SAIC Motor’s Ningde PV base begins production, really close to CATL

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On September 28, Chinese largest automaker SAIC Motor formally completed the construction of the Ningde base, its fourth manufacturing base for self-owned PVs following the facilities in Lingang of Shanghai, Pukou of Nanjing and Zhengzhou.

The MG eHS plug-in hybrid SUV, the first model produced by the Ningde plant and the third NEV model of MG, came off the production line at the same time. After launched in China, the new model will go westward into countries like the UK, said SAIC Motor.

Since the groundbreaking on April 28, 2018, it took the automaker only 17 months to fulfill a vehicle production base that covers an area of over 4.5 million square meters. According to SAIC Motor, the new facility is created to achieve “flexible, digital, automatic and data-driven” production and management, and will offer products satisfying the strict European emission standards.  

The new base, located at Ningde Sanyu Park, is only 3.4 kilometers away from CATL, the world's leading EV battery supplier. It is said that the batteries carried by the MG eHS will come from the battery giant.

SAIC Motor chose the site for several reasons. Importantly, the short distance is good for them to build an efficient battery supply stable with enhanced reliability and safety.

The collaboration between SAIC Motor and CATL started as early as 2017 with two joint ventures—CATL-SAIC Motor Power Battery Co.,Ltd and SAIC Motor-CATL Power Battery System Co.,Ltd—founded then. The former is built to develop, produce and sell lithium ion batteries and the latter focuses on battery systems, said SAIC Motor.

Situated along the northeastern coast of Fujian province, the Ningde city boasts a significant port that will greatly facilitate the automaker in transportation for export. Clearly, the new base is not only a mere manufacturing facility for SAIC Motor, but also embodies its ambition to expand overseas markets.

Surrounding the Ningde base, an industrial auto park gathering over 30 upstream and downstream suppliers has been formed, which will minimize the car building cost (photo source: SAIC Motor's WeChat account).