SAIC-GM was founded on June 12, 1997, with 50% investment each from each partner. SAIC-GM began assembling the venture's first vehicle, the
Buick Regal, in Shanghai, China in April 1999. This later followed with the Chinese-built
Buick GL8 minivan which was a Chinese-exclusive vehicle and was not offered in the United States and Canada. By 2003, China became the second largest single market for General Motors, selling 201,188 vehicles, an 81.6% percent increase over the previous year. In that year SAIC-GM achieved a 13% market share in mainland China, second only to
Volkswagen Group China among foreign carmakers. Sales dropped in 2004 when the company retired the
Buick Sail and the release of its replacement, the
Chevrolet Sail, was delayed to February 2005, knocking General Motors Shanghai to seventh place in mainland China market share. SAIC-GM market share climbed back to nearly 9.8 percent, placing SAIC-GM among the top three passenger car manufacturers in mainland China. In June 2004, the Cadillac brand was introduced to China followed by Chevrolet in January 2005. In May 2005 SAIC-GM completed construction of a new assembly plant, the South Plant, at its facility in eastern Shanghai's Pudong district, more than doubling its annual production capacity to 320,000 vehicles. SAIC-GM was the top passenger vehicle producer in China in 2006, with sales of 413,400 vehicles. In 2011, SAIC-GM sold 1,200,355 vehicles in the Chinese market. SAIC-GM is the largest joint venture GM has in China. With the growth of China's
electric vehicle industry, SAIC-GM's sales have dropped rapidly. From 2020 to 2024, its sales dropped from 1.4 million to 435,000 vehicles. == Exports ==