As it moves on with its expansion in the region, China’s SAIC Motor announced on Tuesday that it is deciding on a location for a plant to be built there to make electric vehicles.

The Chinese partner of Volkswagen and General Motors said it sold 530,000 units overseas in the first quarter, up 40% from a year earlier, but did not provide any additional information on the factory plans. Its MG brand accounted for about 70% of those sales. According to SAIC, MG vehicle sales in Europe more than doubled to 115,000 units in the first half.

In 2023, the state-owned Chinese automaker predicted that its global sales may reach over 1.2 million units.

In the upcoming 18 months, it intends to globally introduce over 10 new MG models.

Taking advantage of the reduced production and supply chain costs in China, automakers like Tesla, BMW, and BYD are stepping up their attempts to export China-made automobiles to international markets as auto demand has deteriorated domestically.

Among all Chinese automakers in the first five months, SAIC was the largest exporter, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. The statistics indicated that some of its largest international markets were Britain, Mexico, Australia, and India.

(Adapted from MarketScreener.com)