SAIC expects to lead market despite fall in first half

SAIC Motor Corp said on Thursday that it will try to achieve a better sales performance than the overall market average, as the largest carmaker in China recovers from the coronavirus pandemic slump.

The State-owned carmaker made the remark when it released the financial report of its first half of 2020. Vehicle deliveries in that period totaled 2.05 million, down 30.2 percent year-on-year.

Its revenue in the same period was 283.74 billion yuan ($41.23 billion), down 24.6 percent year-on-year. Net profit fell 39.1 percent year-on-year to 8.39 billion yuan.

"The unexpected coronavirus pandemic has caused havoc on the global economy and the global automotive industry. The situation was even more serious in the Chinese car market," said SAIC Motor in its report.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that vehicle deliveries in China totaled 10.23 million in the first half of 2020, down 17.2 percent year-on-year. Passenger vehicle sales reached 7.83 million, down 22.9 percent year-on-year.

But as the pandemic has been basically curbed in China, the auto market is recovering. SAIC's vehicle sales in the second quarter rose 101.8 percent compared with the first. Its monthly sales have been on the rise since April.

SAIC said it will work hard to get a better sales performance than the overall Chinese market this year. The CAAM estimates that vehicle sales will improve in the second half, but it said this year's total sales will fall 10-20 percent compared with 2019.