On April 5, Qingming Festival.
Yu Chengdong, who has worked at Huawei for 30 years, reported that he was leaving Huawei and joining Lei Jun instead.
"Really drunk, Yu Chengdong joined Xiaomi Auto, I dare not write a novel like this", for the news that Yu Chengdong is going to Xiaomi, the comments on the Internet are basically like this.
Xiaomi Group also used quite emotional words in its response to the media: make it up!
But a reality is that judging from the recent statements of Huawei and Yu Chengdong to the outside world, Yu Chengdong seems to have indeed become "some people" in the mouth of the teachers in the class.
And this time, should Huawei support Yu Chengdong once?
Yu Chengdong became "some people"!
Yu Chengdong is Huawei's "concubine", and to what extent.
Yu Chengdong joined Huawei in 1993 and has been practicing for 30 years. Moreover, in 2011, when Yu Chengdong took over Huawei's mobile phone business, Huawei's leader Ren Zhengfei said that not supporting Yu Chengdong's work is not supporting me!
Unfortunately, in the matter of building cars, Yu Chengdong did not receive the above support, and even gradually became the "some people" in the words of the teachers in the class.
Some time ago, when Huawei's commitment to not build cars was loosened from the last time, Huawei's deeply empowered AITO series models used "Huawei" in the publicity language, and then the news that Huawei wanted to build cars was very popular.
However, on March 31, Huawei issued an internal document to emphasize again that "Huawei does not build cars", and the document is valid for 5 years. In addition, Huawei has made strict requirements for body marking, proposing that "HUAWEI AITO" cannot appear in vehicle promotion.
"In fact, we originally hoped to use Qianjie as a cross-border cooperation brand, so we added 'Huawei' in front of it" Yu Chengdong, is it embarrassing?
What is even more embarrassing is that Xu Zhijun, Huawei's rotating chairman, said this:
"Some departments, some individuals and partners have abused the Huawei brand in publicity, and this matter has been in the process of investigation and handling", "Huawei's brand built with more than 30 years of development cannot be abused at will."
Who does "some individuals" refer to? Go without saying. As the saying goes, there is no wind and no waves, when Yu Chengdong becomes some people, the news of the departure will naturally appear, it doesn't matter if it is true or not!
Yu Chengdong never said that he wanted to build a car!
In the recent news about whether Huawei can build a car and Yu Chengdong left, the "car manufacturer" Yu Chengdong has become a consensus.
But in fact, even Yu Chengdong has not publicly said that he wants to build a car, and in the recent Electric Vehicle 100 People Forum (2023) (hereinafter referred to as the 100 People Forum ), Yu Chengdong spent a lot of space in his speech on "building a car", but did not say that he wanted to build a car.
"Huawei does not build cars, but helps car companies build good cars together, and we have always adhered to this concept. It's just that we want to turn "HUAWEI Question" into an ecological brand, so that consumers are not confused when choosing."
"If this car comes out, they all use different brands, we go to marketing, service, retail, it is very complicated, the input cost is very high, we want to use a common element and a common brand to use, such as in the way of "HUAWEI Asking the Bounds".
"AFTER ADDING IT, SOME OF OUR COMPANY LEADERS HAD DIFFERENT OPINIONS, SO WE ISSUED ANOTHER DOCUMENT TO CANCEL "HUAWEI." In fact, the essence has not changed, we essentially want to be an ecological brand of "HUAWEI" and jointly create a series of models."
In fact, even if he explained to "some leaders", Yu Chengdong did not say that he wanted to build a car. But that doesn't mean he really doesn't want to, does it?
After Ren Zhengfei made a promise not to build cars, Yu Chengdong left a message below the promised post: "This era has changed, and this will only make it more difficult for us!" In a few years, everyone will understand! Leave it time to check! ”
Yu Chengdong also said: "For an industry, only with deep insight and deep understanding can we grasp the right direction!" Mark it and come back in a few years! ”
What will everyone understand? What to see in a few years? What did Yu Chengdong want to say? We might as well translate and translate, is it "Huawei will miss the opportunity if it does not build cars"?
Yu Chengdong rarely received support from the outside world!
Frankly speaking, because he has always been "far ahead", Yu Chengdong's impression in the eyes of the media and some automotive engineers is not very good, and some industry insiders contacted by the editor of "Dao Ge Say Car" will also call him "Yu Dazui" in private.
But this time, Mr. Yu seems to have some supportive voices. In the recent forum of the 100 People's Association, Yu Chengdong expressed several views, including:
1. Huawei is still a sanctioned company, in this case, it is difficult for European, American and Japanese car companies to choose Huawei as the main intelligent supplier; New force car companies have their own pursuit of intelligence, and it is unlikely to choose Huawei in intelligence; Traditional car companies are afraid of losing their souls and will not choose Huawei.
2. The investment in intelligence is huge, and if a large number of vehicles that use Huawei's automation solutions are not well used to carry out a large number of sales, they cannot be commercially monetized and cannot achieve a closed commercial loop.
The above views are actually to discuss the answer to an answer - why Huawei makes smart cars. In Yu Chengdong's view, Huawei cannot become a supplier such as Bosch and Mainland.
"In the past, the idea was to become a supplier of parts, Tier1, a supplier similar to another Bosch or Continental in the automotive field. But in today's era, it seems that this condition is not very true", Yu Chengdong said, as for the reason, in addition to the fact that intelligence is difficult to sell standardly, there are also the above.
"Big mouth is right!" A former executive of a car company told the editor of "Dao Ge Says Car" that because Huawei was sanctioned, international manufacturers will not use it, Wei Xiaoli and other new forces do not use him to take the route of science and technology, and independent brand manufacturers will not use Huawei if they want to maintain their souls. Therefore, it is impossible to take the supply chain route, and you have to build your own car.
Interestingly, Huawei's Huawei Inside model (that is, HI mode) has exhausted, as Yu Chengdong said, "With HI mode, there are 3 manufacturers cooperating with us, but now basically only Changan's Avita is left." ”
Is Yu Chengdong's judgment wrong?
Back to a key question, will Huawei really miss the opportunity if it does not build cars?
Perhaps, Huawei has missed the opportunity? "Huawei missed a few years, originally Huawei's system has no cost advantage in car manufacturing, nor experience and technology accumulation advantages, so it is difficult to look at it." In particular, the model chosen in the early stage missed the window of several years," the unnamed automotive engineer told the editor of Dao Ge Say Car.
In his opinion, if Huawei really wants real money investment, it is still possible to build cars with real knives and guns, but he feels that Huawei does not have real knives and real guns, and has the meaning of wanting to do it, covering up. "Cars are the biggest industry after real estate, so you should have done it yourself," said the unnamed auto engineer.
And what if Huawei starts building cars now? "Building your own car must also conform to commercial logic," said the executive of a former car company. At present, Huawei still has a deep "supplier" background in the automotive industry, whether it is the parts supply model, Huawei Inside model and smart car model, which is essentially "Huawei" to empower car companies.
And if Huawei builds its own cars, will it cut these businesses that other car companies feel hostile? So is the output brought by car manufacturing enough to smooth out the benefits of empowering car companies?
Perhaps, whether Huawei can build a car or not, it is essentially a "Meridian Valley conspiracy", but Yu Chengdong played Wei Yan, and Ren Zhengfei and Xu Zhijun played Zhuge Liang. Of course, if Yu Chengdong really leaves Huawei and goes to Xiaomi, other companies or financing his own car, it is more interesting, at least hope to see the success or failure of this "Meridian Valley Scheme".