SAIC Motor is a Chinese government-owned producer of vehicles and parts for them. The company is located in Shanghai, and it was founded in 1955. They produce various types of vehicles – sports cars, sedans, crossovers, trucks, et cetera. Now, over a quarter of the car production and export of Chinese People’s Republic is controlled by SAIC Motors. Although their main market is China and Asia, they’re also focused on other regions, where they carry operations through joint venture projects – SAIC General Motors, SAIC-Volkswagen, and SAIC Iveco, for example.
The company dates back to 1955, when a small car assembly factory was established in Shanghai. During the first decades of its history, it didn’t leave any traces. Due to the growth of the domestic demand for cars at the end of the 1970s, SAIC increased its production. This was also promoted by the foreigners. In 1984 and 1985, SAIC signed agreements with Volkswagen, after which Shanghai-Volkswagen joint venture company was established. It allowed SAIC, that time known as Shanghai Automobile & Tractor Company, to produce competitive cars with high-tech technologies.
This was the first growing, but not the last. By 1998, SAIC had achieved a number of 300,000 of produced vehicles a month. What’s notable is that the cars were mainly assembled in the local plants using local parts produced via company-developed technologies. But these technologies were adapted from the ones received from the European and American partners.
During the 2000s and 2010s, the company signed agreements with world leaders in car production, bought regional companies in Europe, South Korea, and others, as well as opened its operational centers across the world. In 2012, it opened a branch in Michigan, US. In the same year, SAIC went at the top of the car manufacturers in China, with a total production of 3.5 million units a month.
Actually, the modern SAIC is the result of many unions with foreign companies, especially Asian and European. Throughout its long history, SAIC endured 10 name changes. The modern version of the name, Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation, was composed in 1995. Then, it was shortened to just SAIC Motor Corporation in 2011.
What is SAIC?
SAIC is an automobile manufacturer founded in 1955 and based in Shanghai, China. They are the largest carmaker in China, producing 3.5 million+ cars a month and employing 200,000+ workers. They manufacture electrical and petrol sedans, crossovers, trucks, sports cars, and others.
The very first logotype, designed for SAIC, was a black badge with a white outline and the brand’s name in Chinese. The white hieroglyphs meaning the brand’s name were joined with the contour. The badge’s top part was wider than the bottom area.
The 1995 logotype was a blue circle with a blue tick, having a white outline. The image was located on a triangular shape with rounded corners and edges.
Marking the impressive growth of the company and its turning into a large Chinese player, SAIC made a complete renovation of the logotype. Now it showed a ring, with a horizontal bar in the middle. On the bar, they wrote the ‘SAIC’ acronym. There is also an extended version of this logotype, which features this badge along with the full name in Chinese, placed above the name in English.
Then, they renewed this badge and modernized it. This time, they have drawn a clearly visible ‘s’ sign with a wide horizontal bar, on which they drew the name in capitalized letters. It was drawn over a blue circle, which had a highlighting at the top. Below it all, they wrote two versions of the nameplate in Chinese and English respectively.
The new redesign came up in 2021 on the wave of total minimization of the brand identities of the companies. SAIC deleted all protruding details and left only two semicircles enclosing the nameplate from above and below. Any background was also disintegrated. Also, the name was underscored.
The coloring palette of the last four logotypes (of 5 in total) was blue and white. Why? Because blue is a calming, relaxing shade, which is eye-catching and stylish, while white represents clearness, simplicity, and perfection. Together, this pair makes an attractive brand image for the SAIC brand identity.
The typeface of the nameplates in the last logotypes almost didn’t have any changes. Initially, it had semibold capitalized letters without serifs. They also had small gaps in the space between.
The 2011 logo depicts the same letters, but the upper tail of the ‘c’ was elongated. The inscription below the badge had the same typeface, but lightened.
In the 2021 logotype, they’ve made a small cut in the ‘a’ character’s horizontal bar. Both tails of the ‘c’ letter now wasn’t rounded, as previously – they became straight. Also, the letters were positioned even closer to each other.