Automakers listed on Fortune’s Top 500 Chinese companies

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Fortune China has released the latest Fortune China Top 500 list on July 10, 2018. The list was compiled by Fortune (Chinese version) with the help of CICC (China International Capital Corporation)'s Wealth Management Department, taking into account the performances and achievements of the largest Chinese listed companies over the past year. A total of 28 automakers and auto parts’ suppliers have entered the list.

SAIC Motor, BAIC Motor, FAW Car see slight ranking change

SAIC Motor ranked first among all China's automakers with its annual revenue totaling over RMB 870 billion in 2017. Besides, the group's annual sales in 2017 reached 6,930,123 units, up by 6.8% year on year and accounting for 23.02% of total sales nationwide.

In 2018, the Shanghai-headquartered automaker plans to roll out over 10 new models, comprehensively covering such segments as MPV, SUV, sedan, electric vehicle (EV), etc., to meet diversified demands of Chinese consumers.

SAIC Motor announced the establishment of its artificial intelligence (AI) laboratory on June 29. This is the first AI lab in China's automobile industry which is designed to develop AI applications and solutions and promote a deep integration of Internet technologies and automobile industry, based on the group's cloud computing platform, big data platform and rich business scenarios.

Following SAIC Motor, BAIC Motor saw its ranking drop 4 places to the 63rd. Last year, the company gained annual revenue up to RMB 134 billion, which was partially driven by the volition to fully promote vehicle electrification raised by Xu Heyi, chairman of BAIC Group (BAIC Motor's parent company). Reportedly, he had expressed that BAIC Group is ambitious to deploy EV businesses in all vehicle units in addition to BAIC BJEV.

What's more, BAIC Group strives to ban the sales of traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles under self-owned brands in Beijing by 2020 and entirely stop the production and sales of such vehicles nationwide by 2025.

FAW Car moved up 4 places to the 261st. In 2017, the company earned RMB 27 billion in annual revenue, achieving a positive growth after being struck in the money-losing gridlock for 3 years in a row.

In addition, Xu Liuping, who chairs FAW Group, reformed the company's personnel structure and business modes since August, 2017 when he took office in FAW Car's mother company, and injects vitality to the group's operation.

Foton Motor dropped 1 place to the 152nd with an annual revenue of RMB 51 billion last year. Jiangling Motors, who obtained revenue of RMB 31billion throughout 2017, ranked the 239th on the list.

Dongfeng Motor, BYD, Great Wall Motor remain in top 100 despite ranking drop

Dropping 10 places over the previous year to the 68th, Dongfeng Motor Corporation's annual revenue in 2017 amounted to RMB 125 billion. The group sold some 4,120,000 vehicles in total throughout 2017 among which the sales of its self-owned brand were up 4.5% year on year to around 1.439 million units.

Zhu Yanfeng, chairman of Dongfeng Motor Corporation said that the company will focus on self-owned brand and electric vehicle (EV) businesses in 2018 and strive to achieve the sales target of 4.5 million vehicles this year.

As China's leader in electric vehicle market, BYD ranked 76th on the list with its annual revenue totaling RMB 106 billion last year. The automaker sold around 110,000 EVs throughout 2017, making up 30% of total EV sales nationwide. Reportedly, the first phase of BYD Qinghai Nanchuan battery plant put the 10GWh power battery manufacturing project into production on June 27. By 2019, the battery plant will finish the construction of the whole project and reach an annual production capacity of 24GWh. Moreover, BYD and Changan Automobile singed a strategic cooperation agreement on July 5 in Shenzhen, aiming to establish a joint venture, which specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of new-energy vehicle (NEV) batteries.

Great Wall Motor saw its ranking fall 10 places to the 80th, achieving an annual revenue of 101 billion in 2017. Last year, the company sold 1,070,161 vehicles in total with a slight year-on-year decrease of 0.4%, while only completed 85.6% of its initial sales target of 1,250,000 units.

During the state visit of China's Premier Li Keqiang to Berlin last week, BMW (Netherland) Holding Ltd. (BMW) signed a contract on joint venture (JV) operation with Great Wall Motor on July 10. As the contract regulates, Great Wall Motor and BMW will set up a new 50/50 JV, which will be named Spotlight Automotive Ltd., with a registered capital of RMB 1.7 billion. The JV plans to build up a world-leading vehicle-manufacturing plant with an annual production capacity of 160,000 vehicles.

Ranking 95th, Changan Automobile was still listed among the top 100 companies, while slid down 12 places over the year-ago period. The Chongqing-based automaker also failed to complete the sales target of 3.3 million units in 2017, with its annual sales dropping 6.23% year on year to 2,872,456 units.

Changan Automobile and Huawei inked a strategic cooperation agreement on July 4. Under the agreement, both parties will jointly build an innovation center to create a R&D platform boasting intelligentization, connectivity, electrification and sharing features.

In addition, Changan Automobile plans to release an intelligentization strategy dubbed “Beidou Tianshu (in Chinese)” in the second half of 2018 in order to speed up the development in vehicle intelligence.

JAC Motors procured annual revenue of over RMB 49 billion last year, dropping 37 places to the 163rd. At the end of 2017, the company announced that the program to jointly produce pure electric passenger vehicles with Volkswagen had been approved by China's Ministry of Commerce. In later April, JAC Volkswagen launched its new brand SOL and unveiled the first model under this brand at the Volkswagen Group Media Event.

On July 9, Volkswagen Group China signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JAC Motors and SEAT in Berlin, aiming to enhance the leading role of Volkswagen Group China in e-mobility. According to the MoU, the three parties will jointly establish a new R&D center to develop electric vehicles, connectivity and autonomous driving technologies, as well as supporting parts and core technologies. In addition, JAC Volkswagen will develop a competitive platform for battery electric vehicles (BEV) with the help of the three parties' technologies.

Geely Auto, GAC Group get big promotion, Zotye joins as newcomer

Geely Auto achieved an impressive elevation in ranking to the 80th from the 123rd in 2017. The Hangzhou-based automaker handed over 1,247,116 vehicles in 2017, soaring 63% year on year and setting another sales record. As to the performance in the first half of this year, Geely Auto's cumulative deliveries surged 44% from a year ago to 766,630 units, completing 49% of its annual sales target 1.58 million in 2018.

On May 28, Geely launched its latest new energy strategy. In terms of technology, Geely released new energy powertrain system dubbed Zhiqing, which covers four technology routes, namely pure electric vehicle technology, hybrid vehicle technology, alternative fuel vehicle technology and hydrogen fuel battery technology. In next three years, Geely will roll out more than 30 new energy and energy-saving vehicle models.

GAC Group moved up 27 places to the 111st. In 2017, both sales and outputs exceeded 2 million vehicles on an annual basis for the Guangzhou-based automaker. Especially, its self-owned brand GAC Trumpchi outperformed the joint venture GAC Toyota in 2017 sales.

Li Shao, vice general manager of GAC Group, recently said that the most efficient development route for the group is to achieve a balance between self-owned brand and joint venture businesses. Electric vehicle will be prioritized for the future cooperation and joint ventures’ cause.

Meanwhile, the group aims to enhance its competency in IoV area. GAC Automotive Engineering Institute (GAC Engineering) and Tencent Cloud inked an agreement on May 24 to conduct in-depth cooperation in some areas such as integral IoV solutions and big data cloud. Under the agreement, two companies will jointly build the new-generation GAC intelligent-connected cloud ecosystem platform based on Tencent's advantages in cloud computing, content ecosystem, platform security, AI, big data, etc.

Ranking 352nd, Zotye Auto is absolutely a new comer. From the sales performance recently announced by the automaker, Zotye Auto's year-to-date sales soared 45% year on year to 154,307 units for the first six months.

On May 2, Zotye Auto and Ford Smart Mobility LLC signed an MoU to set up a new 50/50 JV that will focus on providing ride-hailing operators and drivers with intelligent and customized all-electric vehicle solutions. The new JV involves a registered capital of $ 20 million, according to Ford China. Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary of Ford Motor, is committed to designing, building and investing in the emerging mobility services.