On November 25, 2020, Ren Laozi left a harsh word: "Whoever proposes to build a car again will be transferred from his post."
Personally issued the document, once again reiterated: Huawei does not build the whole vehicle, but focuses on ICT technology, helps car companies build good cars, build good cars, and become an incremental component provider of intelligent and connected cars.
The time has just turned a year, and Huawei is deepening in the field of car manufacturing. With Huawei's "successive releases" of auto fox alpha, Chongqing Xiaokang Xilis SF5 and AITO Q&I M5.
"Huawei brand cars" may be only one point away.
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. From industrial design, software services, marketing services are all responsible for Huawei, the whole process has participated in the design and manufacture of the M5, sales and after-sales links are personally taken over by Huawei, and even the charging pile is marked with Huawei's LOGO.
If this is not "car building", then I really don't know what is a car building.
Yu Chengdong has been saying, "We only make parts and don't build cars, but we help car companies build good cars." But why is it that in fact, Huawei is getting closer and closer to the "ban" of its own car construction?
In 2021, Huawei's mobile phone business shrank again, and huawei's mobile phone shipments in the global market in the third quarter were 5.8 million units, with a market share of only 2%, down 40.8% month-on-month and 84.95% year-on-year.
Affected by the mobile phone business, in the first three quarters of 2021, Huawei's revenue was 451 billion yuan, down more than 200 billion yuan from the same period last year, down nearly one-third. However, HUAWEI CLOUD, digital energy and other aspects are burning money, and still need continuous blood transfusions.
Huawei urgently needs to find new revenue and profit growth points, and smart cars are just an industry comparable to the smartphone boom.
Knowing the reason, let's pay attention to the achievements of "Huawei Auto".
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 from January to November 2021 is 7,080 units. AITO Q&I M5 was just launched at the end of the year, with the first 6,000 prepaid orders.
Make a simple data comparison.
For the full year of 2021, Tesla delivered nearly 936,200 vehicles worldwide. The new force Xiaopeng Automobile delivered the highest results, with a total delivery volume of 98,155 vehicles in the whole year, followed by a total of 91,429 deliveries by NIO Automobile and a total of 90,491 vehicles delivered by the ideal ONE. Tesla has entered the million mark, and the new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli" will also be among the 100,000-level clubs.
Judging from the sales results, it is clear that the three new energy vehicles labeled huawei are difficult to say successful, but their dismal sales are not unexpected.
Gac Aean, BAIC Jihu and Xiaokang Xilis, which cooperate with it, are all brands with low market recognition and poor sales, while the first-line car companies with considerable sales and the powerful new car-making forces are unwilling to cooperate with them in depth. Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC, faced with the torture of investors, clearly stated: "With third-party companies such as Huawei to cooperate in autonomous driving, SAIC has become a body and lost its soul."
"Putting a Rolls-Royce engine on a tractor, it's definitely a tractor, not a Rolls-Royce."
Big auto brands are reluctant to give their souls to Huawei, and small auto brands can't afford Huawei's premium of smart cars. This is a contradiction that Huawei still faces so far that it is difficult to reconcile.
From another point of view, the vast majority of car owners buy Cyrus SF5, focusing on Huawei's "endorsement". After all, for most car owners, spending more than 200,000 yuan to buy a car is not a small amount, and the reason why most of them "dare" to abandon the mainstream new car-making forces or traditional brands is out of trust in Huawei's platform and support for domestic products.
As a result, Huawei is now reshuffling, removing the Xilis SF5, launching a new car brand AITO, the new car was bought for half a year, it is facing "disguised suspension of production", its own most trusted brand, but engaged in such a show, in the eyes of these car owners, it is undoubtedly Huawei "cut leeks".
Huawei, who first dabbled in the automotive field, made such a storm, and the follow-up "Huawei car" is afraid that it will only make people avoid it.
Our faith is running out, Huawei, I hope you are strong!