Huawei-backed AITO already has the capacity to sell 20,000 cars per month, according to Richard Yu.
The man at the helm of Huawei’s automotive business believes that only a few car companies will eventually be able to become major players when the change in China’s auto market comes to a steady-state stage.
In a recent interview with a local automotive blogger, Richard Yu, Huawei’s managing director and CEO of the intelligent vehicle solutions business unit, said there will be no more than five major players when asked how many players there will eventually be in China’s automotive market.
(Richard Yu, right, talks in an interview.)
For car brands, competition is like aircraft manufacturing, only a few will win out in the end, Yu believes.
There used to be a lot of players in the airplane industry, but only Airbus and Boeing ended up being the major players, he said.
At a time when the global new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is growing rapidly, a large number of new car makers have emerged in China, with the most well-known brands currently including Nio, Xpeng Motors, Li Auto, Leapmotor, Zeekr and Neta.
Among these new car makers, Nio’s management has also mentioned about the future competitive landscape.
In February last year, William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, said in a program broadcast on CCTV that the company was targeting the market of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi and hoped to be one of the most dominant players in five years or more.
Earlier this week, Li said in an interview with German media outlet Heise Autos that Nio wants to be one of the world’s top five automakers by 2030.
Back to Huawei, the tech giant announced on April 20, 2021 that the company officially started selling cars, with the Seres SF5 from Chongqing Sokon — now renamed Seres Group — as the first model to enter its channel.
Last December, Seres launched a premium smart car brand with Huawei called AITO, saying it would have Seres’ capabilities in extended-range technology, as well as cutting-edge technology from partners, including Huawei.
Currently, AITO’s models on sale include the M5 and M7, with the former including an all-electric version as well as a version with extended-range technology and the latter currently only available with extended-range technology.
In September, AITO delivered 10,142 vehicles, the second month in a row with more than 10,000 units, but Yu considers it a disappointment.
Yu said in the interview that AITO could have delivered more than 16,000 vehicles in September, but the parts plant in Guizhou was affected by the Covid epidemic, resulting in a shortage of supply.
AITO now has the capacity to sell 20,000 vehicles per month, he said.
