Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor has set its overseas sales target for this year at 550,000 vehicles. The figure is expected to hit 1.5 million by 2025.

The carmaker will develop five regional markets with an annual sales volume of 50,000 vehicles. These markets are the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India, and Europe.

In 2020, the overseas sales volume of SAIC Motor totaled 390,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 11.3 percent and ranking first in China for five years in a row.

In the first half of this year, the carmaker exported 265,000 vehicles, a 112.8 percent year-on-year increase and the highest in the country.

The overseas sales of its self-owned brands, including MG and Maxus, reached 166,000 vehicles during the same period, a year-on-year increase of 132 percent.

An automobile industrial chain for the global market featuring research and development, marketing, logistics, auto parts, manufacturing, finance, and second-hand vehicles, has taken shape in SAIC Motor, laying a solid foundation for the fast expansion of its overseas business.

The Chinese carmaker, which currently has more than 1,000 overseas sales and service outlets, has implemented unified after-sales service standards across the world and launched four international shipping routes to Southeast Asia, Mexico, western South America and Europe.

The company has also established three innovation centers in London, Silicon Valley, and Tel Aviv, four overseas manufacturing centers and KD factories in Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan.

From 2016 to 2020, SAIC Motor invested nearly 60 billion yuan ($9.27 billion) in research and development to form technological advantages such as NEV and intelligent connected technologies.