GM Wuling, armed with chip supplies, maintains sales growth

SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, General Motors’ light-vehicle joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp., said it has shored up output and sales this year with semiconductor chips developed by domestic Chinese companies. 

The company’s deliveries rose 12 percent to some 200,000 in October, with year-to-date volume advancing 21 percent to some 1.43 million, SAIC-GM-Wuling said Thursday.

SAIC-GM-Wuling is one of the few automakers to maintain growth amid the global chip crunch. 

The company said it has secured supplies under agreements for the development and certification of chips first established in 2018 in collaboration with domestic semiconductor producers, chip makers and other related parts suppliers.

It has installed more than 5 million domestically developed chips in vehicles, the company said. 

SAIC-GM-Wuling, based in the southwest China city of Liuzhou, produces minibuses for the Wuling brand and entry-level cars under the Baojun marque. 

Chinese sales of new light vehicles such as sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses contracted for the sixth straight month in October, dipping 5 percent to some 2.01 million.

In the first ten months, deliveries of new light vehicles increased 8.8 percent to 16.9 million on the back of a strong first-quarter rebound.