Yu Chengdong: Huawei will not personally build cars, and will participate in the design of AITO brand models to help companies build good cars

In the period of rising new energy tracks, competition among various enterprises is becoming more and more fierce. On December 23, Huawei P50 Pocket released the folding screen mobile phone P50 Pocket, the smart office product Huawei MateBook X Pro 2022 model, and the consumer electronic product Huawei smart glasses at the winter new product launch. It is worth noting that the second car "AITO Q&A M5" cooperated by Huawei Smart Selection and Xilix will be displayed in 180 Huawei stores in 42 cities from December 23.

Different from the previous forms of Huawei's participation in car manufacturing, Huawei's participation and control over the AITO M5 far exceeds that of previous bicycle projects. From pre-planning, design, to post-marketing, sales, etc., Huawei can be described as comprehensive, and even the mobile phone team and software team are also involved.

However, Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of consumer BG, and CEO of smart car solution BU, stressed that Huawei only makes parts, not cars, and will help car companies build and sell good cars.

It is reported that the pre-sale price of AITO Q&I M5 after comprehensive subsidies is 250,000 yuan to 320,000 yuan. From January 20, 2022, the model will be opened in 118 cities and 500 Huawei stores to make test drives and reservations, and users can make reservations through the AITO official website and Huawei APP.

At present, Huawei's automotive business is mainly divided into two business models: Huawei Inside (HI), Tire1, and Tire2 (First Tier Supplier and Second Tier Supplier). Under the HI model, Huawei provides intelligent driving full-stack solutions including intelligent driving application software, computing platforms, and sensors, and has cooperated with Changan Automobile, GAC Group, and Beiqi Blue Valley. In Tire1 and Tire2 modes, Huawei provides seven business modules, including intelligent driving, intelligent vehicle control, intelligent cockpit, intelligent electric, and intelligent network connection.

Unlike the traditional supplier model, which charges development fees and sample fees first, under the Huawei HI model, Huawei only relies on the sales performance of the model after the listing to make a profit. It is understood that Huawei may no longer add a new HI model partner. Judging from Huawei's overall resource allocation in the smart car business, supporting three vehicle companies has made Huawei in a saturated state in the automotive business.

It is worth noting that from the sales data of Huawei's participation in some of the models sold, it may not be as expected. According to the report, Cyrus Huawei's smart SF5 sales from April to November 2021 are only 7,080 units, which is far from Yu Chengdong's goal of selling 300,000 new cars next year.

But at present, Huawei is also increasing its investment in the automobile business. Public information shows that in the emerging smart car business, Huawei will invest 1 billion US dollars a year, which is double the 500 million US dollars raised by Huawei at the beginning of the year. In the past two years, Huawei IAS BU has more than 5,000 R&D personnel around the world and established more than 10 R&D centers. And the relevant person in charge of Huawei revealed that IAS BU can not break even in the short term, which will be a long-term business that continues to invest.

In the industry's view, as a platform-based enterprise, whether more car companies are willing to cooperate with platform companies and adopt the standards formulated by platform companies in the future, or choose independent research and development, is still unknown.

However, Wang Jun, chief operating officer of Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution BU and president of the intelligent driving solution product line, revealed that in the past year or so, Huawei has developed about 300 partners in the field of intelligent vehicles, and the development speed has exceeded expectations.

(Compilation of Caijing New Media)