In a recent speech within the Chinese automotive giant SAIC Group, the newly appointed President Jia Jianxu made a striking statement, suggesting that “We must humble ourselves,” and pointing out that “many officials are holding their heads higher than the sky, is it useful? The first brick falling down will crush you.” His remarks have sparked discussions in the market.
According to a recent report by the Shanghai Securities News, Jia Jianxu, who has only been in office for three months, spoke at the mid-year cadre conference in 2024, stating, “I want to share some thoughts with everyone. I am opening myself up without wearing any bulletproof vests. If you have bullets or shells, go ahead and shoot at me, I will still speak.”
Jia Jianxu emphasized, “We must humble ourselves. What does it mean to humble ourselves? It means not to show how tall you are. Nowadays, we have many proud officials, holding their heads higher than the sky, is it useful? The first brick falling down will crush you.”
He believes that only when one humbles themselves, nobody knows how tall you are, and when you finally stand up one day, you will truly become a giant.
As for the internal speech at SAIC Group’s mid-year cadre conference in 2024, whether Jia Jianxu’s aforementioned remarks were leaked in private or intentionally revealed to show the group’s new reform attitude, is currently unknown.
However, this speech draft has recently spurred discussions in the market about SAIC Group and has brought the group’s issues to the forefront.
According to SAIC Group’s announcement on October 10th, the company’s total vehicle sales in September 2024 were 313,300 units, a year-on-year decrease of 35.03%; with a cumulative sales volume of 2.6493 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.56%.
In the over ten years before 2023, as a state-owned enterprise in Shanghai, SAIC Group had continuously topped the list of the highest-selling automobile companies in China. However, since the escalation of the China-US trade war in 2018 and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, SAIC Group’s performance has been continuously declining.
According to the Investment Times, from 2019 to 2023, SAIC Group achieved revenues of 843.324 billion yuan, 742.132 billion yuan, 779.846 billion yuan, 744.063 billion yuan, and 744.705 billion yuan, showing a downward trend overall.
In the first half of this year, the company achieved revenues of 284.686 billion yuan, a further 12.82% decrease year-on-year; during the same period, the net profit attributable to the mother company was 6.628 billion yuan, down 6.45% year-on-year. Among them, SAIC GM suffered a net loss of 2.27 billion yuan, with the total loss surpassing the combined profits contributed by other subsidiaries such as SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM Wuling.
The sales figures have also been falling year after year. In 2023, the company’s automotive sales were only 5.02 million vehicles, and in the first nine months of 2024, SAIC Group sold approximately 2.65 million new vehicles, a 21.6% drop year-on-year. All of the company’s vehicle companies, except Zhiji, saw a decrease in sales compared to the same period last year, with SAIC GM experiencing the most severe decline, with cumulative sales dropping sharply from 724,300 units to 278,500 units, a decrease of 61.55%.
In 2023, SAIC Group sold 1.208 million vehicles through exports and overseas bases, with Europe being the company’s largest overseas market. However, in a recent anti-subsidy investigation by the European Union, SAIC Group was found to be uncooperative and faced the highest tariff rate of 36.3%. Since the temporary anti-subsidy tariff rate took effect in July, SAIC Group’s export and overseas base sales have declined by double digits for three consecutive months. As a result, in the first nine months of this year, the company’s overseas market sales decreased by 11.8%.