author
Barolo
As a lubricant for Huawei's wisdom to seek innovation and change, how far can AITO push Huawei on the two tracks of "selling cars" and "building cars"? All this may only be left to time.
Responsible editor 丨 Shi Jie
Edit 丨 Chic
During the New Year's Day, Nanjing East Road was crowded.
Walking into Huawei's global flagship store at 233 Nanjing East Road, the C position of the former C-hall that belonged to the Xilix SF5 has been replaced by the newly listed AITO Q&I M5. The debate over the Xilix SF5 continues, but the land-saving Nanjing East Road has quietly withdrawn all the models previously on display.
Eight months ago, the Cyrus SF5 was the protagonist here.
During the Shanghai Auto Show in April, Huawei organized a media briefing at its flagship store on East Nanjing Road, where the flashing lights flickered and Yu Chengdong, managing director and CEO of Huawei's consumer business, gave a 50-minute speech. Since that day, Huawei has launched a new auto retail business, "Huawei Smart Choice" has made a blockbuster appearance, and the Xilis SF5 has also been successfully accepted into Huawei stores for official sales.
"We're not selling this car for the time being."
In the face of doubts raised by the editor of "C Dimension", a salesman told us that Huawei's top priority is to free up more production capacity for the AITU Q&A M5, at least for a period of time in the future, the Cyrus SF5 will not be sold in the showroom for the time being. But as for when sales will restart, the staff present did not give a specific answer.
When visiting Huawei stores in Shanghai, the editors of C Dimension also exclusively learned the news that AITO Q&A will launch a pure electric version in the second half of 2022. After the two range extender models of Cyrus SF5 and AITO M5 "proved the way forward", Huawei AITO's first pure electric new car has also been included in the product layout, and will meet with consumers as soon as the second half of the year.
01
"Cannon Fodder", Cyrus SF5
The "exit" of the Cyrus SF5, so suddenly.
Just a week before the high-profile debut of the AITO M5 in Shenzhen, we also saw the Cyrus SF5 in Huawei flagship stores and authorized stores in Shanghai.
In the WeChat circle of friends of a Huawei sales, half a month ago, you can also see the screenshot of the big order of the good news chat about Xilis SF5, and in the car sales work group from the Shanghai store, everyone is happy for the latest order obtained.
The timeline is pushed further forward.
Yu Chengdong's high-profile introduction of the SELIX SF5 scene in the flagship store of East Nanjing Road is still vivid, he is full of confidence in the new car, and firmly believes that the order of magnitude gap is a cornerstone of Huawei's offline new car channel. After the introduction of new cars into Huawei channels, the news of receiving 3,000 orders in two days quickly spread in the industry, even if the real car has not yet been delivered, the order volume in just a few days has been remarkable.
Fast forward to eight months.
As can be seen from the Huawei winter flagship new product launch a few days ago, Huawei's communication of AITO Q&A M5 is much higher than that of Cyrus SF5, and the brand building is more solid than the latter, and the communication rhythm is better. After all, this is the inflection point of Huawei's simultaneous involvement with the "soul" and "body" of the new car, and it has also set up an independent sub-brand such as AITO to operate, and the official attention is naturally higher.
"The first version always has to pay a price."
After learning that the sale of Cyris SF5 was suspended, the editor of "C Dimension" contacted several Huawei store car sales for the first time, according to the feedback of the other party, Huawei's current tactics are to go all out to meet the production capacity of AITU to ask the M5, and the sales side is also inclined to this new car, there is no "suspension of production", but it is no longer accepting new car bookings.
In fact, the editor of C Dimension visited a number of Huawei stores three months ago, and we found that the production line shared by Huawei and Jinkang Xilis has always had production capacity problems.
In the past 2021, because of the supply of chips and other parts, the output of Jinkang production line has been controlled, although there is no large-scale chip shortage, but the car pick-up cycle still needs more than 2 months.
Essentially, this is a "production in disguise".
A number of sales told the C Dimension editor that although it is a pity that the Cyris SF5 withdrew from the showroom, in the case of limited production capacity, the Focus on the M5 is the only option.
After learning that the Cyrus SF5 had withdrawn from the Huawei showroom, the editor of C Dimension visited several Huawei stores in the Shanghai area. It is reported that the sold Cyrus SF5 can currently enjoy after-sales maintenance, repair and other services through the channels of Jinkang Cyrus, but it is still impossible to know whether some of Cyrus's terminal stores will transform into AITO sub-brands in the future.
02
Pure electric will be pushed in the second half of the year
"The SF5 is temporarily suspended, but there are other new cars this year." Two Huawei store sales revealed to the editors of C Dimension that the pure electric version of the AITO M5 will be available in the second half of 2022, and the medium-sized pure electric SUV is also within the scope of the plan to make up for the shortcomings of the product line that only has a range extender version at this stage.
After the launch of the Cyrus SF5, its extender product design once became the focus of industry discussion. After all, the horizontal comparison is in full swing at the moment of the new forces of car-making, and the new energy vehicles that are sought after by the market are still pure electric -
Originally thought that the second model cooperated by Jinkang Cyris and Huawei should be pure electric, but after the details of AITO asked the world M5 were exposed, the second car cooperated by the two companies was still a range extender version.
"C Dimension" has previously discussed that Xilis Huawei's smart selection of SF5 is only the first step for the company to enter the market to sell cars, and the extended range model is only a short-term consideration for Huawei to test the water and sell cars. This tech giant full of blood, tension and vision, if you want to go further on the car track, there must be a more exciting "king bomb" thrown out in the future.
However, when to shoot and how to shoot this "king explosion" not only tests the pattern of Huawei's senior management, but also relates to the overall plot of the company's auto new retail chessboard.
"Pure electric new cars, the price may be more expensive."
According to the information disclosed by Huawei's automobile sales, the starting price of 250,000 yuan at this stage of the Q&I M5 may become a price threshold for Huawei's smart future product line, and the new models launched in the future, whether it is the pure electric version of the Q&I M5 or the planned medium-sized pure electric SUV, its price is more likely to be higher than the M5 extended range version.
Huawei Smart Selection has since entered the 2.0 era.
Its biggest features, there are two.
The first is the product dimension. Huawei's strong control has penetrated into the "soul" and "body" of the new car at the same time, and the role played by Jin kang cyris is more of a "foundry", and the emergence of the M5 is the best evidence.
"C Dimension" analyzed as early as half a year ago that Huawei Smart Selection will not stop at dragonflies in product operation, and the premise of doing a big job is to strive for more product dominance.
Huawei's right to speak, is rising, Huawei was unable to affect the "soul" of the Cyrus SF5, and even the "body" shaping of this car has not been able to directly participate, and now the newly launched AITO Q&A M5 is the time for the strong tentacles of this technology company to reach the "soul" and "body" at the same time.
The second is the operational dimension. Whether it is the independence of AITO sub-brands, or the subsequent sales stores of Xilisi or the transformation of collective AITO brand stores, it has released an important signal that Huawei's smart choice of operation model will usher in a new change.
2021 is the year when Huawei "sells cars".
So, what about 2022?
We can even make a simple strategic preview for 2022 that Huawei has chosen - on the one hand, it is the landing of pure electric new cars, which is one of the necessary options for Huawei to "confront" the mainstream market in the future.
On the other hand, it is the iteration and upgrading of the selling points such as Hongmeng intelligent cockpit, which is one of the underlying technical logics supporting huawei's smart car"'s grand vision of "Internet of Everything", and it is also the only way for Huawei to take the "ecological route".
Guo Ping, Huawei's rotating chairman, also mentioned Heine's poem in his New Year's speech: "What is taken away in winter will be returned in spring." In his view, the first priority in 2022 is still survival, but "the sharper the flint is struck, the brighter the light emitted."
Brilliant light is an ideal state.
Can Huawei survive the winter and regain everything it lost in the spring? This battle, AITO, which appeared as a sub-brand, can be described as a mission.
C-DIMENSION
WeChat | Automobile Commune C dimension