Author | 21 markets
Source | 21st Century Business Herald, Blue Blood Research (Lanxueyanjiu)
At 2:30 p.m. on January 9, Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of consumer business, and CEO of Smart Vehicle Solutions BU, connected with the media at its headquarters in Shenzhen. To be precise, this is the first time that Yu Chengdong has faced the media since he was appointed CEO of the smart car solution BU last year.
"We want to build the car companies that we have in-depth cooperation with into the most profitable car companies." More than two hours of video connection, Yu Chengdong repeatedly emphasized this sentence. He has a distinct personality, and his "gushing" style has never changed, "I want to say this first and let everyone see if we can cash in." ”
Throughout the connection process, Yu Chengdong supported the new model of cooperation with Xilis, "Why did Huawei choose Xiaokang for in-depth cooperation?" Because the well-off Cyrus is very strong in combat, it has a mechanism of desperate work, and the improvement speed is very fast. ”
From the production and manufacture of smart car parts, to the new business model of Huawei Inside created by joining hands with BAIC, Changan and GAC, and then to Huawei's use of its own channels to sell cars, Huawei's layout in the automotive field has gradually deepened. Huawei does not build cars, Huawei car BU helps car companies build good cars, and Huawei smart choice helps car companies sell cars. Huawei's automotive business needs to do both 2B and 2C. It can be seen that Huawei's car dream is not only to become a "Bosch in the era of smart cars", but to broaden the circle of friends and build a complete ecology.
On December 23, 2021, Yu Chengdong released Huawei's high-end AITO brand's first technology luxury intelligent electric drive SUV , the Q&I M5, and Huawei also stepped forward from behind the scenes for the first time.
"Huawei and Xilis cooperation is very in-depth, AITO Q&D, vehicle manufacturing and industrial production of the M5 is the responsibility of Xilis, Huawei does not build cars, Huawei's role is to help and assist, in the product modeling, interior and exterior design and brand marketing to provide empowerment." Yu Chengdong once again reiterated that Huawei does not build cars, "Huawei helps car companies build a new cooperation model by empowering car manufacturers, providing assistance to those car companies that cooperate with us in depth, helping them to become the most profitable and commercially successful car companies." ”
01
Huawei and Xilix complement each other's advantages
Looking back at the development process of China's automobile industry, the automobile manufacturing industry has made many breakthroughs, but it is hampered by the research and development and application of core technologies. In the trend of automotive intelligence, networking, electrification and sharing, software is placed in a more important position. In the era of software-defined cars, algorithms, operating systems, data, etc. are the core of competition, and intelligent hardware is the basis for technological development. Having sufficient strength and technology accumulation in intelligent hardware and software is an important reason why Huawei can quickly enter the automotive industry.
Huawei has repeatedly emphasized not to build cars, but to focus on ICT technology, becoming a supplier of automotive incremental components for intelligent networking, helping car companies to "build" cars and build "good cars". According to Huawei's vision, there are two business models for its participation in the automotive business: one is to sell parts and technical solutions to vehicle companies as a parts supplier in the traditional Tier 1 and Tier 2 identity; the other is the Huawei Inside model, which applies Huawei's full-stack intelligent car solutions to products, and jointly defines and jointly develops with partners to create a brand, but product definition, technology, and component selection are dominated by car manufacturers, and Huawei does not participate much.
Huawei has revealed that the Huawei Inside model only chooses three domestic partners - BAIC, Changan and GAC, "Although there is a standardized general platform, but for each cooperative brand to have a customized adaptation, the investment is too large, no more can not be done." ”
In addition, there is a model of Huawei's smart selection model, in which Huawei participates more in product definition, styling design, marketing, user experience and other aspects, and has more in-depth cooperation with car companies. Up to now, the Huawei Smart Choice channels are the Celis Huawei Smart Choice SF5 and AITO Q&I M5 jointly created by Huawei and Cyris.
Yu Chengdong denied that the outside world circulated that "the M5 is a car made by Huawei" and "Xiaokang has become a Foundry of Huawei", "At present, the vehicle research and development and vehicle manufacturing of the AITO M5 are all responsible for Xiaokang Xilis, and Huawei helps in product styling, interior and exterior design and brand marketing, including intelligent cockpits, motors, electronic controls, etc. Huawei's technology and components." ”
In Yu Chengdong's view, Huawei and Xiaokang complement each other's advantages. After more than ten years of development, Xiaokang Xilisi has strong vehicle design and manufacturing capabilities, and has rich experience in the research and development of pure electric drive range extender technology, and the Liangjiang factory in Chongqing is also one of the few intelligent factories in China; and Huawei has accumulated rich capabilities in modeling design, user experience design, brand, channel, retail, quality control and other capabilities in terminal BG in the past ten years.
"Huawei gives full play to its advantages in car parts, intelligence, software, hardware, and user experience, and Xiaokang plays its advantages in traditional body design, manufacturing, especially range extenders. Huawei helps car companies build a new cooperation model by empowering car manufacturers, hoping to help partners with Huawei to become the most profitable car companies in China, and the sale of products is also conducive to the commercial realization of Huawei's car BU parts business. ”
It is worth mentioning that Yu Chengdong also explained the reasons why Huawei chose Xiaokang Xilisi for in-depth cooperation. "On the one hand, the combat effectiveness of Xiaokang Xilis is very strong, and there is a spirit of hard work and hard work. On the other hand, Xiaokang Xilis also has a leading pure electric drive range extension technology, and we are also a choice made for the actual car use scenario in China. At present, the public charging network is not perfect, it is very inconvenient to use pure trams in small and medium-sized cities, and the attenuation of pure trams in the northern winter is also very strong. The advantage of the extended range is that it can play the performance of the tram, and at the same time has the benefits of the oil car, which is in line with the national conditions and the user's feelings. ”
Known as "intelligent terminal with wheels" and "an important solution for smart travel scenarios", the Q&I M5 has launched three models, including the rear-drive standard version of 250,000 yuan, the four-wheel drive performance version of 280,000 yuan, and the four-wheel drive flagship version of 320,000 yuan. According to reports, the new car is equipped with a pure electric drive range extender platform, its 1.5T four-cylinder range extender 3.0 liter of oil can generate 3.2 kWh of electricity, and the vehicle can achieve a WLTC working life of more than 1,000 kilometers under full fuel. The intelligent four-wheel drive combination composed of the front asynchronous AC motor + the rear permanent magnet synchronous motor can achieve a peak power of 365kW, the four-wheel drive flagship version can achieve 4.4 seconds acceleration of 100 kilometers, and the rear drive standard version can accelerate 4.8 seconds.
According to the plan, starting from January 20, 2022, the Q&I M5 will successively open the appointment test drive and booking in 118 cities and 500 Huawei stores, and the Q&E M5 will be delivered in February this year. In addition, the pure electric version of the M5 will be launched in the fall, and the second large luxury SUV of the AITO brand will be officially released at that time.
02
Challenge "Million Units"
Although Huawei claims not to build cars, it has been deeply involved in the key areas of smart cars, such as AR-HUD head-up display technology can present a 70-inch large-format display area at 7.5 meters in front, without affecting the driver's line of sight, displaying instrument information in the lower area to assist safe driving, and can also provide AR safety navigation information that fits the road surface and covers multiple lanes on demand, and has both audio and video entertainment functions; such as the accumulation of light technology and wireless communication technology to do lidar. We will accumulate more than 30 years in the field of ICT to empower partners such as algorithms, chips, and perceptions.
It is worth mentioning that as the next promising intelligent terminal device, the car is expected to become an important starting point for Huawei to seek diversified development and open up new growth points. Huawei, which sees huge business opportunities in smart cars, has shifted its perspective from production to sales. Huawei not only hopes for 2B, but also hopes to gain something in 2C business. At present, Huawei's consumer business has established more than 5,000 retail stores in China.
"Why does Huawei sell cars?" Yu Chengdong said that there are three reasons: on the one hand, after Huawei was sanctioned, due to the lack of 5G chips, the shipment of high-end mobile phones fell sharply, selling cars can help retail stores survive and help retailers make money; on the other hand, the current retail format has become a retail network centered on shopping malls and online, if car companies completely build a retail system with shopping malls as the core from scratch, rental costs and labor costs are very expensive, and with the help of Huawei's existing retail system and service network, It can help automakers save a lot of money from laying retail channel networks, and will also drive large-scale sales of CAR BU parts to achieve a win-win situation.
In addition, helping car companies achieve business success will also enable Huawei's smart travel ecosystem to grow rapidly and improve the user experience of other end products. "For example, the HarmonyOS smart cockpit can achieve linkage with mobile phones, form a strong ecology, and surpass opponents in ecological experience." In terms of ecological development, mobile phones and watches can control cars, and the navigation and video phones on the car can be seamlessly connected with mobile phones and tablets, and the account and experience are connected, which can be said to be a huge advantage of Huawei's ecology. ”
At present, "selling cars" has become a matter for Yu Chengdong to go all out. In his view, with the M5 extended range version, the M5 pure electric version and the three models of medium and large SUVs released during the year, relying on Huawei's strong channel retail capabilities, "we plan to use 1,000 stores to sell cars by the end of this year, assuming that each store can sell 30 units per month, monthly sales can reach 30,000 units, this year Huawei will challenge the sales target of 300,000 units, so that the annual sales of cooperative car companies will reach 100 billion yuan." Our goal is to build huawei's in-depth cooperation partners into the most profitable car companies in China. ”
Yu Chengdong also said that at present, Huawei's brand marketing capabilities, retail channel capabilities, and product competitiveness can support the sales target of 300,000 units, but considering that the product has just climbed, there are huge risks in the supply chain, and the serious shortage of goods in the industry should not be underestimated, and there are still many challenges in 300,000 units. "But our team dared to challenge and strive to finish. Our team is confident that next year we will be able to help our partners challenge million units in sales. ”
"Positioning determines status, and vision determines realm." If Huawei pursues the level of second-rate, it may not even be able to do third-rate or fourth-rate. If you pursue the first, sooner or later become the first, this is my tried-and-true concept, and it is also the work style of our team. In this field, we dare to innovate, dare to pursue, dare to invest in technology. Yu Chengdong finally stressed.
[Thank you for reading, forwarding is the biggest encouragement]
Ren Zhengfei internal speech audio version
"Like" is like, "watching" is true love