Huawei does not make cars, but Huawei's smart car solutions are penetrating more and more car companies. On the afternoon of November 27, Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s Managing Director and Chairman of Smart Car Solutions BU, said that since its launch in mid-September, the new M7 jointly built by Huawei and Cyrus has received more than 100,000 large orders.
In fact, after entering the automotive field, Huawei's automotive business has experienced rapid expansion. In addition to Wenjie, it has also reached cooperation with brands such as BAIC Jihu, GAC Eon, and Changan Avita. But unlike Wenjie's big sales, several other cooperative car companies have not received obvious "Huawei empowerment" in terms of sales. Therefore, the industry jokingly claims that only Wenjie is Huawei's "son".
But now, the "son" lineup has also expanded. On November 28, Hongmeng Zhixing’s first sedan, the S7, was officially released. Yu Chengdong said: "The Smart World S7 is Hongmeng Smart's first pure electric car. It is deeply empowered by Huawei in areas such as product definition, ID design, and user experience. It launches a number of Huawei's black technologies and opens a new chapter in smart travel."
Image source: Hongmeng Zhixing
Zhijie is a brand jointly developed by Huawei Zhixuan and Chery. After this, the brands and models that Huawei cooperates with JAC and BAIC will also be launched one after another.
On December 2, JAC Motors issued an announcement announcing the signing of the "Intelligent New Energy Vehicle Cooperation Agreement" with Huawei Terminal Co., Ltd. Judging from the content of the agreement, JAC Motors is responsible for product development and manufacturing, Huawei Terminal is responsible for sales, and both parties will jointly build a service system.
According to Yu Chengdong, products from the two "sectors" of JAC and BAIC are already in the development process.
In addition, Huawei has registered multiple transportation trademarks this year, including more than ten trademarks such as Youjie, Zhijie, Xiaojie, Hongmengjie, Zhujie, Xiangjie, and Lanjie.
Obviously, as the eldest of the "biological sons", Wenjie's success has laid a solid foundation for Huawei in the automobile market. In just two years, Wenjie has ranked among the top sales of new car-making forces. Data shows that in November, Wenjie Auto sold 18,800 vehicles, ranking fourth in the new power auto sales rankings, surpassing Leapmotor and Weilai, and approaching third-place Xpeng Motors.
Although in addition to the Hongmeng Zhixing model (formerly the smart car selection model) represented by Wenjie, the performance of partners in the other two cooperation models provided by Huawei in the field of smart cars is very different, this does not prevent Huawei from gaining the favor of many car brands, especially brands with mediocre performance in new energy vehicles.
However, the number of Huawei's "sons" in the automotive field has soared. How to balance the relationship between multiple cooperative brands in the future will also become one of Huawei's main tasks. After all, at the same time as the Zhijie S7 was released, the saying that "Cyliss was abandoned by Huawei" was endless. Of course, Huawei will not give up exploring the industry, but for the melon-eating masses, dramas such as "harem competition for favor" and "nine sons competing for direct descendants" are very interesting in any field.
Is Huawei’s “big alliance” about to emerge?
Nowadays, Huawei's influence in the automotive industry is obvious to all. On November 28, Yu Chengdong stated at the press conference that he had sent invitations to invest in new companies to several partners including Thalys, Chery, JAC, and BAIC, and expressed the hope that FAW Group would join.
This caused the automotive sector related to Huawei to rise at the end of the day. Not only did Cyrus, JAC Automobile, Changan Automobile, and BAIC Blue Valley all see their share prices rise sharply that day, FAW Jiefang and FAW Fuwei, both of which were under the slogan, also rose by the limit.
At this point, the "Huawei Concept" has formed a unique position in the automotive industry, especially the new M7. Before the success of the new M7, Huawei's support for automobile companies had been questioned.
This is because before this, with the exception of Cyrus, the cooperation between other automobile companies and Huawei did not achieve the expected results.
Currently, Huawei has three cooperation models in the field of smart cars, namely the parts supply model (providing standardized modules), the HI model (providing full-stack integrated solutions), and Hongmeng Zhixing's smart car selection model. Among them, the Hongmeng Zhixing model is the most "luxurious" model.
Image source: Hongmeng Zhixing
At the press conference on November 28, Yu Chengdong once again introduced these three cooperation models and emphasized that "helping car companies build good cars and helping car manufacturers sell good cars is our unwavering direction."
There are many car companies that have reached the first cooperation model with Huawei, that is, the parts supply model, and the cooperation models have already exceeded 100 models. In the other two models, Huawei is far more than a parts supplier.
In the early days, apart from Wenjie, which chose the Hongmeng Zhixing mode, BAIC Jihu, GAC Aion, and Changan Avita all chose the HI mode. Judging from the current situation, the Extreme Fox brand has delivered a total of 21,500 vehicles in the first 11 months. Yu Chengdong said in April this year that the cooperation between the two parties will be upgraded to a smart car selection model; Avita has sold a total of 17,600 vehicles in the first ten months. The Avita 12 was recently launched. Chairman of CATL Zeng Yuqun, Yu Chengdong and Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong jointly stood together to achieve the breakthrough of 15,000 units in six days after the launch. It is still unclear whether the miracle of the New World M7 can be reproduced in the future. In March this year, GAC Aion changed its cooperation with Huawei from the HI model to the parts supply model.
Compared with Wenjie's new M7, which has received more than 100,000 large orders in more than two months since its launch, it seems difficult to determine whether Huawei's empowerment is feasible, but at least so far, Hongmeng Intelligent's smart car selection model has been verified by sales.
This is enough to give both Huawei and car companies confidence to start more cooperation. Therefore, Thalys, Chery, JAC, and BAIC have all entered the Hongmeng Zhixing "family". However, at present, under the Hongmeng Zhixing option of Huawei Mall, there are only models of Zhijie and Wenjie, and Jihu is not included in them.
Image source: Screenshot from Huawei Mall
As the second brand of Huawei Hongmeng Smart, the performance of Zhijie is also of great significance to Huawei. Whether it can replicate the success of Wenjie and create a smart new energy brand will inevitably have an important impact on Huawei's future direction in the automotive field.
Who has a higher “Hua content”?
As a smart car brand co-operated by Huawei and Chery, Zhijie has still avoided the edge of Wenjie. The models currently on sale in Wenjie are all SUVs, and the Zhijie S7 is the first sedan of Huawei Smart Car. Whether the Zhijie S7 can sell well will be a verification of Huawei's Hongmeng Zhixing model's "star-making" ability.
The recently launched Zhijie S7 is available in 4 versions, priced from 249,800 yuan to 349,800 yuan. The starting price is 8,200 yuan lower than the pre-sale price. According to official information, the Smart World S7 is equipped with Huawei's technologies or functions such as Huawei's ADS2.0 high-end intelligent driving system, a new generation of HUAWEI DriveONE power platform, Huawei's Touring intelligent chassis, and HUAWEIxMotion intelligent body collaborative control system. It has a high "luxury content". At the same time, this car is also the first model equipped with HarmonyOS4 Hongmeng system.
Yu Chengdong said at the press conference that the specifications of Zhijie S7 are higher than those of Tesla Model S and Mercedes-Benz EQE, but the price is at the same level as Tesla Model 3. In addition, the new DriveONE800V silicon carbide high-voltage power platform and Huawei Touring intelligent chassis equipped with Zhijie S7 are also the focus of Yu Chengdong's recommendation.
This has also led to a lot of comparisons in the market. Although Huawei has differentiated its layout of Wenjie and Zhijie models, the "luxury" of the two is still discussed repeatedly. Almost all the selling points of Zhijie are centered on the "black technology" empowered by Huawei. Therefore, there has been a discussion on the Internet about Wenjie being the "eldest son" but Zhijie being the "legitimate son".
Affected by this, Cyrus' stock price fluctuated violently.
But for the fledgling intellectual community, it is a great benefit, and attention has been greatly increased. According to official reports, the current order volume of Zhijie S7 has exceeded 20,000 units.
In fact, the front face of the Zhijie S7 adopts the same family-style design language as the Wenjie M9 - this is the first time that a product of Huawei Smart Car has been linked at the appearance level. In the era of smart cars, in addition to the mechanical structure, the entire product process is run through the Huawei Hongmeng system at multiple levels including smart driving, smart cabin, and smart control.
Under the Hongmeng Zhixing model, Huawei not only is deeply involved in product development and design, but also relies on its own sales channels. Therefore, the level of "luxury content" is also regarded by customers as one of the important references when purchasing a car model. At Huawei's major stores, there are endless inquiries about which parts of vehicles are equipped with Huawei technology.
Huawei obviously hopes that Hongmeng Zhixing's various brands and product series can achieve the advantage of grouping together and form a complete product matrix in the market.
According to Yu Chengdong's plan, Huawei's car BU business will be profitable in 2025, reversing the situation that he previously said "car BU is Huawei's only loss-making business." The prerequisite for achieving this goal is that the cumulative sales in smart car selection and HI modes reach 1 million.
Judging from the current situation, this goal is still not easy to achieve. In the field of "most capable", the cumulative sales this year have not exceeded 100,000 vehicles. Moreover, according to the production and sales report of Thalys, the company's loss for each car sold in the first three quarters reached 16,800 yuan.
The same problem also exists in Zhijie. According to Yu Chengdong, "There is a huge quarrel within the company over the pricing of this model. The current prices of the four versions are all at a loss."
As Huawei's "circle of car-making friends" expands, Hongmeng's brands may form a "new force" that cannot be ignored in the auto market. However, it is not yet known whether the new business model and structure will bring greater room for development or internal friction that is difficult to balance. Whether the profitability issue can be solved through the ever-expanding Huawei "grand alliance" is another problem that Huawei urgently needs to solve in the automotive field.
Ping An Securities believes that Huawei’s presence in the automotive industry is increasing day by day, and other car companies are more willing to cooperate with Huawei than before. They choose to embrace Huawei’s smart car technology. The new company has great development potential, and its revenue will reach 100 billion in the long term.
Regardless of whether it is currently losing money and making a profit, Huawei's influence on the automobile market will continue. As for how much "real money" this 100-billion-level enterprise can achieve in the end, it will determine whether Huawei's "grand alliance" will respond to one another or work independently in the future.