Former SAIC-GM Exec Appointed Chairman Of SAIC Motor

SAIC Motor President Wang Xiaoqui, who previously worked for SAIC-GM, has been elected as Chairman for the company amid a reshuffling of its leadership during slow sales.

According to a report by Reuters, Wang will take over after Chen Hong resigned from the position upon reaching a retirement age of 63. In Wang’s place, Vice President Jia Jianxu will now serve as the President of SAIC Motor. Interestingly, Wang is 59 years old himself, and is a veteran automotive executive with a background in engineering.

It’s worth noting that Wang started his career at SAIC as a Quality Control Manager, and headed the General Motors joint venture in the past.

Chinese-market Buick Electra E4 and Electra E4 GS

As previously stated, this restructuring comes as the state-owned automaker plans to request a hearing from the European Commission regarding the high tariffs it faces on EV exports to that region, which represents a major market for the company. More specifically, the provisional duties stand between 17.4 percent and 37.6 percent on Chinese-made electric vehicles, which is designed to prevent what the European Union calls a flood of subpar all-electric vehicles.

To make matters harder for SAIC, its joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen have struggled with a sluggish sales period. In fact, plummeting demand and skyrocketing competition has proven quite difficult for the state-owned company to manage, as the Chinese market hosts more than 40 brands all participating in price wars.

SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Wuling Bingo Plus EV

In regard to the numbers, SAIC-GM saw sales decline 72 percent in June 2024 on a year-over-year basis, while SAIC-VW sales dropped 14.4 percent over the same time period. Overall, SAIC sales in the first-half decreased 11.8 percent to 1.83 million units, where more than a quarter of its vehicles were delivered to overseas markets. Notably, its MG brand was the best-selling Chinese EV brand in Europe.

By comparison, rival BYD saw a 28.8-percent sales jump during the same time period and sold 1.61 million units.

Be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for the latest SAIC-GM news, GM China news, GM employment news, GM business news, and more obsessive-compulsive GM news coverage.