(Yicai) Sept. 13 -- Rising Auto, an electric vehicle brand of China’s SAIC Motor, will merge with a unit of the parent company after three years of independent operation due to weak performance, an insider confirmed.

Rising Auto's dealer management and purchasing departments will be folded into SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle, the source at Shanghai-based SAIC Motor told Yicai. Its operation and retail centers will remain independent, the person noted. Rising Auto yesterday denied reports of the merger.

“The merger is certain, but how to do it is still under discussion,” the insider said.

The move would effectively reduce internal communication costs, news outlet Jiemian reported today, citing a person familiar with the matter. But in terms of amortizing procurement and research and development costs, the merger’s impact would be less significant, the source said.

Formed out of the R brand division of SAIC Motor’s Roewe, Rising Auto was established in 2021. SAIC Motor owns 63 percent of Rising Auto, and Wu Bing, the former head of a mobility brand under the parent firm, is its chief executive and general manager of SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle.

Rising Auto is positioned as a ‘user-oriented data-driven technology firm,’ exploring innovative company operation methods, business operation models, and market-oriented incentive and constraint mechanisms to achieve independent operation and be responsible for its profit and loss, according to SAIC Motor.

Rising Auto's two models, the F7 and the R7, are priced between CNY200,000 and CNY400,000 (USD27,420 and USD54,840) each. It sold 14,500 units last year and 10,123 in the first seven months of this year.

SAIC Motor also owns the EV brands IM Motors and MG.

Editor: Martin Kadiev