Author 丨Ma Garden
Editor 丨 Kang Xiao
Produced | Shenzhen Network Tencent News Xiaoman Studio
"Putting a Rolls-Royce engine on a tractor, it's definitely a tractor, not a Rolls-Royce." When a Recently Departed Huawei management talked about the current status of cooperation between Huawei and car companies, he was slightly helpless to tell "Deep Net".
In the past two years, Huawei has repeatedly stressed its decision not to build cars in public. "Huawei does not build cars, help car companies build good cars and sell good cars", almost the unified caliber of Huawei's official. However, so far, whether it is to help car companies build cars or sell cars, Huawei has encountered a lot of resistance.
At the end of October last year, Huawei released the smart car solution brand HI (Huawei Inside), and announced that it will jointly build sub-brands among three car companies: GAC, BAIC, and Changan. In the past year, Huawei has cooperated with GAC, BAIC, and Changan in the mass production of models, and no new car companies have cooperated with Huawei in HI solutions. Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, even threw out the "lost soul" and refused to accept the cooperation provided by Huawei to provide overall solutions.
Yu Chengdong's main car sales business, which began in April this year, also did not progress as expected. According to the data of the Association, from April to October this year, the sales of Cyrus SF5 (including all channels including Huawei stores) were 129, 204, 1097, 507, 715, 1117 and 1926, respectively, with a total of less than 6,000 vehicles.
Yu Chengdong originally hoped to make up for the loss caused by the lack of mobile phone business by selling cars, while retaining the core offline channels as much as possible. According to the "Deep Web" previously exclusively learned, he had set an internal goal of selling 300,000 Huawei Smart Models next year, and the performance of the Cyrus SF5 was obviously far from this goal.
A Huawei insider told DeepNet that because the company's internal and channel partners had certain expectations for selling cars before, Yu Chengdong is now under a lot of pressure.
A large mobile phone dealer in Huawei's southwest region told The DeepNet that because of the poor sales of the Xilis SF5, Huawei is no longer urging dealers to renovate stores to carry out car sales business as before. "Xiaokang (Xilis parent company) used to make vans, brand recognition is not good, the price is not competitive, and it is difficult for stores to sell." The dealer said he would prefer to sell Huawei-branded cars.
Huawei's smart car business has undoubtedly reached a critical crossroads, and after the consumer business has been hit hard, Huawei urgently needs a new business such as automotive. However, GAC E-An, BAIC Jihu, Changan Avita and Xiaokang Xilis, which cooperate with them, are all brands with low brand recognition and poor sales, and the first-line car companies with considerable sales and powerful new car-making forces are unwilling to cooperate with them in depth. This means that its smart car business may not be profitable in the short term.
The next two or three years will be a key window period for Huawei's smart car business. On the one hand, a variety of HI and smart models cooperated with Huawei have ushered in intensive mass production, and sales will test the success or failure of Huawei's car strategy; on the other hand, the global intelligent car industry has also ushered in changes, apple, millet and other players with both "soul" and "body" to add variables to the existing pattern.
Whether the smart model sells well determines how much channel resources Huawei can reserve for the return of the mobile phone business.
According to the "Deep Web" exclusive information, Yu Chengdong said at the recent Huawei consumer BG internal propaganda meeting about the automobile business that he supports both HI and smart selection models, and he also mentioned that "Huawei mobile phones will return to the king in 2023."
Yu Chengdong "curve car"
Yu Chengdong is a well-known "car-making faction" within Huawei. A Huawei executive told ShenzhenNet that due to the continuous contraction of the mobile phone business under external sanctions, from the middle of 2020, Yu Chengdong's internal mention of car manufacturing has increased significantly.
A person familiar with the matter told The DeepNet that Huawei had organized a vote internally, with 3 rotating directors, 1 chairman, and 3 managing directors voting, and only Yu Chengdong raised his hand. Xu Zhijun, Huawei's rotating chairman, also said, "Yu Chengdong is not convinced, but he only has one vote." ”
The above-mentioned management believes that ren Zhengfei is unwilling to build a car, one is that the amount of funds needed to build a car is huge; the other is that there are too many enemies, which may lead to a rebound from partners, for example, Germany is one of the few developed countries that support Huawei's 5G, and the car is The absolute core interest of Germany; the third is that "Ren May still hope to be an industrial enabler from the bottom of his heart, not an industrial subversive." Accumulate the skills that should be accumulated, make friends that should be made, and make the money that should be earned. ”
Of course, in the current external environment, the supply of core components is obviously also a factor for Huawei.
Yu Chengdong was not allowed to build the whole vehicle, but gained the dominance of the smart car business. In May 2019, Huawei established the Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU (hereinafter referred to as the AutoBU), which is subordinate to the ICT Management Committee, with Wang Jun as the president; in November 2020, the AutoBU was transferred from the ICT Business Management Committee to the Consumer Business Management Committee, and Yu Chengdong began to lead the integration of consumer business BG and Car BU; in May this year, Yu Chengdong officially served as the CEO of The Car BU; by September this year, the former Car BU President Wang Jun was transferred to coo, and Bian Honglin was the Car BU CTO. Both reported directly to Yu Chengdong.
So far, Huawei's internal intelligent vehicle-related businesses have been managed by Yu Chengdong. According to the "Deep Net" inventory, Huawei's intelligent vehicle-related business currently includes the intelligent driving product line, intelligent cockpit, electric, vehicle control, network connection, and vehicle cloud services under the autoBU, as well as sub-businesses such as HiCar, HMS for Car, in-vehicle version of Hongmeng OS, and Huawei Smart Selection (auto retail) under consumer BG.
In the past two years, through the organizational structure and personnel adjustment of the system, Huawei's consumer BG and autoBU internal functions and resources such as manpower, R&D, products, and sales have been integrated, and the business focus has also been prepared to shift to smart cars.
In terms of manpower, a number of Huawei insiders told Deepnet that since the end of 2020, a large part of the outflow of consumer BG has been transferred to the car BU, including many core management.
On the business side, consumer BG launched a car sales business in April this year. Yu Chengdong explained at the time, "After four rounds of sanctions by the United States, Huawei's high-frequency, just-needed, and massive product business has encountered huge difficulties, and although the sales of smart electric vehicles are not as large as mobile phones, the unit price is high, which can make up for the lack of sales of mobile phones." "Behind the sale of cars is inseparable from the resource scheduling between the two departments of consumer BG and car BU."
Huawei's first smart model sold through channel stores, the Xilis SF5, Huawei's participation is not deep. However, on December 2, Jinkang Cyrus released the auto brand AITO, which was jointly built with Huawei, and the first mass-produced model, the Q&I M5, is a product that Huawei is deeply involved in.
Yu Chengdong has completed the "curve car" to some extent. According to the "Deep Web", this car from the early planning, design, to the later marketing, sales are all handled by Huawei, but also uses a full set of Huawei intelligent car solutions. Some industry insiders said that the M5 is more like a car built by Huawei itself, and it is also the first step for Huawei to achieve car building.
A Huawei insider told the "Deep Web", "Xilis SF5 has long been available, this year began to become Huawei's smart choice into the channel, Huawei did not participate much, this time AITO is from scratch, Huawei has entered a lot at various levels." ”
First-line car companies are reluctant to "lose their souls"
At present, there are three main cooperation models between Huawei and car companies: First, the most lightweight software system supply model, Huawei provides HiCar, HMS for Car and other software and related APP applications. Both of these services come from the original consumer BG, WITH BYD Han, Volvo xc60 and Cyrus SF5 all currently equipped with Huawei HiCar, and HMS for Car on the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
A Huawei insider told Shenzhen Network that such cooperation has not brought direct revenue to Huawei at present, and the company's internal positioning is to lay the foundation and build an ecology, just like Carplay's positioning of Apple, the income is limited, but users will consider the interactive experience of the software when choosing a car or mobile phone.
The second is the overall solution supply model of both software and hardware, Huawei provides software and hardware supply including HiCar, DriveOne all-in-one electric drive system, motor controller, lidar and other software and hardware supply, which can be flexibly supplied according to the needs of car companies.
Taking the Xilix Huawei Smart SF5 as an example, this car is equipped with Huawei DriveONE three-in-one electric drive system, HUAWEI HiCar, and HUAWEI SOUND sound system. It is also the only model that has entered Huawei's offline channel stores so far.
Huawei has also signed a new car-making force, Nezha Automobile, which will be listed next year, and will apply Huawei's MDC intelligent driving computing platform and lidar technology. In addition, the Great Wall Salon Mech Dragon and Chang'an Aveta 11 are also equipped with Huawei's photo radar. Rumors of intermittent cooperation between Huawei and international brand Audi did not disclose specific details.
The third is the HI (Huawei Inside) model, huawei provides a full set of HI solutions including Hongmeng car machine and self-developed on-board computing chip, and authorizes the use of HI logo on the body using Huawei's autonomous driving technology.
According to Huawei's official introduction, Huawei's HI full-stack intelligent vehicle solution includes a new computing and communication architecture and 5 intelligent systems, intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent electric, intelligent network and intelligent vehicle cloud, as well as a full set of intelligent components such as lidar and AR-HUD. It also has three major operating systems, AOS (Intelligent Driving Operating System), HOS (Intelligent Cockpit Operating System) and VOS (Intelligent Vehicle Control Operating System).
In Huawei's own words, "in addition to the chassis, wheels, shell and seats, the rest have Huawei technology." In the HI model, automakers are almost reduced to the role of "FOUNDC", which is also the most difficult model for Huawei to promote at present.
Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, said in an interview in June that it was unacceptable for SAIC to cooperate with third-party companies such as Huawei for autonomous driving. "It's like a company providing us with a holistic solution, so that it becomes the soul and SAIC becomes the body." For such a result, SAIC is unacceptable and must take the soul into its own hands. ”
Smart cars are no longer a hammer deal, and future profits will increasingly rely on software revenue, which has basically become the consensus of the industry. Some industry insiders commented, "But any car company that has a long-term pursuit will not hand over the automatic driving software and data to a third party." Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that since Huawei announced the HI brand last year, no new car companies have joined the cooperation team of the HI model.
Several car companies that cooperate with Huawei have lagged far behind their peers in mass production. According to the news previously disclosed by BAIC Jihu, on August 31, 100 Sets of Jihu Alpha S Huawei HI Version Production Line Verification Vehicles were officially rolled off the production line. Polar Fox said that the order for the Alpha S HI edition has far exceeded a thousand units, and the internal KPI is to strive to deliver 1,000 units this year. This data is only a fraction of the monthly delivery of the three new car-making forces of "Wei Xiaoli".
Two other car companies that work closely with Huawei, GAC Aeon and Changan Avita, have yet to release their first HI version.
The next two years will be a critical window period
It is not difficult to see that the supply of fragmented software and hardware with low profit value is not Huawei's goal, and the overall solution based on HI is the direction that Huawei mainly promotes.
Huawei's advantage lies in the investment and accumulation of basic technology, Wang Jun previously revealed that Huawei will invest 1 billion US dollars this year alone, with a research and development team of more than 5,000 people and more than 2,000 people in automatic driving.
Technology needs to be landed to be monetized, especially Huawei's most important automatic driving, but also needs massive vehicle loading and data to quickly iterate. A clear signal is that the vast majority of pure autonomous driving software companies that are not bound to car companies have been in trouble in recent years, and Baidu, which is recognized as the leading automatic driving platform in China, has announced the end of the car at the beginning of this year.
Huawei's smart car-related business has also undergone some internal personnel changes. According to public information, in the past six months, Jiang Jun, head of Huawei's map and data, Zhang Xiaohong, director of the intelligent driving product project group, Chen Qi, director of the R&D Department of automatic driving, Peng Xueming, head of fusion sensing, and She Xiaoli, chief functional safety expert of automotive BU, have left their jobs one after another, and most of them have joined the automakers.
However, a Huawei insider told the Deep Web that "this is just a normal flow of people."
According to public information, The Polar Fox Alpha S, GAC Aeon and Changan Avita Huawei HI version will be intensively mass-produced in the next two years, which is also the key window period for the success or failure of Huawei's car business, and whether these models can sell well depends mainly on the user's recognition of Huawei's HI brand.
An industry insider analyzed to the "Deep Web" that for durable consumer goods such as smart cars, most consumers pay more attention to the brand than technical parameters, so he is not particularly optimistic about the market performance of the above three models.
The situation with Huawei's smart cars is more complicated. Since the second half of last year, Huawei has implemented a narrow channel strategy offline and made every effort to retain the head of large channel providers. According to the "Deep Net" previously exclusively learned, when the car sales business was launched in April this year, Huawei's share of the channel merchants was 7%-8% of the whole vehicle, and the dealers could get 19,000 yuan for each sale of the Xilis SF5, which sold 246,800 yuan.
When the Xilis SF5 was first launched, it relied on Huawei's aura to obtain considerable orders, and many channel providers also actively transformed stores to carry out car sales business. However, the boom receded, and the orders for the Xilis SF5 were not all converted into sales, a Huawei insider told the DeepNet, "When it first started selling, the region and channels had to send good news for each one sold, and then slowly felt that this car was not easy to sell." ”
Under such circumstances, the enthusiasm of many dealers has weakened, and Huawei no longer urges dealers to renovate stores to carry out car sales business as before.
The above-mentioned large mobile phone dealers in Huawei's southwest region told the DeepNet that Huawei currently attaches more importance to the second car (that is, AITO Q&I M5) that it has cooperated with Xilis, but he is still in a wait-and-see state.
"The cost of store renovation itself is not high, but it is necessary to prepare four cars first, two to display in the store, two test drives, the total cost is 80 to 1 million yuan, not cheap." The dealer said.
At the time of the release of the AITO brand on December 4, Yu Chengdong announced that in the future, Xilis will build a strong marketing service network with Huawei, and will build thousands of flagship stores, experience centers, and user centers in 2022 to meet the needs of consumers for AITO brand products and services.
This may mean that for some time to come, Xilis will remain the only partner in Huawei's smart car business.
The above-mentioned Huawei insider summed up to the "Deep Net", "The current state within the company is that all kinds of ways are trying to work hard, which is a typical Huawei model: send different people to do similar things, and whoever wins will set the direction here." ”
He believes that with Huawei's organizational execution, both HI and smart selection models have opportunities, "the difference is in what role and posture Huawei enters the car market." ”
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