Can this fresh overhaul bring SAIC back into the "5 million vehicles" club? On July 28, SAIC-GM and SAIC Passenger Car almost simultaneously announced leadership changes. Lu Xiao, who had led SAIC-GM for nearly two years, was transferred to become the General Manager of SAIC Passenger Car. Xu Ping, the former General Manager of Huayu Automotive Systems, succeeded him as the General Manager of SAIC-GM.
A source close to the SAIC Group told a financial reporter, "Accompanying this personnel adjustment are multiple other 'first-in-command' executives within the SAIC Group system." Saic Motor Corporation Limited is set to usher in a new round of major executive reshuffling, the most significant in two years.
Looking back at 2024, SAIC completed its top-level succession at the Group level. After Wang Xiaoqiu and Jia Jianxu took over, they initiated the most substantial structural adjustment in nearly a decade: SAIC-GM and SAIC Volkswagen simultaneously changed leadership, implementing a model where the top executive of each car company oversees sales; the independent brand division integrated R&D, overseas expansion, and intelligent technology resources; streamlined management through competitive recruitment; and established the independent brands as the core for growth.
Lu Xiao's Tenure at SAIC-GM
It was against this backdrop that Lu Xiao took the helm at SAIC-GM. In August 2024, he was appointed General Manager at a time of crisis. The company was grappling with a sharp sales decline, a lagging new energy vehicle transition, a fragmented production and sales system, and high inventory levels. As a product of the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) and the first Chinese chief engineer in General Motors' global system, Lu Xiao, a technical manager, pushed forward internal mechanism reforms. In several public interviews, Lu Xiao clarified the core transformation strategy for SAIC-GM: fully delegating product definition and decision-making power to the local Chinese team to end the drawbacks of Chinese-foreign decision-making conflicts; insisting on the profitability of new energy vehicle launches, avoiding volume-driven low-price strategies; and leveraging a modular architecture to shorten new vehicle iteration cycles, thereby connecting the R&D, production, and sales chain.
On the product front, the Buick Zhijing new energy brand, the GL8 plug-in hybrid, and the Cadillac Optiq battery electric models were gradually launched, while high-level intelligent driving capabilities were integrated to fill a gap. During his tenure, SAIC-GM's fundamentals improved. The company returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2024 and remained stably profitable for five consecutive quarters through the end of 2025. Full-year sales for 2025 reached 535,000 units, a 23% year-on-year increase. However, since the beginning of this year, the market share of joint venture brands has further declined. SAIC-GM's first-half sales fell 5.68% year-on-year to 231,000 units.
Xu Ping's Background and Mission
Replacing Lu Xiao is Xu Ping, a veteran of the SAIC system. Starting his career in 1998, he has long worked in R&D and project management at SAIC-GM and PATAC. His roles have included Deputy General Manager of SAIC Passenger Car and General Manager of SAIC UK Company. Before his new appointment, he led Huayu Automotive Systems. Industry insiders believe his greatest strengths lie in his ability to leverage Huayu's component supply chain resources to implement deep cost-cutting at SAIC-GM, offsetting pressure from price wars; his overseas operations experience will also be used to expand vehicle exports.
Performance and Challenges Ahead
From the 2024 executive reshuffle to the present, SAIC Group's cumulative sales have rebounded from 4.013 million units in 2024 (a year-on-year decline of over 20%) to 4.5075 million units in 2025, showing some effectiveness. However, entering 2026, industry competition has intensified further. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that in the first half of the year, China's auto production and sales fell 4% and 4.1% year-on-year, respectively, and SAIC Group's cumulative sales again experienced a slight year-on-year decline.
More importantly, while sales improved in 2025, they still lag behind the 5 million units achieved in 2023, let alone the historical peak of 7 million units in 2018. The adjustment two years ago was centered on "stopping the bleeding" and "structural reshaping." This current round of leadership changes has a clearer objective: the joint venture segment needs to move from "stabilization" to "deepening profitability," while the independent brand segment must shift from "integration" to "product breakout." As the auto market's survival-of-the-fittest competition enters its most critical phase, whether SAIC's "Overhaul 2.0" can activate new growth engines will directly determine if it can rejoin the 5-million-unit club.
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