Huawei “makes cars”: I dare to ask where the world is

Between Huawei Mate50 and iPhone 14, AITO M5 EV is "way ahead" of Model Y

If we talk about the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", we have heard it since childhood. , then Huawei, which was once known for its wolf culture, seems to be encountering the controversy of "The Wolf on the Streetcar Is Coming".

That is a question that has been debated for several years:

Will Huawei stop building cars itself?

There are always people who expect Huawei to build cars, and what Huawei probably means is:

It’s okay, but it’s not necessary.

On March 8, AITO Automobile released a holiday poster on its Weibo/official account platform, officially launching a new slogan of "HUAWEI Asks the World" - instead of the previous "high-end brand" AITO.

At the same time, Huawei terminal also quickly forwarded this Weibo post.

Some netizens said that this is AITO asking the industry to "stop pretending, let's show off, I am Huawei." The chrysanthemum mark can be put on the car soon, and the car owner no longer has to silently deduct the mark by himself. But this does not seem to be the case, and Huawei and Cyrus responded quickly that day:

"I am not, I don't have it, don't talk nonsense"

Huawei said it did not dominate What it means is that it just created an exciting new model - "HUAWEI is an ecological car brand of Huawei and a new business model pioneered by Huawei. Huawei provides core software and hardware technologies such as electrification and intelligent components, and through product definition , user experience, quality control, channel retail and brand marketing help car companies sell good cars, and while helping car companies achieve commercial success, they also drive large-scale sales of Huawei's smart car parts."

Translated into. The vernacular is: in the future, cars built in cooperation with Huawei, even if they are different brands, will all be called Wenjie. Not only has the tail logo changed, but the store's signboard is also "HUAWEI Asking the World", officially ranking C.

Not long ago, Yu Chengdong reiterated that "Huawei does not build cars", saying that Huawei's investment in Cyrus will not decrease but increase - under the smart selection model, the ones who benefit the most must be those who cooperate with Huawei earliest and Thalys has the deepest accumulation and richest products.

In the words of a French newspaper, that is, His Majesty Huawei is about to arrive in his loyal Seles.

After all, it was only on February 25 that Cyrus signed a deepening joint business agreement with Huawei. Huawei will do product definition and Cyrus will do model research and development.

The goal of both parties is to "achieve 1 million production and sales by 2026" and release a new platform flagship model within this year.

Wenjie M9

This new platform flagship is rumored to be Wenjie M9, which has a larger size, extended range power without battery life pressure, Huawei family bucket, and more High-end autonomous driving systems are available for "nine-digit generations" such as Ideal L9/Xpeng G9.

At the Huawei P60 mobile phone launch conference on March 22, Huawei may also "incidentally" launch an enhanced version of Wenjie M5. It’s just that the “enhanced version of Wenjie M5”, which is only equipped with a single lidar (it is not yet known whether this lidar is Huawei’s self-developed 96-line), may not be Huawei’s genuine “HI autonomous driving solution”.

But considering the current M5’s relatively weak assisted driving capabilities, stronger perception capabilities are always a good thing.

Wenjie M5 single-lidar version

Judging from the sales trend of Wenjie, the annual sales mark of 100,000 vehicles is not easy to break through.

Under such circumstances, in order to achieve Yu Chengdong’s annual sales target of 1 million vehicles, Huawei’s automotive ecosystem needs to cooperate with at least ten more car companies.

“Building cars” is better than “making” cars

Since Huawei is determined to launch “HUAWEI Wenjie” as a brand, it has previously officially announced that it will cooperate with Huawei to build cars. Guangzhou Automobile and Chery, and even Jihu, which "may have to change its name and hug its thighs tighter", may launch more and stronger "HUAWEI World XX".

Suspected HUAWEI Chery EH3

According to @torpedo2954, the sedan developed by Chery and Huawei will use an 800V platform, an integrated die-cast chassis, and be equipped with four-wheel drive/front double wishbones Five-link rear air suspension.

Huawei and Jianghuai Automobile will cooperate to build a factory in Anhui and jointly develop a new generation of high-end smart electric vehicles.

Yu Chengdong said in an interview: "JAC will become the second car company to cooperate with Huawei in the smart selection model after Cyrus."

It is foreseeable that under Yu Chengdong's promotion, Huawei Smart Selection will The circle of friends who chooses a car is still encircling the territory.

Mr. Yu has complained passionately on different occasions that he often provides customized development according to the requirements of car companies. The cycle is too long, Huawei's personnel costs are also extremely high, and the coordination capabilities of different car companies are also very different. The end result is often no money and no friends. Working with car companies to provide ICT technology empowerment that is as standardized, universal, and modular as possible is Huawei's all-in car-making direction.

This is a "unified series of different brands" that has not been seen in the automotive industry for a long time. It is like half-fathers in a matriarchal society, just like Aston Martin, Lotus, and BMW are all "007 cars" ”.

You can’t say that Huawei’s gameplay is not logical and self-consistent, you can only say that it may not be compatible with unexpected situations – cars of different car companies and brands are deeply involved by Huawei and use Huawei’s technology , sell through Huawei’s channels, so how does Huawei achieve “differentiated car manufacturing”?

For example, Avita, which will also further strengthen its channel cooperation with Huawei, has installed a full version of "Huawei's autonomous driving solution" on its cars. In the first half of the year, it has entered 2 Huawei offline stores, including Huawei's high-quality products. Wenjie M5 is only high but not low.

Avita 11

However, in the Avita "CHN" iron triangle, Changan/CATL are the major shareholders, and Huawei is equivalent to "technical investment", so naturally it is not very May dominate its "world of inquiry".

In addition, Avita itself has also deployed 200 channel touch points and aims to reach 500 by the end of 2023. Avita promises that users will receive exactly the same products and rights whether purchased from Huawei or Avita stores.

So now, if we go back to the question "Will Huawei build cars or not?", the answer has actually been floating in the wind and it is no longer important.

On the one hand, Huawei has found a better way than building cars itself. On the other hand, Huawei may have actually completed the task of "building cars". Keep Huawei in mind.

When store signs and car tail signs are unified as "HUAWEI Asks the World", no matter how much luxury the car contains, or whether the person understands cars or not, all we think about is Huawei and not anything else.

The power system comes from Huawei’s eight-in-one motor, and the intelligent interaction is seamlessly transferred to the Hongmeng system. The most perceptive part of the new car is Huawei, which is enough for most people.

It has the ability to build cars, but it is not necessary. It is Huawei’s right path to maximize its strengths and avoid its weaknesses.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics compiled by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in 2022, the average profit rate of my country's automobile manufacturing industry will be 5.7%. Huawei invests over a billion dollars in automobile R&D every year. If it spends tens of billions more on automobile manufacturing, it will only be for a profit margin of less than 6%——

I can only say, I think I don’t understand, but I’m shocked.

As President Yu Chengdong summed up: If we make products below 200,000 yuan, we will lose money, so we can’t do it. We will work with other brands to expand the market together.

What Mr. Yu said is really not "if you smoke Huazi, you will cough if you smoke others." Last year, the old man's "chill speech" that caught the entire industry in cold blood emphasized that the basis of survival must be adjusted to center on cash flow and real profits, and can no longer just target sales revenue.

As for the automotive business, he also emphasized that smart car solutions cannot be rolled out on a complete front, scientific research budgets must be reduced, commercial closed loops must be strengthened, and R&D must take a modular path, focusing on several key Parts are made competitive and the remaining parts can be connected with others.

This "connection" is very spiritual, and Mr. Yu's follow-up operations also highly implemented the spirit of the speech. After all, IAS (Intelligent Automotive Solutions, including HUAWEI Inside and parts business) originally led by Wang Jun is like a star in the sea. Not making money (and suffering huge losses) is an unforgivable "original sin" under the spiritual program of "survive" .

To achieve Huawei's car BU profit target in 2025, it must "first help car companies sell 1 million cars" - and Huawei is still almost two and a half years away from the target-limited practice time.

Just see if there is the "HUAWEI World" you want to buy among these 1 million vehicles.

This article comes from the author of Yichehao, Car Owner Planet. The copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprinting. The content only represents the author's opinion and has nothing to do with Bitauto