Huawei's 'car-making” year of 2023: a critical year for expanding 'ambition”

When Huawei plays the role of a technology supplier in the automotive field, almost no one has any objections. However, Huawei’s smart car selection model, in which Huawei has the dominant opinion, has caused a lot of controversy.

Turning the clock back to the end of 2021, Cyrus officially released a new high-end brand AITO car, kicking off in-depth cooperation with Huawei. Entering 2022, AITO Automobile has launched two models, Wenjie M5 and Wenjie M7, with annual sales of 75,000 vehicles, directly revitalizing Cyrus Automobile, and once became the fastest starting new energy brand in China.



But after entering 2023, the situation of AITO cars took a turn for the worse, and Huawei’s smart car selection business faced its first Waterloo.

After the off-season, AITO faces the "darkest moment"


When there were still AITO cars with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 in December 2022, they also launched a wave of price cuts after entering 2023. However, it did not get off to a good start as expected. Only 4,475 vehicles were sold in January, which can be said to be cut in half. In February and March, only 3,505 vehicles and 3,679 vehicles were sold respectively. Sales continued to be sluggish for a whole quarter.





# In order to further stimulate sales, some stores have also added Huawei to the promotion of Wenjie models. However, Huawei founder and director Ren Zhengfei reiterated that " "Huawei will not build cars" will be valid for five years. Starting from April 1, all promotional materials related to Huawei will be removed.

In other words, if AITO cars want to sell well, they can only rely on Huawei's sales channels and the quality of its products, and can no longer rely on the reputation of "Huawei".

Therefore, AITO Automobile has set its sights on high-end intelligent driving systems.



During the Shanghai Auto Show that opened on April 17, AITO Automobile released the Wenjie M5 series Huawei high-end intelligent driving version. The biggest highlight of the car is that it was first equipped with HUAWEI ADS 2.0 high-end intelligent driving system.

With the joint action of lidar, 11 cameras, 3 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars, the active safety and intelligent driving assistance of the Wenjie M5 smart driving version can indeed be closer to " The "experienced driver" operating style can realize efficient car following, automatic avoidance and even unprotected left turns. It can help with emergency braking even when encountering obstacles such as fallen pedestrians and rollover vehicles.



At this time, Huawei has realized that high-end assisted driving relying on high-precision maps has no future. The main reason is that high-precision maps need to be updated in a timely manner. If we want to implement high-end assistance systems nationwide, the subsequent maintenance costs may be astronomical, so it is better to put the cost at the software level.

Therefore, Huawei has firmly chosen the "unmap" camp and plans to open high-end smart driving on unmap in 15 cities in Q3 and 45 cities in Q4.



At the same time, the flagship SUV Wenjie M9 also announced its predetermined price of 500,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan during the Shanghai Auto Show.

A high-end intelligent driving system, a flagship SUV, Huawei announced the latest technology at the Shanghai Auto Show at one time to demonstrate its unique insights in the automotive field. However, these things do not seem to be the same in the eyes of consumers, and they have not brought more impressive sales data to AITO cars.



First of all, Huawei’s ADS 2.0 can indeed realize intelligent driving navigation assistance functions in urban areas, but for most consumers, they may accept automatic parking and highway sections Intelligent assisted driving under complex urban road sections, but still prefer to drive by yourself on complex urban road sections.

Secondly, Wenjie M9 has opened pre-orders, which may seize some consumers who originally wanted to buy Wenjie M7 to a certain extent.

Based on the above two reasons, AITO Automobile’s sales data in the second quarter have no obvious growth fluctuations for the time being, and the monthly delivery volume is difficult to return to the peak level of over 10,000 vehicles that year. Huawei has long realized that it still has to rely on new products.

Wenjie’s new M7 and Zhijie S7 come to the rescue!


Until mid-September, Wenjie’s new M7 was launched, which became a turning point for Hongmeng Zhixing’s car market this year. Data shows that in October and November this year, the sales volume of Wenjie's new M7 was 12,200 and 17,000 units respectively, with monthly sales exceeding 10,000 for two consecutive months. It is worth mentioning that the weekly sales of Wenjie’s new M7 have surpassed the Ideal L7 many times.

Although Wenjie’s new M7 is a mid-term facelift model, and it can be said that there are not many changes in appearance from the old model, the official has invested 500 million yuan in this model, and has also provided additional services for this new car. The body has been re-molded and new high-strength steel and composite body materials have been used. The safety performance of the entire vehicle has been greatly improved.



In Xiaotong’s view, the reason why Wenjie’s new M7 can successfully save the market is that it has entered the large five-seater SUV market and accurately catered to consumers’ needs. Car pain point. Looking at the domestic market, there are not many large five-seater SUVs worth choosing, such as Honda Crown Road/UR-V, Volkswagen Range Tour and other joint venture models. However, in this market, it is difficult to find a model with high intelligence and comfort. It is indeed difficult to choose a product, and now Wenjie's new M7 has become a more comprehensive option among them.

As Huawei and Chery’s first smart model, the Zhijie S7 has received more than 20,000 reservations from the start of pre-sales to before it was launched. The Zhijie S7 may have set a precedent for a smart car conference. It can automatically drive to the booth without a driver, and can also automatically drive out of the booth after the conference in front of the audience at the conference.


##In addition to intelligence, it has acceleration from 0 to 100km/h in 3.3 seconds, 0.203Cd drag coefficient, Touring chassis, suspension, 855 kilometers long battery life, 800V fast charging, etc. These are the advantages of Zhijie S7. For Huawei, the Zhijie S7 is not only a "real fragrance" product that attracts a large number of consumers, but also reflects the product strength of Hongmeng Smart and allows Hongmeng Smart to expand its business in the car market.

With Wenjie New M7 and Zhijie S7, two popular products, Hongmeng Zhixing has finally gained a firm foothold in the automotive field. As 2024 approaches, the Wenjie M9 will finally be officially launched, benchmarking against Ideal’s flagship SUV, the Ideal L9. Although the Wenjie M9 is a full-size new energy SUV, with the support of the new Wenjie M7's reputation, the market potential of the Wenjie M9 is not weak.



So far, Hongmeng Zhixing has four products: Wenjie M9, Wenjie M7, Wenjie M5 and Zhijie S7. Hongmeng Zhixing will have two "sectors" in the future, which will be new series after cooperation with BAIC and JAC. It is understood that the model that Huawei and JAC Motors are cooperating with is a sedan, which may be priced at one million yuan. It will compete with Mercedes-Maybach’s products and is planned to be launched in the fourth quarter of next year; Zhijie’s first SUV S9 The 300,000-class sedan in cooperation with BAIC will also be launched in the first half of next year.


##Written at the end


Looking back at Hongmeng Zhixing in 2023, it should be important to usher in gains in the two fields of high-end and intelligent driving. First year.

Focusing on the high-end field, Hongmeng Zhixing has a new understanding. It is no longer limited to the intelligence and comfort of products, but adjusts to consumers’ car needs and launches Wenjie New M7 and smart phones. The S7 was able to achieve outstanding results. In addition, the Wenjie M9 launched at the end of the year has enough product gimmicks, but whether it can capture the market share of the ideal L9 depends on its performance next year.

In addition, in the field of smart driving, Hongmeng Smart’s newly released Huawei ADS 2.0 smart driving high-end has been upgraded for users and supports “can be driven nationwide”. It is faster than other car companies to get rid of the need for high-precision maps. dependency.

Nowadays, Hongmeng Zhixing has occupied a place in the field of intelligent driving, and in the coming 2024, the most important task of Hongmeng Zhixing is to rapidly expand its product matrix. According to the current plan, Hongmeng Zhixing may be in 2024. It will also bring bigger surprises.

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