Top Chinese automaker SAIC warns of 22% profit fall

Company misses sales target as foreign joint ventures struggle

Analysts see aggressive moves by Tesla as hampering SAIC's sales of new-energy vehicles. © AP

KENJI KAWASE, Nikkei Asia chief business news correspondent

January 11, 2021 23:26 JST

HONG KONG -- SAIC Motor, China's largest automaker, warned investors Monday that its net profit for 2020 apparently dropped 21.9% after annual sales fell well short of target.

In a brief filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange after trading hours, the company said it would post net earnings of about 20 billion yuan ($3.09 billion), based on preliminary unaudited estimates. This would be 17% below the market consensus of 24.08 billion yuan compiled by a QUICK-FactSet survey of 23 analysts.