Shanghai (ZXZC)- SAIC Motor said its annual net profit attributable to shareholders in 2020 is anticipated to slump 21.89% year on year to roughly 20 billion yuan ($3.085 billion).

Photo credit: SAIC Motor

Excluding the impact of certain non-recurring gains and losses, the full-year net profit is likely to reach around 17.3 billion yuan ($2.669 billion), dropping 19.84% from the year-ago period.

The Shanghai-based automaker imputes its profit downturn to the coronavirus-led decline in annual auto sales volume.

SAIC Motor claimed its full-year sales dipped 10.22% from a year ago to 5,600,482 units last year. Despite the decrease, the company was honored the No.1 Chinese automaker by annual sales for the fifth year in a row.

In December 2020, the group saw its monthly sales climb 7.01% over the previous year to 746,607 units, for the seventh month in a row representing year-on-year growth.

SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) outperformed the other subsidiaries in terms of both annual sales and Dec. sales.

With 1,505,505 vehicles sold, SAIC Volkswagen recorded a 24.79% plunge in its 2020 sales and was facing decline in monthly sales through the fourth quarter.

SAIC Motor's self-owned brands, including Roewe, MG, R Motor, Maxus, Yuejin, Wuling, Baojun, Hongyan and Sunwin Bus, sold roughly 2.6 million units through 2020, a highest-ever number on an annual basis.

During the 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-2020), SAIC Motor plowed over 60 billion yuan ($9.28 billion) into R&D business and has built an independent R&D group composed of nearly 8,000 technicians.

For the 14th Five-year Plan, SAIC Motor attempts to roll out nearly 100 NEV models, including 60 models under self-owned brands.