Huawei, help Lantu connect a good leg

Can it be a sales booster?"

Author: Wang Lei

Edited by Qin Zhangyong

The white moonlight that Lantu was looking forward to finally appeared.

On January 22, Dongfeng VOYAH and Huawei officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement, and the two parties jointly announced that they will innovate and explore in multiple fields through cooperative models to accelerate the large-scale commercialization of intelligent technologies.

The signing ceremony was attended by You Zheng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., Lu Fang, CEO of VOYAH Automobile, Xu Zhijun, Vice Chairman and Rotating Chairman of Huawei, and Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU.

Source: "Let the Bullets Fly"

With the blessing of Huawei, for Dongfeng Lantu, there is no doubt that there is a strong pill.

Indeed, on January 22, Dongfeng Motor's one-word board directly rose to the limit, and as of noon closing, it was reported at 5.89 yuan / share, an increase of 10.09%.

With Huawei's powerful medicine, can VOYAH's sales soar?

01 

The probability is HI mode

Although the two sides have not announced the specific details of the cooperation, many people speculate that the mode of cooperation between Huawei and Dongfeng Lantu is HI mode.

This can also be found in the presence of the signing ceremony and the statements issued by both parties.

In the statement, the two sides clearly mentioned that they will innovate and explore models based on cooperation in multiple fields to accelerate the large-scale commercialization of intelligent technology.

This also means that Dongfeng VOYAH will not develop new sub-brands to cooperate.

In addition, at the signing ceremony, representatives of Dongfeng Motor Group attended the ceremony, including Deputy General Manager You Zheng, CEO of VOYAH Automotive Lu Fang, and COO Jiang Tao of VOYAH Automobile.

On Huawei's side, it is not Yu Chengdong, who often appears in charge of the car selection business, but Xu Zhijun, Huawei's vice chairman and rotating chairman, Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution BU, and Chi Linchun, vice president of Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution BU.

As we all know, Huawei has been walking on three legs in the development of the automotive field, namely parts suppliers, Huawei Inside (HI mode), and smart cars.

Huawei, which has always claimed not to build cars, has become an open secret about the development of the automotive field, and the "competition" between the two factions of HI mode and smart car mode has also become an open secret.

In the smart car model led by Yu Chengdong, Huawei is not like a supplier, but more like a "father of Party A", and the car company has become the role of a foundry.

In the HI model, Huawei, as a full-stack solution provider, provides technology and some hardware, and car companies have a greater say in the development process of new models, and the sales of new cars are still dominated by car companies, and the sales channels remain unchanged.

Previously, it was dominated by Wang Jun, but what few people know is that there has always been Xu Zhijun behind the HI model.

Every cooperation in the HI mode is directly promoted by Xu Zhijun, and Xu Zhijun has also stood for the ARCFOX Alpha S Huawei HI version and AVATR 11 many times.

From this point of view, the cooperation model between Huawei and Dongfeng Lantu has been basically determined. At the same time, it also means that Huawei's brands under the HI model have been expanded to three, namely Dongfeng Lantu, BAIC Jihu, and Changan AVATAR.

Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, highly praised Huawei's HI model, believing that it is worth discussing whether the intelligent selection model conforms to the laws of the industry and even whether it can protect the most fundamental interests of users, but the HI model is completely problematic and is in line with industrial policies and user needs at all times.

However, the current sales performance of Huawei's models in HI mode is not good. Taking AVATR as an example, the annual sales are about 25,000 units, compared with the 100,000 sales target set by AVATR in 2023, only a quarter of the target has been completed, and the annual sales of BAIC POLAR Fox are only 30,000 units.

Or because the HI mode did not bring much sales, the cooperation model between Huawei and BAIC Jihu was also upgraded from the HI mode to the smart car mode, and the binding between the two sides deepened again.

It is worth noting that Huawei has previously announced that it will establish a joint venture with Changan Automobile to separate the business related to automotive intelligence and operate it separately, and Changan will become one of the shareholders.

02

 Can Huawei become a sales booster?

It is not surprising that VOYAH has chosen to join hands with Huawei, after all, Cialis is also a Dongfeng company, and under the premise that the group already has a foundation for cooperation, it seems logical for the sub-brand Dongfeng VOYAH to follow up.

As for why not choose the intelligent selection mode of the current fire, there are both external and internal factors.

At the Chang'an Global Partner Conference a few days ago, Zhu Ronghua gave a more reasonable answer to why AVATR chose the HI model.

Zhu Huarong believes that the HI model is more suitable for state-owned car companies, so Changan Automobile AVATR chose the HI model, which not only ensures the independence of the Changan brand, but also allows AVATR to truly "distinguish rights and responsibilities".

He also said that to make a car, you must have your own brand, once there is a problem, the two sides may be arguing, but AVATR chooses the Huawei HI model, there will be no such situation, and whenever there is a problem, AVATR is responsible.

As an important state-owned enterprise, Dongfeng Motor's HI model has also become the best choice at present.

In addition, at this time, VOYAH is also in urgent need of a new growth pole to drive sales growth.

In 2023, VOYAH Auto gave an unexpected report card, with annual sales of 50,552 units, a year-on-year increase of 160%, becoming one of the few car companies to achieve its annual sales target.

In December 2023, VOYAH delivered 10,017 new vehicles, up 43% month-on-month and 479% year-on-year. This marks that VOYAH has achieved its goal of monthly sales of 10,000 units, and the monthly delivery volume has increased for the seventh consecutive year.

Based on the results of 2023, in 2024, VOYAH has also set a goal of challenging "annual sales of 100,000 units".

Although it has achieved a turnaround in sales, VOYAH still needs a bigger label to strengthen the public's memory, that is, intelligence.

As Dongfeng Motor's hope to hit the high-end new energy market, although VOYAH has launched three models, VOYAH FREE, VOYAH Dreamer, and VOYAH Chasing Light, which already have a relatively complete layout in the category, there has never been a truly popular model.

In terms of the product itself, VOYAH has done a very balanced job in terms of control, power and materials, which is not inferior to competing products at the same level, but it has suffered a lot in intelligence.

For example, the lifting screen of VOYAH FREE looks very technological, but the actual experience level, as well as the recognition rate of touch feeling and human-computer interaction are not as good as those of the same period M5.

This also leads to the fact that although VOYAH's comprehensive strength is good, there is still a big gap between it and some leading new brands in terms of sales and brand recognition.

After reaching a HI mode cooperation with Huawei, the next products of VOYAH Automotive will most likely be equipped with Huawei's HarmonyOS intelligent cockpit and ADS2.0 intelligent assisted driving system.

Judging from market feedback, people still eat Huawei's smart family bucket. With Huawei's blessing, VOYAH can be regarded as making up for the last shortcoming, and it has become one of the first echelon of intelligence.

However, VOYAH has previously reached a cooperation with Baidu's Apollo on intelligent driving, and now it has cooperated with Huawei in intelligent driving.

What is certain is that after joining hands with Huawei, VOYAH's brand influence and sales in 2024 will go further.