The fate of SF5 discontinuation, with the birth of AITO Q&A M5 seems to be a foregone conclusion?
On January 4, the first batch of Huawei car owners were on the road to rights protection. A number of Cyrus SF5 owners posted a complaint in a car community: the car was stopped shortly after buying, and even a Shenzhen Cyris SF5 owner threatened to find 370 car owners to defend their rights together.
The Xilis SF5 is the first model cooperated by Xiaokang and Huawei, and when it came out in April 2021, various news of "full orders", "bookings exceeded 6,000" and "orders exceeded 10,000" were all over the sky. Just when people thought that the Xilis SF5 would become a hit under the blessing of Huawei, the sales performance for several consecutive months surprised everyone.
According to the data of the Association, as of the end of November, the cumulative sales of the Cyris SF5 were 6997 vehicles, which was very different from the official order announced. It can be said that the high-profile publicity of "bursting orders" cannot save the "dismal" sales of reality.
Bookings for SF5 have been discontinued
According to reports, at present, the Xilisi store has been changed to the AITO brand, and the exhibition cars are sold off the line at a discount.
As for whether the Selice SF5 will be "discontinued", the official has not yet given a clear message. However, Huawei related sources said that SF5 has indeed stopped accepting bookings, according to the plan, before December 31, the national Xilisi stores will be changed to AITO brand user center.
Some owners who found that their car had stopped production just a month after picking up the car said that they were "the first batch of leeks and the last batch of leeks".
According to the Securities Times, there are also car owners who said that they paid a deposit of 10,000 yuan for Thelis SF5 on December 12, and as a result, after selling their old cars, they were told that they could not pick up the car, and now the deposit cannot be refunded, the car cannot be mentioned, and they have to return their old cars, and they have been asked for twice the compensation by the second-hand car dealership. At the same time, complaints about the quality of the SF5 began to skyrocket.
In the face of car owners' doubts, on December 25, 2021, Xilis released a new and upgraded exclusive benefit project to upgrade the warranty policy, including: 1. The first owner of the Cyris SF5, the warranty of the whole vehicle and the range extender was upgraded to a lifetime warranty (see the "Implementation Rules for the Lifetime Warranty Service" of the Xilis APP for details); 2. Increase/exchange exclusive rights and interests: The first owner of the Cyrus SF5, increase/exchange any of the models under the AITO brand within 4 years, on the basis of enjoying the current promotional rights of the new car to be purchased, You will be able to enjoy an additional exclusive discount of 10,000 yuan.
But some car owners do not buy it, first of all, the scope of the lifetime warranty is vague, and secondly, they have to continue to buy and purchase AITO models, and spend a lot of money.
In addition, SF5 is originally a new energy vehicle + niche brand, not dominant in terms of retention rate, and now directly "stop production" in the case of such low production and sales, which also means that the future in the second-hand market and after-sales maintenance may face difficulties.
Huawei once had great expectations for Cyrus, at the sales level, Cyrus SF5 is the first automotive product to enter Huawei's sales channels, and Huawei even hopes that Cyrus can replace the reduced mobile phone business and become a new traffic and growth point in Huawei's consumer business.
Stores to be upgraded to AITO brand stores? Create momentum for the M5
The fate of SF5 production suspension seems to be a foregone conclusion with the birth of the Q&A M5. It is reported that the AITO Q&I M5 has more than 6,000 orders in the five days of listing, and its popularity is comparable to the previous Xilix SF5.
The Q&I M5 is the second car cooperated by Huawei and Xiaokang. On December 23, 2021, Huawei held a winter flagship product conference, mainly introducing two products, the first is the Huawei P50 Pocket folding mobile phone, and the second is the first model launched by the AITO brand, the Q&A M5.
Huawei Yu Chengdong spent a full 60 minutes at the press conference to introduce the car, and said that it is a domestic car that can compete with the Million Luxury Car. Among them, it is equipped with harmonyOS smart cockpit and Huawei's in-vehicle application ecology, zero hundred acceleration is 4 seconds, and the cruising range can reach 1100 kilometers.
Yu Chengdong stressed at the press conference that the Q&I M5 is a model for Huawei to be deeply involved in research and development, design and manufacturing from scratch, and fully realize Huawei's intelligent car capabilities and concepts, "comparable to a million luxury cars".
According to Huawei's store sales staff, 96 hours after the release of the AITO Q&E M5 on December 23, 2021, the scheduled number reached more than 6,500 units. In addition, it is reported that Xilisi stores will be upgraded to AITO brand stores to prepare for the sales of M5, and this upgrade plan will be completed before December 31.
It is worth noting that Xiaokang recently responded to the rumor that "Xilis is Huawei's car foundry": Xilix under Xiaokang co., Ltd. is a long-term partner of Huawei, not a foundry.
According to Sina Financial News, a person from Xiaokang co., Ltd. said that from the production and manufacture of the newly launched AITO M5 model to the whole value chain of user cars, Xilis is responsible for research and development, manufacturing, delivery, service and creation of a full-life cycle car experience, while Huawei is deeply involved in product definition, quality control and channel sales.
Q&I M5 will be sold as a smart car on Huawei channels, which is Huawei's practice of helping car companies "build good cars and sell good cars". Xilis and Huawei are long-term cooperative partners, empowering each other, and the two sides will cooperate around the three core industries of technology, channels, and products. In the future, cooperation in new technologies, new products and new fields is not excluded.
Seek a breakthrough in the new energy automobile industry
This is not the first time Huawei has tested the waters of the new energy automobile industry.
Previously, Huawei also jointly released the Alpha S Huawei HI version with BAIC Polar Fox, and once it was also rumored that Huawei wanted to invest in BAIC Polar Fox, which was later confirmed to be pure rumors. However, the news is not empty, from the perspective of Huawei's two tests of new energy vehicles, it still has a lot of ideas for the new energy automobile industry.
In recent years, the domestic new energy vehicle market has developed rapidly, and this year's production and sales are expected to exceed 3 million units, which is one of the few domestic automotive segments that are still maintaining rapid growth. Moreover, in the context of the era of carbon peaking in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060, the new energy automobile industry has very huge development prospects.
But so far, except for a few marginal new energy vehicle companies such as BAIC Jihu and Xilisi, which have reached cooperation with Huawei, no mainstream passenger car company has reached relevant cooperation with Huawei.
In this way, Huawei's test in the new energy vehicle market is only in the exploration stage, and the future trend of the new energy vehicle market is worth paying attention to.
(Titanium Media App Editor Zhang Hongjin Comprehensive From Securities Times, Sina Finance, China Fund News, Baijia, etc.)