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"buick's current penetration rate of new energy vehicles ranks first among joint venture brands, but this is far from enough. saic-gm's goal is to become the leader in the joint venture 2.0 era. relying on the strength of the system and pan asia's technological background, we will sound the clarion call for a comprehensive counterattack in 2025." on september 23, saic-gm general manager lu xiao announced saic-gm's goals.

this is lu xiao's "first show" after taking office. he chose to make his first public appearance at the event where the 2 millionth vehicle of the saic-gm buick brand gl8 family rolled off the production line.

the importance of gl8 to saic-gm is self-evident. "since the birth of the first domestically produced gl8, 25 years have passed and six new products have been launched. each generation of products was the pinnacle at the time." xue haitao, deputy general manager of saic-gm, believes that the rollout of the 2 millionth gl8 is a new starting point.

image source: provided by the company

in the past, buick gl8 often played the role of "evergreen" in the terminal market. in the era of fuel vehicles, after many rounds of competition, many mpv models such as odyssey, kia carnival, toyota sienna, etc. still could not shake gl8's position in the mpv market. however, as the wave of electric intelligence swept the automotive industry, brands such as denza and lantu launched mpv new energy models to grab market share. the domestic mpv market structure has changed suddenly, and the previously stable elysion has fallen out of the top ten domestic mpv sales list.

at present, in the first echelon of domestic mpv sales, buick gl8, senna, grevia, denza d9 and other products are chasing each other, and the competition for the top spot in the mpv list is becoming more and more stalemate. among them, denza d9 relies on the dual-path layout of "pure electric + hybrid", and its monthly sales have exceeded 10,000 units many times, surpassing buick gl8 at one time.

according to the sales rankings compiled by autohome, six of the top ten domestic mpv models in august this year were new energy models, which shows that the domestic market demand for new energy mpvs is becoming increasingly strong.

image source: dongchedi platform

however, the market share of mpvs has not expanded. according to the china passenger car association, in the first eight months of 2024, domestic mpv sales were about 656,000 units, down 7.9% year-on-year, with a market share of about 4.9%. among them, domestic mpv sales in the first eight months were about 429,000 units, down 4.2% year-on-year, with a market share of about 3.2%.

image source: china passenger car association

in this context, buick gl8 has been accelerating its "conductivity" to maintain its leading position in the stock market. as early as april this year, buick gl8 launched its first intelligent electric plug-in hybrid version, the new gl8 luzun phev, and officially started delivery in june.

data shows that in the first eight months of this year, the cumulative terminal sales of buick gl8 family reached about 60,900 units. according to xue haitao, the cumulative orders for buick gl8 phev exceeded 30,000 units, and the supply was in short supply. saic-gm jinqiao luxury car factory even had to work overtime to meet user needs. "i believe that among all the new mpv models, there is no competitor that does not regard gl8 as a reference and target." xue haitao believes.

in addition, buick also unveiled its new generation mpv concept car, buick ompv (organic mobile private villa), on the same day. lu xiao believes that this marks that buick is making full efforts in the new track of intelligent electric vehicles.

"buick gl8 has been in production for six generations, and we want to pursue more and not just do business. we hope that this car will serve as a new concept of organic life to attract more users of suv dad cars, and we do not shy away from this ambition. in fact, our share of the mpv market has quickly rebounded to the first place, and we will continue to consolidate it in the future, and our market share will definitely not be lower than 20%." lu xiao said.

the planning and development of buick gl8 is only part of the comprehensive reform of saic-gm. at the beginning of august this year, saic-gm ushered in a new "deployment" in terms of personnel. lu xiao, former executive vice president of pan asia technical automotive center, replaced zhuang jingxiong as the general manager of saic-gm; wang conghe, former vice president of pan asia technical automotive center, took over the post of executive vice president of pan asia technical automotive center; cai bin, former assistant to the president of saic group, rejoined saic-gm and served as the secretary of the party committee of saic-gm; xue haitao, former vice president of saic-gm-wuling, replaced lu yi as the company's vice president, responsible for marketing-related work.

according to the reporter, saic-gm will realize comprehensive new energy in its products, launch pure electric and plug-in hybrid models in the sedan field, and will also launch plug-in hybrid products in the suv market. in addition, saic-gm has implemented a series of strategies, including adjusting the linkage mechanism between production and sales, and strengthening commercial policy support for dealers, reducing the pressure on the distribution network, and seeking a balance between sales and profits. from the beginning of this year to august, saic-gm has removed a total of 140,000 vehicles from inventory.

after a series of adjustments, saic-gm's terminal market has continued to pick up. recently, saic-gm's official data showed that in august this year, its sales volume was about 50,600 vehicles, a month-on-month increase of 8.1%; among them, the terminal sales volume of new energy vehicles was about 13,000 vehicles, a month-on-month increase of 15.5%.

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