Huawei, Xiaomi, Meizu, whose car-making model can win?
As technology giants have entered the new battlefield of smart cars, a new round of "smart car wars" has begun. At a time when the industry is hotly discussing whether the "Nokia moment" of the automotive industry has arrived, smartphone manufacturers are entering this track one after another.
At present, Huawei is expanding the "circle of friends" of smart cars outside the world, Xiaomi is also in full swing to promote the launch of the first car in the first half of next year, and Meizu is backed by the resources of Geely Group, and plans to launch the DreamCar co-creation plan in the first quarter of 2024 and launch the first customized model MEIZU DreamCar MX.
Under the wave of electrification, intelligence, and networking, the development of the automobile industry is no longer limited to single-line technological innovation, but a multi-technology integration and innovation that integrates artificial intelligence, non-inductive interaction, space-ground communication, and cross-border interconnection capabilities. These capabilities also give mobile phone manufacturers a "ticket" to compete for a new track. From the perspective of the way of cutting into the track, the three mobile phone manufacturers of "Hua Xiaomei" are just divided into three types: Meizu integrates into the Geely automobile system, Huawei relies on intelligent capabilities to become a new car supplier, and Xiaomi directly enters the integrated supply chain as a mobile phone manufacturer to make cars.
What is the difference between the three in the path of car manufacturing, and is it worth learning from other consumer electronics manufacturers? These may not be able to be answered in the short term, but a clear direction is that the value generated by the integration of mobile phones and the automobile industry is growing exponentially. In the second half of automotive intelligence, there will eventually be new cross-border giants.
Meizu is backed by traditional car companies
After the integration of Meizu and Xingji Times, Meizu Group was acquired by Li Shufu, and its business direction also expanded from smartphones to XR (extended reality) and smart cars.
In the view of Shen Ziyu, chairman and CEO of Meizu Group, the car is currently changing from a traditional means of transportation to an interconnected mobile platform for intelligent travel, and the ecological model based on "handcar interconnection" is emerging, and semiconductor technology, operating system, and software ecology are the core advantages and scarce capabilities. At this stage, the real potential players must be those technology companies that integrate mobile phones and automobiles, software and hardware, intelligent terminals and the Internet of Things.
"The mobile phone team is actually a dimensionality reduction blow to the intelligent OS of the car. The process and computing power update speed of mobile phone chips is much faster than that of car machines, and the requirements for software research and development capabilities are much higher than those of car machines. When mobile phone companies go out to build cars, they will form a dimensionality reduction blow to traditional car companies in the software field. Shen Ziyu said that at present, car companies need to build their own software capabilities, but after investing a lot of manpower, financial and material resources to develop their own software, the sales scale has not changed much compared with before, but mobile phone manufacturers are profitable in software and have a rich ecology. Code, iterations, ecosystems. These are the real thresholds for car companies. AR smart glasses, 21 series smartphones, and FlymeOS, the operating system that introduces the Flyme AI model, constitute a closed-loop software and hardware ecosystem.
According to the latest announced plan, in 2024, Meizu will launch a Meizu customized car, equipped with Meizu's Flyme Auto in-vehicle system and integrating Meizu's past resources in software, design, and interior. And the car has also become the main landing scene of its first AR smart glasses. In the first quarter of next year, Meizu will also launch the DreamCar co-creation program, where users can co-create personalized details such as the vehicle's coat painting, interior color matching, and Flyme Auto theme, and users can participate in customization. Meizu Custom Cars will be combined with a range of Geely Auto Group's manufacturing capabilities.
Zhang Xiang, dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute of Jiangxi New Energy Technology Vocational College, told the first financial reporter that Meizu will develop potential car owners from mobile phone users, and Meizu is currently doing more about the function of connecting mobile phones and cars. Meizu is backed by Geely's huge size, and the risk is relatively small, unlike Xiaomi and Huawei, which are deeply involved, Meizu is mainly dependent on Geely to build cars.
Meizu does not need to enter the supply chain to be supported by Geely's supply chain and manufacturing capabilities. At present, Meizu's ability to participate in car manufacturing is more reflected in the integration of resources with Geely Group. In 2022, Xingji Times, founded by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, acquired a 79.09% stake in Meizu, and Xingji Times and Meizu merged to form Meizu Group. Extending from the mobile phone system, Meizu's main product to enter the automotive ecosystem is the intelligent cockpit operating system Flyme Auto.
Internally, it empowers the Geely system, rather than competing externally with other automakers, so that Meizu's software and hardware capabilities can be quickly released. Meizu's intelligent cockpit system, Flyme Auto, has been quickly applied to Geely models and is currently installed in the Lynk & Co 08. The newly released FlymeLink will also be available on the Lynk & Co 06EM-P and Lynk & Co 09. In June this year, Meizu Group also established a joint venture with Geely car brand Polestar, and the Polestar 4 models scheduled to be launched by the end of this year will be equipped with the Polestar OS intelligent cockpit system developed by Flyme Auto. Meizu's hardware business is also deeply involved in Geely's automobile, and Meizu has partnered with Polestar to develop Polestar phones, which are scheduled to debut next year.
Unlike Huawei and Xiaomi, Meizu, which is backed by Geely Group, has a lot of room to equip its own software and hardware in Geely system models, even if it does not launch its own brand models. In October this year, Geely Automobile sold 180,700 units, of which 62,100 units were new energy vehicles, and the Lynk & Co 08 equipped with Meizu's intelligent cockpit system sold more than 12,000 units in 54 days after its launch.
Li Shufu previously said that the prospect of automotive intelligence is broad, not only in the automotive industry, through the layout of mobile phone business, the deep integration of the consumer electronics industry and the automotive industry, cross-border to create a user ecological chain, can achieve collaboration. Shen Ziyu also said that Huawei is far ahead in terms of intelligence and software capabilities, and compared with its competitors, Meizu's large platform has about 30 years of automotive genes and a deeper understanding of automobiles.
Huawei is deeply involved in the EV supply chain
Huawei, on the other hand, is deeply involved in cooperation with car companies as a supplier, and Huawei, which does not directly build cars, strives for cooperation as the key to business growth. Its cooperation is divided into parts supply, HI (HuaweiInside) supply model that provides full-stack intelligent solutions, and smart car (Hongmeng Smart Travel) model, and the degree of cooperation is from shallow to deep. The most talked-about smart car model has been infinitely close to car manufacturing, and existing brands include Wenjie in cooperation with Celis, Zhijie in cooperation with Chery, and follow-up smart car partners also include JAC and BAIC.
The first financial reporter learned that Huawei, which does not directly build cars, is deeply involved in the intelligent experience of cooperative models and has formed its own supply chain.
Southwest Securities sorted out 28 suppliers in the world, the reporter found according to the announcement of listed companies, among which more intelligent-related suppliers are directly cooperating with Huawei, for example, in the field of intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving, Huawei's suppliers include Huayang Group, which provides AR-HUB (head-up display) and digital acoustics, Joyson Electronics, a supplier of intelligent cockpit domain control products, Yingqu Technology, Jingwei Hengrun, and suppliers in the drive field include Fulin Seiko, which provides intelligent electric drive reducers. Connector suppliers Yonggui Electric, Yinlun shares, in addition, acoustic system supplier Shangsheng Electronics, intelligent lamp supplier Xingyu shares.
This is in line with the products that Huawei supplies to car companies, including intelligent driving chips, smart lights, smart car chassis, smart driving, and smart cockpit solutions, which are originally required by upstream suppliers. In addition, some suppliers who provide frames and brake discs say that they are cooperating with Huawei Jinkang (the previous name of Cialis), while CATL is cooperating with Huawei and Cialis at the same time, showing Huawei's deep control over the supply chain. Most of the suppliers who directly cooperate with Sailis are mechanical, including password security equipment, seat frames, pipelines, die-casting bodies, gear parts and other suppliers.
Huawei's partnerships with automakers are still fluctuating. In the cooperation with Chery, Chery has demonstrated stronger supply chain control capabilities. Based on Chery's large volume, more suppliers are considering cooperating with Chery, and Chery has a stronger ability to control supply chain costs and participate in aluminum alloy die-casting. The Huawei Tuling intelligent chassis equipped with Huawei and Chery's first smart car, the Zhijie S7, also uses some of Chery's hardware. However, in the Zhijie S7, Huawei's participation in intelligent components is still high.
Huawei, which is deeply involved in car manufacturing, is also balancing the positioning and invisible competition of models it cooperates with car companies. The first smart car brand Wenjie focuses on SUVs, the second smart car brand has launched its first sedan, and it is expected to launch SUVs in the future, and the smart car in cooperation with JAC may launch MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) at a higher price point.
Previously, Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei and Chairman of the Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU, said that different smart car brands will form differences in models and do not conflict with each other. However, the above people familiar with the matter said that different smart car brands will not be distinguished by models, but more by user positioning, and smart components will be matched differently according to positioning.
Xiaomi invests in industrial chain enterprises
Xiaomi, which directly entered the car building, is about to come out with its first car. At present, it seems that its first car will be a Xiaomi brand pure electric car, and in terms of supply chain control, Xiaomi will invest in industrial chain companies and other ways.
On November 15, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced the Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products (Batch 377) and the Catalogue of Energy-Saving New Energy Vehicle Models Enjoying Vehicle and Vessel Tax Exemption and Exemption, which included the information on the declared models of Xiaomi Auto. According to the public information, the trademark of Xiaomi automobile products is Xiaomi, which is a pure electric car, and the model word mark includes "SU7 Max" and "SU7 Pro", the manufacturer is Beijing Automotive Group Off-road Vehicle Co., Ltd., and the registered address is No. 1, Tongxin Road, Zhaoquanying Town, Shunyi District, Beijing, and the production address is No. 21, Huanjing Road, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone.
At present, the industry generally believes that Xiaomi Auto does not have the production qualification at present, and mainly produces through cooperative car factories. Zhang Xiang told the first financial reporter that whether the product can succeed in the future is not directly related to whether it is OEM or whether it uses the production qualifications of others, for example, Weilai Automobile is also produced in the form of cooperation with others' qualifications.
On the interactive platform for investors in Shanghai and Shenzhen, according to incomplete statistics, more than 20 companies have responded to the cooperation with Xiaomi Automobile, including Shuanglin Co., Ltd., Chaoda Equipment, Shangluo Electronics, FAW Fuwei and many other industrial chain companies.