Three people familiar with the matter revealed,Huawei has approached Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Audi brand to ask if they would be interested in buying a small stake in its new smart car software and components company.The move is aimed at expanding partnerships beyond Chinese brands, and Huawei hopes the presence of foreign investors will help protect its business from more potential geopolitical tensions, people familiar with the matter said.
The valuation of Huawei's new car company will be between 200 billion yuan and 250 billion yuan.
According to reports, Huawei has held preliminary negotiations with Mercedes-Benz in recent weeks and has proposed to Mercedes-Benz to buy 3% to 5% of the new car company's shares, with a valuation that has yet to be negotiated.
However, Mercedes-Benz does not have much motivation to push forward because it wants to continue to control the group's software business to maintain its high-end brand positioning.
As for whether Audi will cooperate with Huawei, people familiar with the matter said that it is not yet certain.However, Audi and Huawei established a partnership as early as 2018, and the two parties will cooperate in the field of intelligent connected cars.
It is reported that Huawei and Changan Automobile signed an agreement on November 25. Huawei plans to establish a new company to focus on the research and development, production, sales and services of intelligent driving systems and incremental components for intelligent connected vehicles.
In addition, Huawei stated that Huawei's new company has issued equity open invitations to Cyrus, Chery, JAC, and BAIC, and hopes that China FAW Group will join.