The company sold 4.49 million vehicles in 2012, with Mg and and SMTC UK – SAIC’s European Technical Centre based at the MG Birmingham site – having played a key role in sales.

Sales of both the MG brand and the China-only Roewe marque, both of which are worked on at SMTC, saw sales of 200,000 units in 2012 – up by 23%, which represented the biggest percentage growth within the SAIC group’s automotive divisions.

Shanghai General Motors, SAIC’s joint venture with GM, also reported a strong performance with growth of 13.8% and sales of 1.39 million cars.

In addition, Shanghai Volkswagen, the joint venture with VW, saw a 12% increase and sold 1.28 million cars while the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture grew by 12% to 1.458 million vehicles.