Huawei defines itself: "Huawei does not build cars, but helps car companies build good cars." "
Up to now, Huawei has helped car companies launch 3 models, namely BAIC Jihu Alpha, Chongqing Xiaokang Xilis SF5 and AITO Q&I M5.
These three cars can basically represent the three modes of Huawei's car manufacturing. Polar Fox Alpha is led by BAIC, with Huawei's light participation. Although polar fox alpha is labeled huawei, both the soul and the shell are dominated by BAIC.
Xiaokang Xilis SF5 is jointly manufactured by Huawei and Xiaokang, Huawei provides a complete set of soft installation systems, but the shell manufacturing is completed by Xiaokang itself. As the core supplier of Cyrus SF5 cars, Huawei is the soul provider of Cyrus SF5, while Xiaokang is the shell forger.
The AITO M5 is the third car huawei has participated in the manufacture. Although Huawei has always declared that it does not build cars, the AITO M5 is actually the first car made by Huawei. AITO is a high-end new energy vehicle brand jointly launched by Xilix and Huawei, and Huawei has participated in the design and manufacture of the M5.
It can be said that after the official launch of the M5, Huawei already has the ability to develop and design new energy vehicles. If Huawei builds its own car, it only needs to find a foundry to copy the Model of Weilai. Weilai is to master the vehicle technology research and development and design, and the production is handed over to Jianghuai Automobile.
These three cars represent Huawei's continuous deepening in the field of car manufacturing and the launch of different products. However, judging from the sales results, it is difficult to say that the three new energy vehicles marked with huawei labels have been successful.
The price of BEIQI Jihu Huawei HI Edition after subsidies is 319,900, and the cumulative sales volume of 2021 is about 1,000 vehicles. The price of the SF5 after subsidy is 216,800, and the cumulative sales volume for the whole year of 2021 is 6997 units. AiTO Q&I M5 has just been launched, with more than 6,000 first prepaid orders.
Polar Fox Huawei HI Edition and Xilis SF5 two cars have been on the market for more than half a year, the results can not be said to be bad, can only be said to be very poor. Among them, the Cyrus SF5 was rumored to be discontinued. Although the rumors have been debunked, the first batch of car owners have almost become guinea pigs of Huawei's cars. Sales of the SF5 did not meet expectations, not only a brand problem, but also a quality problem.
For Huawei, the Cyrus SF5 is the first car to test the waters for the first time. If you don't do well, it is also expected, and if you give up, you will give up. Among Huawei's smart partners, in addition to Cyris, there are Changan and GAC.
The one who suffered the most damage was the first owners of Xilis, who became the test field for Huawei's smart cars. It can be said that the Xilis SF5 is the first test of Huawei's car.
The newly released AITO asked whether the M5 can successfully break through, and the prospects are not predictable. Although the initial prepaid orders of the M5 exceeded 6,000, the first prepaid orders in Xilix also exceeded 6,000 in a week, but the annual sales did not exceed 7,000 in the end. This means that the volume of chargebacks is also very large.
Many people have misunderstandings about Huawei's car manufacturing, and regard the Polar Fox Alpha, Xilix SF5 and AITO Q&A M5 as Huawei cars, but in fact, they are not Huawei cars. Their real name should be Huawei Smart Select brand.
What is Huawei Smart Select brand? Brands that are deeply embedded in Huawei's core system can be labeled as Huawei's smart choice. Not only in the automotive field, but also in the field of mobile phones, a series of Huawei smart mobile phones have been born.
Huawei and Nokia have formed a joint venture company called Dingqiao Communications. The company has launched a range of Huawei Smart phones. Because of the U.S. blockade, TSMC can't oem 5G chips for Huawei, but Nokia can. Therefore, Nokia and Huawei jointly established Dingqiao Communications, directly changed the name of Huawei mobile phones, and then Nokia went to find TSMC's Foundry Kirin chip, and Huawei completed the move of "Ming Repair Trail, Darkness Chen Cang".
Huawei mobile phones are reborn in the form of Huawei Smart Mobile Phones. In the shareholding structure of Dingqiao Communications, Huawei is also the largest shareholder and actual controller, and Nokia plays the role of a bridge.
The Dingqiao M40 is the same as the Huawei mate40
However, Huawei's smart phone is not a Huawei phone after all, but a joint venture brand mobile phone that uses Huawei's core technology.
In the automotive sector, the same is true. Pole Fox and Xilix are not Nominally Huawei cars, but only cars that use Huawei technology. BAIC and Xiaokang are automakers, and Huawei is only a supplier of core technologies, such as Hongmeng system, automatic driving, lidar, and vehicle specification chips.
However, there is a huge marketing misalignment in this. Jihu Automobile is not a Huawei car, it is a BAIC automobile, and Xilis is not a Huawei car, it is a well-off car. But BAIC or Xilis, looking for Huawei cooperation, one is to value Huawei's technology, and the other is to value the appeal of Huawei's brand. Therefore, the press conferences of Pole Fox and Xilis were handed over to Huawei.
And Huawei wants to use any of these cars to hit its own name as Bosch, and it is willing to do this, and the problem will come out.
Obviously it is BAIC's car, obviously it is a well-off car, but in terms of marketing, it is fully Huawei-oriented and fully linked to Huawei. As a result, the owners of the car all bought the BAIC Pole Fox and the well-off Xilis because they supported Huawei. When selling cars, the sales of Pole Fox and Xilis will also hide BAIC or Xiaokang synchronously, vigorously tout Huawei, and use Huawei's brand appeal to achieve sales conversion. In the end, the owner decided in his heart that this was a Huawei car.
However, in terms of after-sales, Huawei is irrelevant, and ITC or Xiaokang is responsible. The product has a quality problem, and the responsibility is also borne by BAIC or Xiaokang. Huawei is only a supplier, but this supplier has overdrawn its brand credibility to car owners.
As long as the car has a problem, the owner will blame Huawei. The result of all this is the dislocation of brand recognition. And Yu Chengdong himself likes to boast about Haikou at the conference, just like the mobile phone conference, often using exaggerated words such as "crushing" and "super cost performance". Like the just released Q&A M5, Yu Chengdong blew to: "Million Luxury Car Experience".
Cars are not the same as mobile phones, mobile phones you can blow around, after all, only a few thousand dollars a piece. As long as it is not bad to use, everyone can accept it. However, Huawei's smart choice car is often more than 200,000, which may be the owner's savings for several years. As long as there is a little bit of glitch, it will also be infinitely magnified, and this dissatisfaction will eventually form a reaction to the Huawei brand.
Car launches really can't be as big mouths as mobile phone launches. Yu Dazu must control his mouth, and cannot copy the mobile phone marketing set to the stage of automobile marketing.
There is another problem with Huawei's smart new energy vehicles, that is, it is divorced from the price affordability of ordinary consumers. Although Huawei's mobile phone mate series has broken through the high-end crowd, Huawei's core user base is still dominated by ordinary consumers. In the automotive market, the largest segment is actually 100,000-150,000. When the starting price of Xilis sold to 210,000, most car owners did not go to Xiaokang, but to Huawei.
Why is Huawei Smart Select Car expensive? Actually, not expensive. The prices of Xiaopeng, Ideal, Weilai, Tesla and BYD Han on the market are basically between 200,000 and 400,000. People think that Huawei's smart car is expensive, but they just think that BAIC and Xiaokang are not worth it. In the current mainstream new energy vehicle market, only Wuling, Nezha and leading cars with less than 200,000 models are available.
So far, Huawei still faces a contradiction that is difficult to reconcile. That is, big auto brands are reluctant to give their souls to Huawei, and small auto brands can't afford Huawei's premium of smart cars. Huawei's entire set of smart car technology is not cheap, it is Huawei invested heavily in research and development to get. Putting this set of smart car technology on XiaoKang's body is like a pair of golden saddles, paired with an inferior old horse.
You say, you want to sell 210,000, of which horses are worth 100,000 and saddles are worth 110,000. Is the consumer buying a saddle or a horse?
If Xiaokang is replaced by SAIC Motor, huawei's brand premium and quality control of Smart Choice Automobile can undoubtedly go up to a higher level. However, SAIC Has money and talent, and would rather join hands with Bosch to build a new golden saddle than use Huawei's saddle.
There is no good saddle and no good horse, which is the biggest difficulty in Huawei's car manufacturing at present.
Produced by ZAKER News
Text / Chopin