Hello, everyone!
Huawei's winter flagship new product launch came as scheduled, and we did not usher in the real flagship Mate 50 series that should have arrived. A less mainstream folding screen phone P50 Pocket, did not set off too many waves.
Starting at 8988, it is increasingly unaffordable
When the conference was about to end in the upgrading of some conventional products, a car took to the stage. Yu Chengdong, president of Huawei's consumer business, the man known for his big mouth, began a performance that refreshed the perception of the automotive industry.
A unique press conference
New energy, competing with BBA
Unlike other products at the conference, the cars that drove on stage did not belong to the Huawei brand. This car comes from the strange brand AITO's Q&I M5, and the pre-price of 250,000-320,000 yuan was announced at the press conference.
The press conference brushed the screen in the automotive circle, which lies in Yu Dazui's innovative comparison method: The Q&A M5 is a new energy vehicle, or more precisely, a pure electric vehicle with a range extender. But at the press conference, it was a group of gasoline vehicles that used "backward energy" for comparison.
The words may not be clear, and the opponents are:
Porsche Macan, Mercedes-Benz GLC, Audi Q5L, BMW X3
Nowadays, the compression ratio is still controversial, and the use of range extenders to compare the thermal efficiency of traditional engines is a bit of a hooligan in itself. What's more, a series of traditional Autobots' seemingly bizarre competitions are also used:
Invented the equivalent battery capacity of the fuel tank, hanging electric vehicles
The engine is struck with an electric torque reduction, but it is also very powerful
Yu Chengdong himself also made a bold summary of the M5 at the press conference:
"For the design of the M5, my request to the team is that according to the standards of the Million Luxury car, the appearance, interior, performance, experience and quality requirements of the Million Luxury car are built to create our car, and the chassis of our car is very high-end, the chassis of the Million Luxury car."
——Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG and CEO of Smart Vehicle Solutions BU
When Huawei's Yu Chengdong introduced this "Million Luxury Car" product on the stage, the representative of xilis, the real owner of AITO, only listened quietly offstage.
Who is AITO
AITO is a new brand, and the manufacturer behind it is called "Jinkang Xilisi", which is a new company established at the end of May 2019, whose main business is the research and development, production and sales of new energy vehicles. The company is new, but it's by no means a "new person" who has just entered the automotive business.
From Dongfeng Xiaokang to Huawei Smart
The actual holder behind the scenes of Xilis is called Chongqing Xiaokang Industrial Group Co., Ltd. And this company entered the earliest brand of the automobile industry, everyone should know - Dongfeng Xiaokang. In the micro-surface, micro-card and other markets once fought with Wuling, Chang'an and so on, there were back and forth.
Dongfeng Xiaokang is most famous for these micro-faces with BMW faces
In mid-2016, it spent 2.5 billion yuan to start a pure electric vehicle project, and established a company called SF MOTORS in Silicon Valley, which was also built by the R& D team in Silicon Valley. From a technical point of view, Xilis is an ambitious product based on the international market, and the strength of the product is not weak.
The SF5 concept car released in the United States in 2018
Unfortunately, Cyrus has no presence in the market before. In 2020, the Xilis SF5 was launched in China, and a total of 791 units were sold in the following six months. In the first three months of 2021, the car sold a total of 150 units, with an average of 50 units sold per month. To really enter our vision, we have to wait until the exhibition car of Xilis is placed in Huawei's exhibition hall and transformed into Huawei's smart SF5.
Deep binding Huawei?
Huawei has brought a lot of sweetness to Xilis: after transforming into Huawei Smart SF5, the number of reservations directly reached 6,000 units. From the double digits of monthly sales in the past, to now the monthly sales have approached 3,000 units, enough for the previous Xilis to buy for several years. At the beginning of December this year, Xilix suddenly released a new high-end brand: AITO, and the simple conference did not even attract much attention until AITO opened a Huawei conference.
There have long been rumors in the jianghu: today's Xilis has been substantially reduced to Huawei's foundry. It is rumored that Huawei has a large number of engineers stationed in Xilis, and even since Huawei's smart selection of SF5, Huawei has paid great attention to the design of the vehicle. The AITO M5 is designed and developed completely under huawei's control.
Promotional materials are all in line with Huawei products
Ask what kind of car the M5 is
Back to a more grounded and simpler question: AITO asks what kind of car is the M5?
Deeply branded by Huawei
Huawei platform, Huawei cockpit, Huawei... It's all Huawei's
The sound is all Huawei's
One of the big selling points of the Q&C M5 is that it is equipped with the Hongmeng OS intelligent cockpit, which can be summarized as having a better intelligent experience today. However, although they are all Hongmeng OS smart cockpits, specific to different models, some functions are also different.
Range extenders are selling points
In addition to the Hongmeng OS smart cockpit, another core technology brought by Huawei to the Q&I M5 is Huawei's DriveONE pure electric drive range extender platform. Its 1.5T four-cylinder range extender 3.0 liter of oil can generate 3.2 kWh of electricity, and the vehicle can achieve CLTC working life of 1102 kilometers when fully charged. At the press conference, Yu Chengdong did not have the chaotic image of DISS electric vehicles queuing up to charge in the high-speed service area.
The power of this electric drive system is also very abundant, the intelligent four-wheel drive combination of the front asynchronous AC motor + the rear permanent magnet synchronous motor composed of the peak power can reach 489 horsepower, and the vehicle accelerates by 4.4 seconds from 100 kilometers, which is also strong in the same level of new energy vehicles.
The product is not perfect
Despite Huawei's two major technology support, the M5 is not perfect: the design is difficult to say that there are highlights, the front face is extremely similar to the Cyrus SF5, and the side and back are similar to Porsche. Although the cockpit uses the Hongmeng ecology, it is difficult to say that it is eye-catching. More importantly, in the Hongmeng ecology, the M5 is also an entry product with low sensors and no lidar. As a range extended electric vehicle, there is no policy advantage.
If you need a smart car, choosing the Q&I M5 should have a great experience. If you need a more secure car, then asking the M5 is more or less risky. All in all, it is a fresh product, whether it is worth buying or not, depending on whether consumers are willing to pay for it.
The twist of Huawei's car
After this wonderful conference, it was Yu Chengdong's emphasis again: "We only make parts, do not build cars, we will help car companies build good cars." Not only to build a good car, but also to sell a good car. "Yes, even if AITO has a deep Huawei brand, Huawei still refuses to recognize this child."
Huawei said "I don't make it"
This is not the first time that Huawei has emphasized that it "does not build cars", in recent years, Xiaomi and Apple have joined the car-making boom, and Huawei's attitude towards not building cars has been more resolute, and it has made 8 public statements in the past three years: it will not build cars, it will not build cars, it will not build cars, it will not build cars, it will not build cars, it will not build cars.
In November 2020, Ren Zhengfei, the head of Huawei, conveyed in an internal document a sternly worded determination to adhere to the "no car" strategy, and even more bluntly said that whoever dared to make a car within the company would be transferred from his job. In May of this year, Huawei officials once again emphasized: In the future, all discussions that Huawei build cars or participate in the automobile manufacturing industry are rumors, do not be gullible.
Huawei's actions are honest
However, under careful investigation, the M5 adopts a full set of Huawei products, and each core technology is developed by Huawei. Huawei and Xilis's current model is actually no different from the OEM production of Weilai, Xiaopeng and others using the qualifications of established automobile companies. It's different, except that Cyrus still symbolically retains its brand.
The official website of Xilis is also full of Huawei smart selection
On the sales side, this is even more true. The Q&I M5 will be displayed in 180 Huawei stores in 42 cities, and from January 20, 2022, it will open test drives in 500 Huawei stores in 118 cities, and will be sold by Huawei in Huawei's sales channels.
Hang it on the huawei mall homepage with other Huawei products
In fact, now, the place where you are most likely to see the Cyrus SF5 is also Huawei's flagship store. Even, you may have only seen Cyris in various commercial complexes, placed next to Huawei's mobile phones and computers. Aside from Huawei's turf, you've probably never seen it before, and you don't know where Cyrus's 4S store is.
Will Huawei build cars in the future?
In September, Xu Zhijun, Huawei's rotating president, said bluntly in an interview: "There are a few car makers who make a lot of money, but those who do not build cars make more money." How many car brands can survive in the future, and how many more can exist, is still unknown. The more everyone builds a car, the more calm they have to be. ”
Xu Zhijun once said: As long as I and Ren Zhengfei are still there, Huawei will never build a car!
Huawei's ideal is to do Bosch
In fact, Huawei has been seriously explaining why it does not build cars, in the view of Huawei's senior management, the core competition of new energy vehicles is not vehicle manufacturing, but related equipment, batteries and intelligence. In fact, the same is true in the traditional automotive industry, behind the success of BBA and Toyota are parts giants such as ZF, Bosch, aisin, and behind the ups and downs of car brands is their stability.
Huawei has indeed made great efforts in intelligent driving, but there is still a lack of accumulation in mechanical aspects, body design, and interior man-machine. Today's Huawei, if it rushes directly into the whole vehicle manufacturing, it will smash the hard-accumulated brand.
At the same time, one of Huawei's most important strategies in recent years is to promote the Hongmeng ecosystem in the automotive field. This grand strategy and as a supplier of components, it is difficult for Huawei to succeed on its own. All need to be open to more brands, and more brands are needed as participants.
The car machine ranks in the second layer of Hongmeng ecology
In this way, Huawei cannot personally enter the field of automobile manufacturing and compete with potential collaborators. Not to mention that Huawei's involvement in the automotive industry has aroused the vigilance of the automotive industry, and this year's soul theory of the chairman of SAIC Motor clearly shows the attitude towards Huawei's entry. Huawei is cautiously testing, and traditional car companies are still hostile.
"It's like having a company that provides us with a holistic solution, so that it becomes the soul and SAIC becomes the body." For such a result, SAIC is unacceptable and must take the soul into its own hands. ”
——Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor
In addition to ambition, Huawei does not personally involve in the automobile manufacturing industry, and may also be helpless. After the consumer electronics business is hit by U.S. sanctions, there may be similar potential risks in the automotive sector to play the banner of Huawei. Today, when Huawei is not completely free from the influence of US sanctions, more is better than less.
But Huawei also has no shortage of reasons to build cars:
At this time, I was forced to come out of the platform
Huawei's top brass continues to emphasize "not building cars," but others at Huawei don't necessarily think so. Huawei also has many reasons not to build cars, but now Huawei needs an auto company to make its own various solutions land. And first-line car companies will not give the "soul" to Huawei, so Huawei can only find third- and fourth-line brands.
Polar Fox S Huawei Hi Edition recently opened for delivery
And such a brand, its own influence is too poor. Huawei originally wanted to be a big guy behind the scenes, but the reality was forced to have no way, and could only use Huawei's influence to stand for Cyrus. If you can't rush into this industry, you can only use the vague form of AITO.
The future investment is fascinating
In addition to using the darkness of Xilis Chen Cang, Huawei has also been making massive investment in the two words of automobiles. This year, Huawei's annual R&D investment in automobile-related projects has reached the level of $1 billion, far exceeding the guarantee of $500 million invested at the beginning of the year. In contrast, Xiaomi, which personally built a car, invested only 10 billion yuan in the first phase.
If the investment of funds may be invested in the core components and ecology behind it, Huawei's massive recruitment of vehicle engineers is difficult to explain just to assist the AITO project: Huawei's intelligent car department has more than 5,000 R&D personnel around the world and has established more than 10 R&D centers.
Whether Huawei will go directly in the future is still unknown.
Write at the end
Huawei is a good at mining demand, creating demand of the enterprise, whether it is dual camera, multi-camera or folding screen, etc., Huawei is often not the forerunner of a certain technology, but always the first to give a truly mature and practical solution to the enterprise. I hope that in the automotive field, Huawei can also give a different solution.
Do you think it is better for Huawei cars to maintain the existing way, or to use the Huawei brand directly? Welcome to the comments section and discuss with us.~