On December 23, at the New Product Launch Of Huawei's Winter Flagship, huawei P50 Pocket folding screen mobile phones, Huawei Watch D watches and other new products appeared. However, what stole the limelight of this conference was the M5, the first model of the AITO brand, which was finally unveiled and introduced in 60 minutes.
"Huawei only makes parts, not cars, and will help car companies build and sell good cars." Although Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of Consumer BG, and CEO of Smart Car Solutions BU, once again emphasized this view, from the perspective of Huawei's participation and control over the Q&A M5, it is clear that it has far surpassed its previous automotive projects.
This time, Huawei from the early planning, design, to the later marketing, sales, etc., can be described as comprehensive, hands-on, and even the mobile phone team and software team are also involved.
Yu Chengdong even shouted slogans such as "comparable to a million luxury cars" and "opening a new era of smart travel" for this new model with a pre-price of 250,000-320,000 yuan. According to the new car war report, the M5 ordered 365 vehicles on the first day, and more than 1,000 vehicles in two days.
The AITO Q&E M5 is also the second model cooperated by Huawei's Smart Choice and Cyrus, and the new car will be born in Cyrus's own Liangjiang Smart Factory. However, the role played by Xilis under Xiaokang Co., Ltd. in the cooperation is getting closer and closer to the "foundry".
Building a car "one step away"
Huawei has expressed more than once that it "does not build cars".
The reason is that on the one hand, Huawei aspires to become a "Bosch" in the era of intelligent cars, and wants to become a supplier company with in-depth cooperation with car companies, rather than a pure car company; on the other hand, Huawei does not want to directly compete with car companies to avoid affecting other domestic businesses.
However, after the release of the AITO Q&A M5, people in the industry have issued such feelings: in addition to not hanging on Huawei's logo, this car has been infinitely close to Huawei's "pro-son".
Q&I M5 launched a total of three models, the pre-price of 250,000-320,000 yuan, in the case of a deposit of 10,000 (72 hours no refund), the first day of orders 365 vehicles, two days more than 1,000 vehicles.
From the perspective of product strength, AITO Q&I M5 is indeed remarkable at this level. Whether it is 4 seconds 100 km/h acceleration, CLTC service life of 1242 km, or Huawei's latest HarmonyOS operating system, this model is full of competitiveness.
AiTO Asks M5 "Almost all instructions can be executed by intelligent voice". Compared with the automotive products currently on the market, this is obviously a big improvement. Yu Chengdong mentioned that he hopes that Huawei can help car companies build good cars and bring everyone the ultimate smart travel experience.
"When this car was designed, my request to the team was to adhere to the brand spirit that Huawei Consumer BU (Business Unit) has adhered to for 10 years, which we call 'three modernizations', high-end, fashionable, and youthful brand spirit." Yu Chengdong said so at the press conference.
Huawei not only dominates the soul of this car, but also will cover the sales of this model. It is worth noting that aito asked the M5 to fully enter Huawei's channels.
According to the plan, from December 23, Q&I M5 will successively display real cars in 180 Huawei stores in 42 cities, and from January 20, 2022, Q&E M5 will open 118 cities and 500 Huawei stores to make test drives and reservations. Yu Chengdong also revealed at the press conference that after the Spring Festival, that is, in February 2022, the M5 will be delivered one after another.
From the design to the operating system and even to the sales level of the overall takeover, AITO Q&I M5 is also considered to be branded with a deeper Huawei imprint.
At present, Huawei still "does not build cars", but it is also a fact that it continues to increase investment in the automobile business.
Public information shows that in the emerging smart car business, Huawei will invest $1 billion a year, which is double the $500 million that Huawei raised 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.
Face a lot of tests
AiTO Q&I M5 combat effectiveness is full, but in the face of the current complex competitive environment, there is still great uncertainty.
AITO Ask Boundary M5 locks in the high-end market of domestic new energy models. At present, this is both the most significantly growing segment and the most competitive area in the future.
In this field, in addition to Tesla, Weilai, Ideal, Xiaopeng and so on, which have already launched models and occupied a certain market position, there are many new brands. For example, Dongfeng Motor launched the Lantu brand, BAIC Group launched the ARCFOX Jihu brand, Changan Automobile launched the Avita brand, and Geely also launched the Extreme Krypton brand...
At the same time, the layout of traditional luxury brands in the field of new energy vehicles has accelerated significantly, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, etc. are all pushing their own new energy models.
And technology giants have laid out this field, such as Apple, Baidu, Xiaomi, etc. are crazy to catch up with the progress. As recently, it has been reported that Apple plans to launch the Apple Car in advance in September 2022. That is to say, in the near future, these technology giants will become an important force in the competition of the new energy vehicle market.
As far as Huawei's own achievements in the field of car manufacturing are concerned, they are not eye-catching at present. Previously, whether it was the Xilis Huawei Smart SF5 jointly created by Huawei and Xiaokang Shares, or the Polar Fox Alpha S HI version jointly created by Huawei and BAIC, there were no results to be obtained.
According to the data, the sales volume of Cyrus Huawei Smart Choice SF5 from April to November 2021 is only 7,080 vehicles, which is not only a big gap with the current new forces of head car manufacturing, but also far from Yu Chengdong's goal of selling 300,000 new cars next year.
In addition, although the Polar Fox Alpha S HI Edition also uses the complete set of intelligent driving assistance provided by Huawei (including lidar and high-precision maps), as well as the intelligent cockpit based on the Hongmeng system and a large number of Hongmeng applications, the kirin 990A chip from Huawei supports this cockpit system. However, the mass production delivery time of the Polar Fox Alpha S HI version has been delayed again and again, and the significance of testing the waters is quite profound.
These not-so-successful car-making pasts show from some perspectives that, at least at this stage, Huawei, which has "shallow" car-making experience, has not really gained consumer recognition. This time, Huawei's deeply involved AITO asked whether the M5 could break through the siege and cope with more complex competition? Time will tell.
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