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The SAIC Group and India's JSW Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement on November 30th, which shows that SAIC and India's JSW Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in London, UK. The two sides will actively cooperate with their superior resources in automotive, steel, energy and other fields to create a mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation model to ensure the sustainable development of MG India.

Specifically, SAIC will introduce JSW Group as a strategic investor to further support MG India to expand its market share by increasing capital and shares. After the completion of the capital increase and share increase, the Indian JSW Group will own a 35 per cent stake in MG India.

In June this year, SAIC issued a clarification on the recent false reports about SAIC MG India, pointing out that the relevant report that "SAIC MG India was forcibly acquired shares at a low price and lost control" seriously deviated from the facts. In its note, it stressed that MG India-related equity transactions need to be approved by the Chinese government, and official information will be released in due course.

The newly announced partnership by SAIC means that JSW will acquire a 35 per cent stake in MG India, a subsidiary of SAIC. However, at present, this cooperation program still needs to be approved by the government.

Data show that JSW Group is one of the largest commercial groups in India, belonging to O.P.Jindal Group, which is a steel and energy complex enterprise group founded by Indian tycoon Aum Prakash Jindal. JSW Group is also India's leading integrated steelmaker, involved in steel, energy, cement, infrastructure and motor vehicle manufacturing such as motorcycles and tricycles.

MG India is the branch of SAIC Mingjue Automobile in India. MG, whose full name is Morris Garages, was founded in Oxford in 1924 and is a century-old British sports car brand. In July 2005, Nanjing Automobile Group Co., Ltd. acquired British MG Rover Motor Company and its engine production division, and changed its name to Nanjing Mingjue Automobile Co., Ltd.; in April 2007, Shanghai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. acquired Nanjing Automobile Group, and then Mingjue became an independent brand of SAIC Group.

In 2017, SAIC began to expand the Indian market, becoming the first Chinese car company to enter the Indian market. At that time, GM sold one of its car plants, Harrol, Gujarat, to SAIC, which then invested 3.275 billion yuan to set up MG India Automobile Co., Ltd. in India and revamped the plant. Two years later, in 2019, MG Harorki India was completed and officially put into production, and the first product, the MG Hector, was launched in the Indian market. According to the plan, the plant has an annual production capacity of 80,000 vehicles and is expected to launch at least four models to the Indian market.

So far, MG has launched a total of five models in the Indian market, but the share of MG in the Indian market is not high. Data show that India sold 4.7255 million cars in 2022, of which 48000 were sold in MG India, up 19.01% from a year earlier, but it accounted for only 1.02% of total car sales in India.

According to the plan, after this cooperation, the two sides will launch a new generation of intelligent network-connected electric vehicles and fuel vehicles to further promote the transformation and development of MG India. The latest figures show that in the first 10 months of 2023, sales in MG India were 52000 vehicles, up 29.7% from a year earlier.

In response to the above cooperation, the official said: "SAIC and India's JSW Group will, in accordance with the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results, fully cooperate with their respective superior resources to jointly empower MG India to do large-scale and strong strength." Wang Xiaoqiu, president of SAIC, also said that opening up and cooperation is an important way for the industry to maintain healthy development, and the two sides will work closely to create more environmentally friendly and smarter travel products and services, and jointly promote the MG brand to achieve greater success in India.

In June this year, SAIC pointed out that SAIC's total sales in overseas markets this year are expected to exceed 1.2 million vehicles, and achieve large-scale profits.

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