SAIC Motor Corp.’s net profit surged 511 percent to 6.85 billion yuan ($1.06 billion) in the first quarter, reflecting a sharp rebound in sales and revenue from the same period in 2020 when the pandemic largely idled showrooms and factories.
Revenue at the state-owned automaker with major General Motors and Volkswagen Group joint ventures jumped 79 percent to top 189 billion yuan during the period, the Shanghai-listed company said.
The sharp increase in net profit and revenue stem from a robust rebound in sales compared with the first quarter of 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak ravaged China.
Total first-quarter vehicle sales at SAIC’s joint ventures and its car and truck subsidiaries rose 68 percent to exceed 1.14 million units.
The bulk of the volume was generated by the company’s partnerships with GM and VW.
Among the joint ventures, SAIC-GM, which markets cars and light trucks for Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac, first-quarter deliveries jumped 87 percent to 335,773.
Sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling, which distributes cars for the market-entry Baojun brand and low-priced light vehicles for Wuling, also surged 87 percent to 308,631.
Deliveries at SAIC-VW, which markets cars for Volkswagen and Skoda brands, advanced 36 percent to 249,100 in the year’s first three months.