▲Huawei. Figure/IC photo
The sudden variables of Huawei's "car-making" that have attracted much attention.
Recently, it has been reported that a group of car owners have encountered "troubles" - the new Cyrus Huawei Smart SF5 car jointly launched by Huawei and Xiaokang shares has not yet arrived or will face suspension.
The field investigation of the media reporter found that the car had indeed been discontinued in the store.
The relevant person in charge of Xiaokang Xilis then responded that Huawei's Smart Selection SF5 was not discontinued, but it was temporarily suspended for the sake of delivery timeliness.
However, Xiaokang's statement did not eliminate the concerns of car owners, and some car owners began to defend their rights in groups. Their doubts point not only to the well-off who make cars, but also to Huawei.
Huawei enters the new energy vehicle market
In recent years, the new energy automobile industry has continued to heat up.
Around 2015, many large domestic companies have entered this field, and there was a lot of speculation about whether Huawei would enter the new energy vehicle market.
On April 17, 2019, at the "Fifth International Automotive Key Technology Forum", Xu Zhijun, rotating chairman of Huawei, stated that "Huawei does not build cars, but will focus on ICT technology to help car companies build good cars".
Huawei's choice of this positioning is not surprising.
The automobile industry is not Huawei's strength, and communication equipment such as automobiles and mobile phones are completely two orders of magnitude manufacturing. Whether it is at the level of capital or the level of manufacturing process, making cars is much heavier.
Huawei's advantages are strong R&D capabilities and communication technologies, as well as solid technology accumulation, so it has become a top supplier of car manufacturers, which is quite advantageous.
Huawei's "car-making" model: supplier + channel
At present, there are three ways for large enterprises to participate in the manufacture of new energy vehicles.
The first is to intervene in manufacturing in the form of key suppliers, such as Bosch, Delphi, etc. In the manufacture of new energy vehicles, the core components are related to the core competitiveness and are very critical. Therefore, the industry is also calling for the cultivation and cultivation of "Bosch and Delphi in China".
The other is to rely on its own brand and build its own factory, such as Xiaomi car.
The third is to participate in the manufacture of vehicles as a top supplier and use their own sales channel advantages. Huawei has chosen this one.
Huawei's "supplier + channel" model has its own unique market value: the technical advantages of technology companies, the endorsement of big brands, and the channel advantages everywhere.
Huawei's marketing channels and brand showrooms throughout major cities have eliminated a large number of 4S store construction costs and time costs. This channel advantage is undoubtedly very prominent among various competitors.
Therefore, Huawei's "car-making model" has many advantages, which can be described as "how to calculate how to have, how to calculate how to win." ”
The cooperation between Huawei and Xiaokang can be traced back to January 2019. The signing ceremony of the comprehensive cooperation between Xiaokang and Huawei was held, and the two sides said that they would further promote cooperation in the field of new energy vehicles.
On April 19, 2021, Huawei joined hands with Xiaokang to create a precedent for selling cars in mobile phone stores; on December 23, Huawei released a new mobile phone at the same time as Xiaokang's new car, and the two smart terminals of mobile phones and cars were released at the same press conference.
At present, domestic car companies still generally attach importance to experiential marketing, and strive to promote the sales model of "first experience and then buy" for consumers.
Huawei has a strong online digital marketing channel, especially in the core business districts of large cities, with massive offline store resources, which users can easily reach. Huawei's massive offline store resources are undoubtedly quite tempting for the sales model of domestic smart electric vehicles.
However, at present, although Huawei's "car-making" model has made progress, it has not fully reflected Huawei's advantages and channel value.
Huawei's "car-making" model has encountered embarrassment
Huawei's road to "car building" is not very smooth.
Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC, has said that by cooperating with third-party companies such as Huawei to drive autonomously, SAIC has become a body and lost its soul.
Huawei eventually succeeded in holding hands with Xiaokang.
Before cooperating with Huawei, Xiaokang ranked not high among the new domestic car-making forces.
After the "Huawei version" of the Cyrus SF5 was released, it caused some controversy.
People have mixed reviews of its product performance and degree of technological innovation.
In fact, with the blessing of the Huawei brand, the sales growth rate of the Xilis SF5 is indeed good. According to the association data, as of the end of November 2021, the cumulative sales of the Cyris SF5 were 6997 units, and in the whole of 2020, only 732 vehicles were sold.
▲ Cyrus SF5. Photo: Huawei China's official Weibo
Sales of the 2021 Cyrus SF5 have increased significantly, but this sales figure is less than half of the monthly deliveries of some of the leading companies in the new car-making forces.
Obviously, this sales volume does not reflect the channel value of Huawei's massive offline store resources.
The recent rights protection incidents of some car owners have made Huawei's "car-making" model appear in the public eye in a slightly embarrassing way.
The market doesn't give much time
In December 2021, Xilis announced that it will jointly launch AITO, a high-end smart car brand, with Huawei. AiTO's first model is a mid-to-high-end SUV, the Q&I M5, equipped with Huawei's Hongmeng smart cockpit.
Just the month of the official release of the AITO Q&I M5, the Cyrus SF5 suspended test drives and sales on Huawei and Cyrus channels.
▲ AITO asked the circle M5 poster. Figure/ AITO authorized user center official WeChat public account
Huawei flagship store employees also revealed, "SF5 did not stop production, but does not accept reservations, and now AITO asks the world to meet the M5 new car on the market, the production line mainly supplies M5, SF5 depends on the manufacturer's notice." ”
Obviously, Huawei is reshuffling its cards. SF5 is making way for M5. The Q&I M5 can be described as Huawei's "painstaking work".
According to reports, Huawei's industrial design team and software team participated in the development of the Q&I M5. In addition, the Q&I M5 is equipped with many Huawei solutions such as harmonyOS intelligent cockpit, HUAWEI DriveONE pure electric drive range extender platform, AND HUAWEI SOUND sound system, and is also regarded as the "first Hongmeng car".
It has been reported that aito Q&A M5 has entered Huawei's smart selection channel, which is the latest manifestation of Huawei's strength to help car companies "build good cars and sell good cars". After the comprehensive subsidy, the pre-sale price of AITO M5 is 250,000 yuan - 320,000 yuan.
It can be said that the Q&I M5 has high hopes from Huawei. Whether this new car can be accepted by the market and consumers, and whether it can set off a new climax in the sales of new energy vehicles, is also a key move to verify Huawei's "car-making" model.
Recently, for the new car M5 that has just begun to accept reservations, Xiaokang shares said that the first quarter of this year will begin to reflect the effect of cross-border cooperation, from February will begin to be small batch delivery, March will enter the batch delivery stage, "the company is very confident in the sales data from the second quarter to the fourth quarter." ”
It said that the current sales of high-end electric vehicles will usually have a certain amount of time, "but there is full confidence and confidence in our products and channels, and I hope to achieve the sales scale achieved by others in five or six years within two years."
According to Xiaokang Shares, the M5 is mainly produced at the Liangjiang factory in Chongqing, which can produce 15,000 units a month. The second half of the model will be produced at another plant in Chongqing.
From SF5 to M5 to make way, car owners to protect their rights, and SF5 sales in the past two years, it can be seen that in order to open up the situation in the field of intelligent electric vehicles, expanding production capacity and investing resources are still important issues facing Huawei and Xiaokang.
The Cyrus side recently said in the "Letter to Cyrus SF5 Users" that "another brand new factory is in full swing to expand production capacity." ”
At present, in the competition with Tesla and new domestic car-making forces, Huawei's "car-making" breakthrough is facing a key time window. It can be said that in today's rapid development of smart electric vehicles, the market will not give car companies too much time to wait. Once this opportunity is missed, the market pattern is formed, and it will be more difficult to catch up.
Of course, China has a strong automobile manufacturing capacity, Huawei has a strong research and development capabilities and solid technology accumulation, as long as you make up your mind, expand production capacity, increase scale, in the future market of intelligent electric vehicles in the "sea of stars", to seize a piece of the world, and even become a trendsetter, it is also very possible.
Therefore, Huawei's "car building" is still worth looking forward to.
Contributing Writer | Xin Zhi (Special Researcher of Emerging Industry Development Column)
Edit | Zhang Xiaoyuan
Proofreading | Dangerous