In 2021, SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 452,238 electric vehicles.

(Image credit: SAIC-GM-Wuling)

SAIC-GM-Wuling, the maker of the popular Mini EV in China, is aiming for annual sales of 1 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) by 2023, the company said Tuesday.

SAIC-GM-Wuling is a joint venture between SAIC Group, General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, headquartered in Liuzhou city in southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The company, which has a GSEV (Global Small Electric Vehicle) architecture focused on the small pure electric vehicle market, has accumulated sales of 800,000 NEVs to date, it said Tuesday.

SAIC-GM-Wuling previously announced figures showing it sold 1,760,176 units of all models in 2021, up 13.5 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the GSEV models were 452,238 units, up 160 percent from a year earlier.

Cumulative sales of the company's best-selling Hongguang Mini EV exceeded 550,000 units by the end of last year.

SAIC-GM-Wuling will increase its efforts in core technologies, including batteries, motors and electric controls, the company said in a press release yesterday.

The company will build an industrial park with an annual capacity of 20 GWh power battery systems and 20 GWh power battery cells, and create a new energy battery industrial base in Guangxi, it said.

It will accelerate product development and capacity building for hybrid-specific transmissions, motors and hybrid engines around integrated electric drive system technology.

The company will also develop power control software in-house to master the manufacturing capability of controller software and hardware.

SAIC-GM-Wuling also announced its plan to enter the global market for its NEVs, saying that in the first phase, it will enter the Southeast Asian and Middle East markets, with Indonesia as the center.

In the second phase, the company will explore markets including India and Egypt, and build factories overseas.

In the third stage, it will enter the markets of Europe, Japan and South Korea, and fully establish the global competitiveness of Wuling's new energy products, it said.

SAIC-GM-Wuling unveils mini battery swap station