Daewoo Motors and Chinese partners owned by the Shandong provincial government. SAIC-GM took over the plant in 2005. The joint venture is owned 50% by SAIC-GM, 25% by GM China, & 25% by SAIC. Engines Transmissions including: 6T30/6T40/6T45/6T50, CVT Past Engines: Family I, Gen 3 engineSAIC-GM Wuhan BranchWuhan, Hubei2015Past models: Chevrolet Cavalier Chevrolet Equinox Chevrolet Monza Chevrolet Menlo Buick Verano Pro Buick Velite 6 Buick Electra E5 Buick Electra E7 Buick Electra L7 Cadillac Optiq Engines

Former facilities NameCityOpenedClosedDescriptionFormer productsSAIC-GM (Shenyang) Norsom Motors Co., Ltd.Shenyang, Liaoning19922025Originally founded in 1992 as Jinbei GM Automotive Co. Ltd., a 30/70 joint venture between GM & Shenyang Jinbei Automotive. Restructured into a 50/50 joint venture between GM & Jinbei in 1998. SAIC-GM took over the joint venture in 2004, buying out Jinbei. The new SAIC-GM Norsom Motors joint venture is owned 50% by SAIC-GM, 25% by GM China, & 25% by SAIC. It has three phases of buildings. Chevrolet Tracker Buick GL8 Legacy (Mk II) Engines

Related businesses SAIC and GM also operated other joint ventures, including:

Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center Co., Ltd. (PATAC), an engineering services and research and development (R&D) operations centered in China Shanghai OnStar Telematics Co., Ltd., the operator of OnStar services in China SAIC General Motors Sales Co., Ltd., a national sales company. GM China has a 49 percent stake and SAIC a 51 percent stake. SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance Co., Ltd. (SAIC-GMAC), a financing arm Shanghai Chengxin Used Car Operation and Management Co., Ltd., a joint venture established by GM China, SAIC-GM and SAIC subsidiary Shanghai Automotive Industry Sales Co. Ltd. SAIC-GM-Wuling, a separate manufacturing and sales joint venture using Wuling and Baojun brands

Leadership Chen Hong (1997–2005) Ding Lei (2005–2010) Wang Xiaoqiu (2010–2014) Wang Yongqing (2014–2023) Zhuang Jingxiong (2023–2024) Lu Xiao (2024–present)

Current models Buick

Century Electra E5 Electra L7 Electra E7 Electra Encasa Envision Plus Envision S GL8 LaCrosse Regal Regal GS Velite 6 Verano

Cadillac

CT5 CT6 Vistiq XT4 XT5 XT6

Chevrolet

Blazer Equinox Equinox Plus Malibu XL Menlo Monza Seeker

Former models Buick

Electra E4 Enclave Encore Encore GX Encore Plus Envista Envision Excelle Excelle XT Excelle GT Excelle GX GL6 New Century Park Avenue Roadmaster Royaum Velite 5 Velite 7 Verano Hatch/GS

Cadillac

ATS ATS-L CT4 CTS Escalade Fleetwood Brougham Fleetwood GT4 Lyriq Optiq SLS SRX XLR XTS

Chevrolet

Aveo Camaro RS Caprice Classic Captiva Cavalier Corsica Corvette (C4) Corvette (C6) Corvette (C7) Cruze Colorado Epica Epica II Lova Lova RV Lumina APV Malibu Onix Orlando Sail Spark Silverado Tracker Trax Trailblazer

Sales Calendar year Total sales Ref. 1999 19,790 2000 30,543 2001 58,328 2002 110,763 2003 201,188 2004 252,869 2005 325,000 2006 413,367 2007 500,308 2008 458,642 2009 727,631 2010 1,038,988 2011 1,231,539 2012 1,392,658 2013 1,575,167 2014 1,760,158 2015 1,752,015 2016 1,887,071 2017 2,000,187 2018 1,970,117 2019 1,600,102 2020 1,467,470 2021 1,331,567 2022 1,170,107 2023 1,001,017 2024673,0072025562,185

See also SAIC-GM-Wuling

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