Shanghai R&D, Yangtze River Delta Manufacturing, SAIC Maxus launches a joint venture in the overseas market | High end | Manufacturing SAIC

Recently, at the port of Shanghai, fully loaded car containers are ready to depart. In May this year, more than 700 EV30 vehicles from SAIC Maxus were taken offline from SAIC Maxus Wuxi factory and set off from Shanghai to cross the ocean. They will arrive in Europe in half a month and be delivered to the Austrian postal company.

It has been just over three months since the last order was placed by the Austrian postal company. Prior to this, this international postal fleet was almost monopolized by well-known Japanese and European and American brands, and its cooperation with SAIC Maxus was its first choice of a Chinese brand.

This is not accidental: first, at the Hanover Auto Show in Germany last year, 300 EV30 units were confirmed to be ordered on-site. At that time, it was already the second time that the postal company had placed an order for SAIC Maxus new energy logistics vehicles within the year. In February of this year, another order for 530 EV30 units was placed, and more than 700 vehicles were delivered, setting a record for the largest purchase order of the year for Odelli Post. This is the inevitable result of customers repeatedly repurchasing their quality recognition.

Peter Umondum, Executive Director of Austria Post, said, "We have conducted long-term daily testing on MAXUS vehicles in Hungary, and the product quality has fully withstood the test. In addition, MAXUS also provides a complete set of solutions for future postal operations, so we have full confidence in MAXUS's performance."

[EV30 delivered to Austria Post]

The local media defines this as a "spectacular transaction", a transaction that is enough to cause a sensation within the industry.

In fact, in the global automotive market, SAIC Maxus has become a brand that cannot be underestimated. Statistics show that in April this year, SAIC Maxus sold 7590 units in overseas retail sales, a year-on-year increase of 55%. As of now, SAIC Maxus has accumulated overseas sales exceeding 250000 vehicles, accounting for 25% of the total sales. It has five major "ten thousand vehicle level markets" in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Europe, and the Middle East, and is the earliest Chinese automotive brand to capture the world's developed markets, with the highest proportion of sales in developed markets.

The impressive achievements from "going out" to "going in" and then "going up" are closely related to SAIC MAXUS's improvement of the entire industry chain map and precise efforts of the entire system. As a representative of "Shanghai R&D" and "Yangtze River Delta Manufacturing", SAIC Maxus has demonstrated new heights and breakthroughs in exporting vehicles, helping "Made in China" to play a leading role in the high-end field and dance gracefully on the world stage.

Continuously delivering cars and breaking records

Since the beginning of the year, Datong has been swept by a large wave of orders, entering a "busy shipping" mode. In January, nearly a hundred EV30 units were delivered to the Spanish municipal government. Within two months after the start of the Chinese New Year, more than 2000 pickup trucks were gradually shipped to Mexico. In March, the first batch of EV90 was delivered to a leading logistics service provider in Europe in Portugal, and in April, EV30 and EV90 were delivered to two well-known transportation service companies in Europe. In just May, we won the largest order from Austria Post and delivered a large quantity of EV30 to DSV, the "king of land transportation in Europe" and also the fourth largest freight forwarding company in the world. Recently, Norwegian Post has also purchased a large amount of EV90 again. Currently, there are already 300 MAXUS units in Norwegian Post's fleet

Thanks to its comprehensive strength in vehicle research and development, design, manufacturing, and supporting facilities, SAIC Maxus has a spectacular overseas presence. Currently, Maxus has global partners including developed country postal companies such as Royal Mail, Irish Post, Norwegian Post, Belgian Post, Chilean Post, Australian Post, and Austrian Post, as well as global logistics brands such as DPD, DHL, FedEx, and DSV, as well as top retail companies in supermarkets such as TESCO in the UK, Mercadona, the top three chain supermarkets in Spain, Albert Heijn, the largest chain supermarket in the Netherlands, and international giants such as travel platform giant Uber, lithium mining giant SQM, and home furnishing giant IKEA. In addition, there are also top retail companies in supermarkets such as TESCO in the UK, Mercadona in Spain, and Albert Heijn, the largest chain supermarket in the Netherlands. Government departments such as the New Zealand Ministry of Transport and the City Hall of the Spanish tourist destination Canary Islands.

EV90 Delivery to Norwegian Post

EV30 Delivery to DHL

【 Nearly 100 EV30 units delivered to Spanish municipal authorities 】

At the time of delivery, many vehicles are also setting new records for Chinese manufacturing going global. SAIC Maxus continues to seize high ground in the high-end developed markets around the world and firmly ranks at the forefront of segmented markets. For example, in the European market, the EV30 had the highest annual market share in Spain last year, and the EV90 had the highest annual market share in the large electric light vehicle segment in Norway. In the first four months of this year, the same model EV90 also ranked first in the segment market in Italy, surpassing local well-known brands. In Portugal during the same period, the EV30 and EV90 also had high market share of 27.5% and 77.4%, respectively, ranking first in the segment market. In the Australian and New Zealand markets, the new energy light passenger V90 has been ranked first in the large commercial vehicle market since last year with a full year market share of 27.1%. In the first three months of this year, it still ranked first in the segmented market with an overall ultra-high market share of 31.6%.

Not only for light passenger models, the SAIC Maxus pickup truck family is also working diligently in various developed markets. Currently, its cumulative overseas sales of pickup trucks have exceeded 120000, accounting for over 90% of the global pickup truck developed markets in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the Americas. In Australia and New Zealand, SAIC Maxus has consistently ranked first in sales among Chinese pickup truck brands for three consecutive years, breaking the local market's dominance of Japanese and Korean brands; Last year, the pure electric pickup truck T90 EV landed in Australia and New Zealand, becoming the first mass-produced pure electric pickup truck in the local market; From January to April this year, the sales of SAIC Maxus pickup trucks in the Australian market increased by as much as 167.1% year-on-year. In Chile, SAIC Maxus took the top spot in pickup truck retail in just 5 years, and last year it also broke Chile's single year pickup truck sales record, ending 12 consecutive years of Japanese dominance. In Mexico, SAIC Maxus achieved sales exceeding 10000 with a single model in its first year of entry. In the Middle East, SAIC Maxus has also surpassed mainstream Japanese pickup trucks, ranking in the top four in the Saudi Arabian and Qatar markets, and has become the Chinese brand with the highest sales ranking in the segmented market.

T90 in Chile

While launching high-quality light passenger and pickup trucks in developed markets around the world, SAIC Maxus continues to explore new blue oceans, seize new tracks, and expand new growth with high-end passenger models such as the MIFA series and G90. Last year, the high-end pure electric MPV MIFA9 was exported to the developed European and Australian markets, achieving a "zero breakthrough" and becoming the first high-end pure electric MPV model in a segmented field. SAIC MAXUS also became the first Chinese brand to launch pure electric high-end MPV products locally. The pure electric household MPV MIFA5 is also Norway's first Chinese brand new energy passenger MPV, with a long-term market share in the new energy MPV segment of Norway. As an important strategic layout for SAIC Maxus MPV, the G90 also entered the global market as soon as it was launched, becoming the "first" Chinese brand product in the luxury MPV segment of Australia. It represents "Made in China" and competes with international mainstream brands on the same stage in the fiercely competitive developed market.

System support and underwater gas foot

Sailing out to sea without obstacles is thanks to the comprehensive strength of Shanghai R&D, Yangtze River Delta intelligent manufacturing, and Shanghai shipping. It can be said that years of hard work and high-quality innovation are the key factors that help SAIC Maxus win the initiative globally.

At the beginning of its establishment in 2011, SAIC Maxus established an intelligent production base in Wuxi. Subsequently, SAIC Maxus built its Nanjing factory and established the Liyang RV R&D and production base, achieving an industrial chain system of Shanghai R&D, Nanjing+Wuxi+Liyang production and manufacturing.

Taking the large-scale delivery of EV30 to Austria Post as an example, the vehicle was produced and delivered by the Wuxi factory. As one of the largest production bases of Datong, the Wuxi factory has a large number of industrial robots and automated handling equipment working simultaneously, supporting up to 6 platforms and synchronous production of over 200 vehicle models, greatly improving production efficiency. In addition, the Wuxi factory has taken the lead in establishing a C2B customized production model covering product research and development, production and manufacturing, business management, operation and maintenance services, and has achieved large-scale customized flexible production of automobiles. In the Austrian Post order, Maxus customized a yellow car jacket exclusively for EV30, which is in line with the Austrian Post brand. In order to better adapt to the environmental characteristics of Europe, which are different from China in terms of temperature, humidity, and other factors, the car has undergone extensive and repeated testing and experiments to ensure better performance in operation.

[Austria Post EV30 Fleet]

At the Nanjing factory, we mainly produce the high-end new energy series "Dajia MIFA" represented by Dajia MIFA9.

To achieve product high-end, it is natural to first achieve the high-end of the industrial chain. In 2016, SAIC Maxus was the first in the industry to implement the C2B user co creation customization model, and the Nanjing factory became the world's first C2B intelligent factory.

Unlike traditional B2C models, C2B models involve users in the entire process of product development, manufacturing, and more. Vehicle manufacturers need to ensure that all supply chain links accurately respond to the personalized needs of users. In the entire manufacturing development system, only by achieving a high degree of collaboration in the supply chain can the goal of customization be ultimately achieved.

SAIC Maxus Nanjing Factory

For example, at present, most of the key suppliers of the SAIC Chase C2B plant are within three kilometers, and the relevant order information will be transmitted directly to the suppliers. For example, its seat supplier Andaotuo, after getting the seat-related information, will reassemble it directly in the SAIC Chase plant and connect directly to its assembly line to avoid many problems that may arise in the intermediate link.

By building a digital intelligent manufacturing system, the Nanjing factory has improved production efficiency. For example, under the production mode of C2B, the number of parts increases exponentially. Under the digital system, starting from OTD, create transparency for all orders; Subsequently, the collaboration of supply chain data is integrated, transforming orders and forecasts into targets and transmitting them to primary and secondary suppliers to enhance the responsiveness of the supply chain; In addition, using artificial intelligence methods such as machine vision, combined with the overall on-site plan, to form an error prevention mechanism and create a humanized factory.

In addition to OTD, the IMAP intelligent loading recognition system developed by SAIC Maxus can achieve collaboration among assembly workers, automation equipment, and production objects, efficiently and accurately transmitting the process information, vehicle configuration information, and material information of each customer order to the manufacturing site, effectively preventing errors and errors. The digital quality BQMS system binds regulatory documents to vehicles, scans vehicle VIN codes to automatically generate regulatory documents that need to be detected, matches them with C2B order configuration information, uses visual means to guide workers in quality inspection, and tracks quality inspection data.

With outstanding technological capabilities, the Nanjing factory has been selected as a "lighthouse factory" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, making it one of only three lighthouse factories in the global automotive industry. SAIC Maxus is not only the first Chinese enterprise to be selected, but also the only Chinese vehicle enterprise currently selected.

Raise the threshold and turn advantages into victories

With the support of the digital system, SAIC Maxus has taken its product quality to a higher level: as is well known, Europe, as the birthplace of the world's automotive industry, has strict technical regulations and entry barriers for automotive products. Last year, when MIFA9 entered the local market, it achieved high scores and obtained the world's most stringent new version of Euro NCAP five-star security certification. Subsequently, it obtained the new version of ANCAP five-star safety certification in Australia, becoming the safest MPV model in the European and Australian markets, and also the world's first high-end pure electric MPV product to achieve the "dual five-star" certification in Europe and Australia.

It is worth emphasizing that Datong's product pricing in overseas markets has also taken it to a higher level, entering the global high-end developed market with "high quality and high price". In Norway, the EV90 VAN model is priced higher than the local international brand price, almost doubling compared to the domestic price. When EV90 officially entered Australia, its pricing was higher than other heavyweight international mainstream brands and products of the same level in the local area. Both the MIFA9 and T90 EV have embarked on a high-end journey for Chinese luxury MPVs and pure electric pickup trucks in the Australian market, surpassing the prices of top brands in the segmented market.

Looking back at the manufacturing process of SAIC Maxus, one can roughly understand its confidence in taking the "high quality, high price" high-end route - which stems from its confidence in product quality, digital system, and the entire industry chain matrix.

Compared to the increase in sales figures, the significance of the "qualitative change" in overseas markets is more profound. A dealer manager from SAIC Maxus Europe once sent a thank-you letter, in which he wrote: "SAIC Maxus has changed the European market landscape, allowing consumers to no longer only focus on traditional top European brands such as Mercedes Benz and Ford." This is a true portrayal of "Made in China" moving towards "Made in China".

【 T90 EV Landing in Australia 】