Gasgoo Munich-The 14th Automotive and Environment Innovation Forum and the 8th Gasgoo Awards "China Solutions, Global Value" ceremony took place on October 23 in Shanghai. Cheng Juzheng, Innovation R&D Director at SAIC, delivered a keynote speech titled "From Product Export to System Export."
Overseas sales hit 1.07 million units in 2023, keeping SAIC among the industry leaders, Cheng noted. The automaker has already sold 1.11 million units abroad in the first nine months of this year alone — topping its full-year total. MG's European sales stand at roughly 280,000 units for the year, a 23% annual jump, with cumulative deliveries crossing the 1 million mark. That keeps MG the top-selling Chinese brand in Europe for the 11th straight year. Overall, SAIC's overseas deliveries have surpassed 7 million units.
The dividend from simply exporting products is shrinking, he argued. Tariff and subsidy pressures are mounting, regulations are tightening, and consumers increasingly demand diverse financing, after-sales, charging, and software services. Automakers, Cheng said, must pivot from relying on "product strength and value" to exporting an entire ecosystem — spanning R&D, manufacturing, supply chains, distribution, and services. SAIC is driving this localization through its Glocal Overseas 3.0 strategy. It is building complete-vehicle and knockdown plants in Thailand, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and Egypt, and establishing an R&D center in Frankfurt. Its subsidiary, Anji Logistics, operates a fleet of 42 owned roll-on/roll-off vessels, providing oceangoing capacity for 600,000 vehicles a year.
Cheng urged the industry to guard against exporting its cut-throat domestic competition and to stay committed to the long term. The goal, he said, is to turn "Chinese solutions" into "global solutions."
