By Colum Murphy
SHANGHAI-- SAIC Motor Corp., China's largest auto maker by
sales, is banking on sport-utility vehicles to help revive the
flagging fortunes of its own brand.
"The SUV market is growing very fast for domestic (Chinese)
brands," a spokeswoman for the company told reporters Friday.
"We're hoping to catch that market."
Last year, sales of SAIC's own brands--Roewe and MG--were off
22% compared with a year earlier.
SAIC also makes passenger cars in joint ventures with General
Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG.
The spokesman said the company had received 5,000 orders for its
just launched MG GS SUV and was "quite confident" about the
vehicle's sales prospects.
SAIC Motor would consider it a success if it could maintain
monthly sales at a similar level, suggesting annual sales of around
60,000 cars.
Its MG brand is coming relatively late to the SUV game and many
other Chinese brands are already making inroads into this booming
segment.
In a recent report, research firm LMC Automotive said that in
the first two months of this year, Chinese-brand SUVs had doubled
their sales to around 460,000 vehicles compared with the same
period last year. Seven of the Top 10 SUVs were Chinese brands, LMC
noted.
The boom in Chinese SUV popularity could offer Chinese brands a
chance at a "second spring," many of whom have been struggling to
grow sales, according to the report.
Write to Colum Murphy at colum.murphy@wsj.com
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