The SAIC Motor Group (SAIC Motor) sold nearly 4.19 million cars in the first nine months of 2014, up 10.75 percent from the previous year, according to a statement the company filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on October 31.

From January to September, the company’s total revenues topped 471.33 billion yuan ($75.41 billion), up 11.78 percent from the same period in 2013, and net profits hit 20.41 billion yuan, up 13.4 percent year-on-year.

In 2014, the East China metropolis of Shanghai made the initiative of building a world-class technological innovation center. As a leading enterprise in Shanghai, SAIC Motor launched a strategy for a new round of technological innovations, which will serve national strategies by focusing on key areas. 

The company intends to make full use of various market resources and create flexible systems and mechanisms as well as an environment that encourages openness and integration to promote technological innovation.

SAIC Motor will continue to strengthen development of the auto industry chains, and do its best to build smart headquarters, making special effort in speeding up innovation in technologies and business models. The company will accelerate its progress toward both ends of the “smiling curve”, the most lucrative area of the value chain, namely R&D and marketing, and speed up transformation from a traditional manufacturing enterprise to a comprehensive provider that offers customers a full range of products and services.

SAIC Motor will not only accelerate development of its independent brands and new energy cars, but also carry out prospective technological studies. For instance, the company displayed the achievements it had made in such projects as smart driving cars and timeshare rentals at the China International Industry Fair held in November 2014. It also plans to set up a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley to explore ways of boosting application of new technologies by making use of venture capitals.

As for business model innovation, SAIC Motor will pay utmost attention to the fast changes brought by the Internet economy to the auto industry’s ecosystem and consumer demands, and boost integration of the Internet economy with the traditional industry.

A good example is that SAIC Motor signed a cooperation deal with the e-commerce giant Alibaba in July to jointly forge the “Internet Car” for the future as well as a new industrial ecosystem.