In the camp of independent brands, Huawei's voice has always been very high, whether it is a mobile phone or a car.
In March, Huawei's deeply involved in the sales of the new car Q&I M5 reached 3,045 units, which is already very good for a domestic SUV with a price of 260,000-320,000 yuan. Therefore, the first quarter performance of the partner Xiaokang shares was gratifying.
But for Huawei, it is difficult to say success. Not to mention the hopelessness of competing for the first place in the industry, according to the minimum standard, the monthly sales should also be more than 10,000 vehicles, which is almost the same as the ideal ONE of the extender.
Moreover, whether it will rise steadily or fall into a bottleneck is still unknown. After all, the Previously Collaborated Cyrus SF5 has cooled off once. Of course, the M5 Huawei's participation is higher, and the product force should be stronger.
Obviously, this curve car model makes Huawei's brand power unable to fully exert, although the newly created AITO brand Race Lisi is more acceptable, but it is still not Huawei after all.
On the basis of 3,000 vehicles sold every month, if the next can not quickly break through and quickly stand on the race point of 10,000 vehicles, the AITO brand may be forced to become the last rehearsal for Huawei to personally build a car.
The logic behind the curve car
Nowadays, the century-old automotive industry is undergoing comprehensive changes, and the blessing of new energy and intelligent network technology has changed the product attributes of automobiles, and also broken the technical barriers of traditional automobile giants, making cross-border car manufacturing relatively easy.
Therefore, there are classic cases of Tesla quickly becoming a giant in foreign countries, and a number of new car-making forces from scratch have emerged in China, such as the "Wei Xiaoli" from the Internet, which is now a force that cannot be underestimated in the industry, and even easily breaks through the "ceiling" of independent brands and occupies a place in the luxury market.
Technology giants such as Xiaomi and Baidu have also directly gone down, and they are currently progressing smoothly. However, Huawei has repeatedly declared that it "does not build cars", but wants to become an important part of the industrial chain and be a top supplier like Bosch.
According to Huawei's logic, car manufacturing is a system project, there are too many shortcomings that need to be made up, and the capital investment is huge, especially in the manufacturing process, far from having a mature foundry system like mobile phones. Huawei's advantage lies in technology research and development, especially in the field of intelligence, including intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, etc., which can provide comprehensive services for the main airport.
The advantage of this is that, on the one hand, it is cooked and not raw, and the risk is small, on the other hand, it masters the core technology and maximizes profits. For a technology company, it is natural to know the benefits of mastering the core technology, so Huawei proposed to take the Bosch model at the beginning, more accurately, the Qualcomm or Google model, which is of course cooler than building a car.
In addition, there is another important reason, which Huawei openly acknowledges, that is, Huawei's ICT (information and communication) infrastructure and intelligent terminal business, still regards Europe as an important market, especially Germany, and direct car manufacturing will compete with these target customers.
The Bosch Model and the Debate of the Soul
At present, some senior executives of Huawei do not fully understand the automotive industry, and the idea of copying the Bosch model has not been recognized by mainstream car companies, whether it is an international manufacturer or most of the first-line independent brands.
As we all know, the core technology of smart phones is chips and systems, the reason for subverting traditional mobile phones, in addition to experience, more importantly, ecology, Nokia is to do its own system, refuse to accept Android, and finally the competition fails out, can be described as "standing dead", if you accept Android, it will not be weaker than the current Samsung. Microsoft, Apple, and Google have mastered the ecological control and become the masters of this industry, obtaining the most profits in the industry.
In today's transformation of the automotive industry to new energy and intelligence, everyone knows the stakes, even if high-end chips have no way but to purchase, but the leading right of the system and ecology will not give up lightly. Therefore, Huawei's cooperation with OEMs is more of a supplier of a certain link, such as HiCar based on Hongmeng OS, similar to Apple's Car Play, which is purchased more.
Moreover, it is not the only supplier, the main engine factory generally Apple, Baidu and Huawei's systems are purchased together, and generally have their own systems, such as: BYD Han used the Hongmeng system, but also has its own DiLink system, which belongs to the parallel relationship and is used to enrich the user's choice.
In this regard, SAIC's senior management once threw out the "soul debate", bluntly saying that the intelligent technology must be in its own hands, and it cannot purchase a third party in its entirety, otherwise the main engine factory will lose its soul and eventually become a foundry. Frankly, this concern is not without merit.
In this case, the only manufacturers with huawei in-depth cooperation are BAIC, GAC, Changan and Xiaokang. Among them, GAC and Changan's products have not yet landed, BAIC's Polar Fox Alpha and Xiaokang's Xilis SF5 have been listed last year, but the effect is not ideal. Therefore, later, Huawei and Xiaokang Automobile jointly created a new AITO brand, and launched the first model of the M5 for the first time.
Ask the selling points and regrets of the M5
It is undeniable that Huawei has a brand aura, and when the Xilix SF5 was launched, it set off a wave of bookings, driving the rise of xiaokang shares. But after all, the company's manufacturing capacity is limited, so the product delivery is not as good as expected, and it will soon cool down.
The creation of the AITO brand and the launch of the M5, Huawei's participation has deepened, and the car has been deeply branded by Huawei from positioning to release to promotion. According to Huawei trader Yu Chengdong, this car follows the three elements of "experience, quality and brand", that is, to copy the experience of Huawei's high-end mobile phones. From the perspective of product strength, this car has three core selling points: long battery life, high performance and luxury experience.
This is a range-extending electric vehicle, using Huawei's Drive ONE pure electric drive range extender platform, with a 1.5T four-cylinder engine as the range extender, the comprehensive endurance can reach 1100 kilometers, pure electric mileage of 150-200 kilometers. In terms of performance, the all-aluminum alloy chassis, using the independent suspension of the front double wishbones and the rear multi-link, the dual-motor four-wheel drive model can achieve 4.4 seconds to break the hundred, and the control is very stable.
Of course, the biggest surprise is still the intelligent network connection, the M5 is the first model equipped with Hongmeng intelligent cockpit, which can realize the flow of multi-terminal information and open up the intelligent interconnection capabilities of people-cars-homes. On the hardware, it has a built-in 10.4-inch curved full LCD dashboard and a 15.6-inch central control large screen, which is comparable to Huawei mobile phones and tablets.
On the whole, in terms of technology, Huawei did not use its full strength in the M5, the core competitiveness is actually only based on the intelligent cockpit of the Hongmeng system, and in terms of intelligent driving, it has chosen to be conservative, but the general L2 level level in the industry, and the proud lidar has not been played.
Judging from the reaction of consumers, the M5 does represent huawei's normal level, and the perception is much stronger than the SF5, but it is not as amazing as the new folding phone, so it is slightly regrettable.
Fortunately, the second model of the AITO brand, the Q&I M7, is also on the agenda, the size is one larger than the M5, and the price is in the range of 300,000-400,000 yuan, directly competing with the ideal ONE. Because the positioning is more high-end, I believe that Huawei will make a fierce material and arrange its core technology one by one.
Huawei must make up its mind to build a car
Imagine if the Q&I M5 is listed a year in advance, that is to say, Huawei's first large-scale appearance in the automotive circle, what is displayed in front of everyone is not the Polar Fox and Cilis, but directly this Q&I M5 is not better?
It is said that the order for the M5 has reached 40,000, and only more than 3,000 units were delivered in March due to insufficient capacity. This statement cannot be verified, and can only continue to wait for sales in April and beyond to confirm it.
However, from the feedback of the terminal and the reaction of public opinion, the heat of this car is not as strong as the new car effect of BYD and "Wei Xiaoli", and with the digestion of the orders of die-hard fans, whether the follow-up can keep up is a problem. After all, it is not the real Huawei, for Huawei fans, whether it is for the sake of feelings, or the technology, it will be a little reluctant to accept, after all, the price is not cheap.
China is the most friendly market for new energy vehicles, but the window period is not too long, Huawei's technical advantages if the lack of practical experience of best-selling models, may be surpassed by opponents at any time, and Huawei's brand resources can not withstand the consumption of cutting sausages once and again. With the new cars of xiaomi, Baidu and other technology giants on the market, the competition in this market will be more intense, especially Huawei's old rival, Yu Chengdong's old friend Lei Jun, after entering the game, the knockout will quickly enter the match point.
So, it's time for Huawei to consider how to build a car. What mode to choose? Is it to build cars directly like Xiaomi, or to find a company OEM like Weilai, or to pull a first-line car company partnership like Baidu holding hands with Geely?
It is reported that Xiaokang Automobile is indeed increasing production capacity, and the Phoenix Smart Factory will soon be put into operation, adding 100,000 production capacity, plus the Liangjiang Factory and shiyan Factory, the annual production capacity will reach 200,000 vehicles. So, can Huawei's cooperation with Xiaokang move closer to the Weilai model? Perhaps, the Q&I M5 or the next Q&I M7 is really only one LOGO away from the hit.