Author: Yun Pan
Source: Business People (ID: biz-leaders)
In 71 days, Huawei deeply participated in the first model of AITO, a high-end automobile brand "led" by Xilis under Xiaokang Co., Ltd., asked the M5 and completed from release to delivery. On March 5, the car officially began to be delivered.
This is less than a year after the launch of the first car SF5 cooperated by Huawei and Xilix, and it is only 2 months before the car is caught in the "shutdown storm". Behind the rapid push for new development may be Huawei's extremely eager determination to gain a foothold in the automotive track.
Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business and CEO of Smart Car Solutions BU, spent 60 minutes (twice as long as the introduction time of the flagship folding machine P50 Pocket) at Huawei's winter new product launch in December last year, and said that AITO cars were built according to the standards of Million Luxury Cars. According to him, Huawei's industrial design team and software team are involved in the development of this car.
Although he mentioned again at that time that Huawei does not build cars, the feeling revealed by the whole press conference is that the M5 is like Huawei's "biological son". It is worth noting that Yu Chengdong did not mention the Xilis brand throughout the whole process, which made the outside world more suspicious of the true identity of this car.
Huawei's ambitions for the car track are obvious to all. Yu Chengdong has set a "small goal" for this purpose, planning to use 1,000 stores to sell cars by the end of 2022, assuming that each store can sell 30 vehicles per month, and monthly sales can reach 30,000 vehicles, so that Huawei's annual sales of cars will exceed 300,000.
However, the reality may not be as optimistic as Yu Chengdong's plan. Taking Huawei's first OEM Cyrus SF5 as an example, consumers have not imagined buying it.
In the Car Emperor Car Forum, some Xilis SF5 car owners complained frequently about the car, "running off, and this is a common disease", "high electricity fuel consumption", "just bought there are rumors of suspension of production, leeks are undoubtedly "there is a big difference in endurance and publicity", "car machine caton", "key induction often fails", "space in the car is cramped"...
Screenshot from the Chedi Forum
In 2021, even with Huawei's multiple platforms, the sales of the Cyrus SF5 can only be described as dismal. According to the data of the Association, compared with the delivery of 98155 vehicles, 91429 vehicles and 90491 vehicles of "Xiaoweili" in 2021 and the delivery volume of 69674 vehicles, 44157 vehicles and 43121 vehicles of "Newei Zero", the delivery volume of Xilix SF5 cooperated by Huawei and Xiaokang Co., Ltd. was 8169 vehicles.
This is the same as the 2022 target set by Huawei, which does not build cars- sales of 300,000 vehicles and sales of cooperative car companies reach 100 billion yuan, with not only a "small WeiLi" in the middle, but also a "galaxy" separated from the 5 million annual sales of the car when it was released.
At first, the influence of the Huawei brand attracted some fans for the Cyrus SF5, and a Cyrus SF5 owner in Chongqing told Business People, "The original intention of buying this car was because of the trust in the Huawei brand, after the test drive, from the price and other factors to consider the final decision." ”
But fans, including Yu Zai, clearly know that this is not a Huawei car, but a "HUAWEI INSIDE" logo on Cyris's car.
The dismal feedback of sales volume is obvious in the financial report of Xiaokang shares, in the third quarter of 2021 after the opening of sales of Xilis SF5, the net loss of Xiaokang shares was 602 million yuan, down 49.24% year-on-year, and the loss in the first three quarters reached 1.083 billion yuan. The brand influence and ability of Xiaokang Xilisi can hardly support Huawei's sales target of 5 million.
Seeing that the competition in the new energy vehicle track is becoming increasingly fierce, there are Tesla, BYD and other pioneer troops, and then there are new car-making forces such as "Wei Xiaoli" and "Newei Zero", which started late, but Huawei, who is still experimenting on the road of "no car model", is obviously not easy.
In addition to the mobile phone business that is constrained by the lack of cores and "dragon trapped in the shoal", Huawei urgently needs a new track to prove that it can not only play, but also tap new opportunities through the new track, and the smart car under the outlet is obviously the best choice. According to sources close to Huawei quoted by Caijing Tianxia, Huawei was actually preparing to launch a car brand as early as 2020, but because of many factors, it was extended to 2021.
Since last year, a number of Internet technology giants have set off a huge wave of domestic car manufacturing. In January, OPPO's car-making patent was exposed; in February, Baidu officially announced that it would build a car; in March, Xiaomi officially announced that it would build a whole car; in April, Didi was exposed to officially build a car... In addition, Internet giants such as Ali, Tencent, and Meituan have also joined the new energy vehicle battle through investment.
All the Internet companies have gone down to build cars, and Huawei, which has not yet gained a foothold in the car track, is not far behind. In April last year, Huawei released two big moves in a row: one was to announce that it would carry out in-depth cooperation with baic, GAC and Changan three car company partners to create three automobile sub-brands, each of which has a "HUAWEI INSIDE" logo; second, the release of the Extreme Fox Alpha S Huawei HI version cooperated with Beiqi Blue Valley. Two days later, Huawei's Xilis SF5, which was cooperated with Xiaokang, was launched.
However, in 2021, the delivery of Cyrus SF5 8169 units and the delivery of BAIC Jihu Alpha S 4993 vehicles make Huawei, which repeatedly emphasizes that it does not build cars, may be a bit uncomfortable.
This is the M5 from the brand definition design, industrial design, software and marketing services are led by Huawei personally, even the production line of the car, Xiaokang shares must be upgraded in accordance with Huawei's requirements, and even the charging pile is engraved with Huawei's logo, which is not exaggerated by Huawei's own car.
Of course, this has also attracted a lot of netizens and the owner of the Cyrus SF5 to question, "such as the 'pro-son' treatment is Huawei said not to build a car" "Cyrus SF5 is really rumored to be a test field for China to build a car?" "What is the purpose of building a car, does Huawei have to save a chassis, install a wheel, and then put on a shell?"
Among them, the Xilis SF5 was discontinued due to the release of the Q&A M5 equipped with the Hongmeng OS intelligent cockpit system, which caused an uproar in the car friends circle. At the same time, Xiaokang is Huawei's foundry, M5 is Huawei's voice, although the two sides have repeatedly denied, but the outside world is still questioning.
Yu Zai revealed to "Business People", "At present, the Xilis SF5 can still place orders in both the store and online, but there are new cars in front, and their focus now (production line and after-sales) is to promote new products." "This once-popular Huawei cooperation model has now come to an end.
This also confirms from the side that "the energy and resources of Huawei and Xiaokang Automobile have been transferred from Xilis to the AITO brand, the production line mainly supplies M5, and SF5 should see the manufacturer's notice" is not out of thin air.
According to Sina Technology, which quoted many Beijing AITO car sales, "This (Q&I M5) is a Huawei car that does not hang a Huawei car logo, and Xilis is Huawei's OEM." "Huawei, which needs to make a breakthrough in the increasingly competitive car track, obviously can't wait.
Through the practical exercises on the two products of Xilix SF5 and Q&I M5, Huawei's dominance in cooperation with car companies has been further strengthened. It is worth noting that most of the partners huawei chooses in the new energy vehicle track are relatively marginal or even have fallen behind car companies, the latter brand influence is insufficient, and it is only "OEM", not Huawei personally, which will affect the choice of the vast majority of rational consumers to a large extent.
In just 248 days, Huawei has signs of softening in its attitude of "not building cars", changing its attitude of "skimming" to the SF5 and doing everything it takes for the M5. The dismal sales of Cyris SF5 and Polar Fox Alpha S have made Huawei realize that marginal car companies without brand influence cannot bring sales, and if they want to make something on the car track, they may be more effective in doing it themselves.
After all, car giants like SAIC do not agree to transfer the "soul" (core technologies such as automatic driving and smart cockpit) to others. In 2021, CHEN Hong, chairman of SAIC, said at the shareholders' meeting, "It is unacceptable for SAIC to cooperate with a third-party company like Huawei to automatically drive, which is like a company providing us with an overall solution, so that it becomes the soul, SAIC becomes a shell, and SAIC wants to take the soul into its own hands." ”
Although Huawei still wears a "tight curse" on the head of the car, in November 2020, Ren Zhengfei issued the "Resolution on the Undiminished Business Management of Smart Cars" mentioned, "In the future, who is suggesting that the car be built, interfering with the company, can be transferred away from the post, and find another job." ”
However, under the impact of bone reality, Huawei's internal opinions on "building cars" are not the same. Wang Jun, HUAWEI's current smart car solution BU COO, said in 2020 that Huawei does not build cars, but only focuses on the development of the most difficult platform infrastructure elements to help car companies build good cars.
Yu Chengdong, who has also said many times that he does not build cars, is now "quite critical", "just such a little income (that is, sales are dismal), and it is not enough to pay wages in Zimbabwean coins." The AITO Q&A5, which is deeply involved in the design and production, may be a change in Huawei's attitude towards "no car", further blurring the boundaries of not building cars.
The surface of the car is still a well-off production, but the inside is deeply controlled by Huawei, as long as the M5 is not hung up on the Huawei logo, Huawei did not specially build a car production line, Huawei does not build a car Flag there is no renegade.
In any case, in the case of Tesla, BYD and new car-making forces, and then a number of Internet technology giants ready to "start", whether Huawei's small goal of selling 1 million cars in 2023 can be achieved.
(At the request of the interviewer, Yu Zai is a pseudonym in the article)
*Title image purchased from Visual China