Author |Pan Lei breaking news!After sending invitations to the "Four King Kongs" of smart cars such as Cialis, JAC, BAIC, and Chery, Huawei now wants to bring Mercedes-Benz and Audi over to expand the global market together. I think that's pretty cool. Because before this, except for a giant like Bosch, which has similar appeal, other players can't get into the eyes of car companies at all, let alone players from China. Therefore, once Huawei gets this done, it will be the first time in the world. Not to mention the earth-shattering ghosts, but it is definitely a milestone for China's smart cars!Of course, for Mercedes-Benz and Audi, Huawei's intelligent network technology can rejuvenate their old arms and legs. So this deal is completely about each taking it. Now the only suspense is whether Mercedes-Benz and Audi can recognize the current affairs as Junjie. If you continue to be obsessed, or stage a night of arrogance, then Mercedes-Benz and Audi are not far from becoming historical brands. Because now young people in China no longer pay attention to this old-fashioned luxury brand of the so-called mechanical age. For example, if you take a Nokia N95 or Vertu right now, you may feel good about yourself, but you are a stupid X in the eyes of others. This is the same as some imposter owners driving a second-hand Audi A8, or the previous generation Mercedes S. I think I'm very good, but in fact, others know that you are a big wrongdoer. Now we need to figure out a question - if Huawei really invites these two bigwigs, what kind of movement can it make?
In general, Huawei just wants to use the brand advantages of Mercedes-Benz and Audi to expand its circle of friends in the smart car business. Because so far, Huawei and some car companies jointly created the "X world" series of models, although it has been a great success, and people also believe that Huawei can create more than 500,000 luxury models, but the shortcoming is that most of these cooperation objects belong to the "second-tier" or "third-tier" car companies. For example, Cialis, BAIC, JAC, etc., fame and strength are difficult to call the first-line, only Changan Automobile belongs to the first-line car companies, but there are not many reserves in terms of luxury brands. In the past, Changan and DS engaged in a Changan Peugeot Citroen, but the results were not ideal. Of course, Yu Chengdong also said that Huawei has precipitated a set of ways to build a high-end brand, and can even make socks the first in the world. This is well documented. For example, Huawei's Mate series mobile phones, which must be the No. of China's high-end smartphones1。In other words, playing high-end, Huawei is worthy of anyone. When it comes to smart cars, Huawei uses its own intelligent network technology to build a luxury brand, and it does have a chance of success, for example, the M9 has received as many as 30,000 blind orders. However, considering that the automotive industry is highly scale-oriented, if it can reach a cooperation with a world-renowned luxury brand, then Huawei's smart car business will make up for all the shortcomings in the shortest possible time, especially the brand shortcomings. To put it simply, Huawei has the most advanced intelligent network technology, while Mercedes-Benz and Audi are the top luxury brands, and the combination of the two is completely powerful. In addition, Mercedes-Benz sells more than 2 million units worldwide (2022 data) and more than 750,000 units in China every yearAudi's figures for the same year were 1.61 million and 640,000 units, respectively. This shows that even in the Chinese market, if Huawei can promote its intelligent driving system to Mercedes-Benz and Audi, it can increase the installed capacity of nearly 1.4 million units, which will greatly reduce the cost of intelligent driving systems. Reduced cost means competitiveness, and Huawei is likely to become Bosch in the era of intelligent networking, and become the top tier 1 of the global intelligent car chain. And considering Huawei's deployment capabilities, as long as an agreement is reached, the cooperation with Mercedes-Benz and Audi will soon be effective. For Huawei, the potential benefit is also that Mercedes-Benz and Audi have a huge appeal in the Chinese market. Once Mercedes-Benz and Audi enter Huawei's intelligent driving camp, it means that the huge joint venture system, including Chinese partners, such as BAIC, FAW and other Chinese auto giants, may completely fall to Huawei. Therefore, Huawei has gained more than just the 1.4 million installed capacity, and the potential installed capacity may double, so as to completely dominate the Chinese intelligent driving market. This huge benefit prompted Huawei to send invitations to Mercedes-Benz and Audi. And in the final analysis, even if these two bigwigs are unwilling to cooperate, what is the loss for Huawei?Not only did they not lose, but they also took the opportunity to do a wave of advertising, maybe other luxury brands will take the initiative to come to contact and cooperate after seeing it - because there are so many shares in the joint venture between Huawei and Chang'an, there must be a first come, first come, first come. 
For Mercedes-Benz and Audi, as luxury brands, they naturally have their own advantages and can stand tall at all times. But the problems of these two old-school car companies are also obvious. For example, in terms of sales, Mercedes-Benz and Audi both ** last year. Mercedes-Benz was better, with sales down 1% year-on-year, and Audi down 48%。What is particularly dangerous is that the prospects of these two bigwigs in the Chinese market are not so wonderful. Mercedes-Benz's sales in China fell 09%, Audi fell 84%。As we all know, China is the number one market for these luxury brands, which is of indicative significance. If the Chinese market cannot be maintained, then the global market will actually become a terminal and precarious. Why do Mercedes-Benz and Audi sell in China**?Because China's new car-making forces are too strong. For brands such as NIO, Li and Tesla, for every car sold in China, Mercedes-Benz and Audi sell one less car – because the market positioning of both sides is almost identical. One of the biggest differences between the new car-making forces and Mercedes-Benz and Audi is the huge gap in intelligent networking. From the perspective of users, the new car-making forces have created "Chinese-style luxury" through the introduction of intelligent network technology and China's first-class chain, which has made Mercedes-Benz and Audi stand tall and unpopular. Taking advantage of this advantage, the new car-making forces have impacted the BBA to pieces. But that's exactly what Huawei is good at. Huawei is well versed in everything about the new EV manufacturers, and at the same time, it has also accumulated core technologies in the field of key components, and is proficient in brand operation, product definition, and consumer trend research. In this context, all the knowledge of Huawei (both in terms of technology and brand operation), Mercedes-Benz and Audi want. Moreover, Huawei also intends to give shares, which can further bind the development vision of both parties, which is a win-win cooperation. 
One possible reason for whether Mercedes-Benz and Audi will respond positively to Huawei's offer lies in the outdated and unnutritious term "soul and body". It should be pointed out that this was proposed by SAIC a few years ago, and it reflects a certain unspeakable paranoia of victimization of this enterprise. But Mercedes-Benz and Audi are not necessarily affected by the "soul and body" statement. Because everyone is a world-class car company, Mercedes-Benz has lived for more than 100 years as the inventor of the car, and Audi has a history of several decades. To survive for so many years, you must know the rules of survival very well. What is best for yourself and what can bring you back to life, Mercedes and Audi know better than anyone else. At least on the cards, the benefits of working with Huawei outweigh the disadvantages. Because to some extent, Huawei can represent the Chinese market. By making up for the shortcomings of intelligent networking, Mercedes-Benz and Audi can continue to drink and eat meat in the Chinese market. Amplifying the shortcomings of intelligent networking, these two difficult brothers will lose in the Chinese market. Even as a stopgap measure, Huawei can provide great value. Based on this, how do you say these two people will choose?But if Mercedes-Benz and Audi choose to cooperate with Huawei, it will put SAIC in an extremely awkward position. Because it is difficult to break through the intelligent network in a short time, the time window for cooperation was lost because of the debate between the soul and the body, and now the cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Audi is tantamount to throwing themselves into the "prisoner's dilemma" - even Mercedes-Benz and Audi are not afraid of losing their souls, how can they achieve logical self-consistency?In the end, other traditional car companies that share SAIC's concerns may still not cooperate with Huawei – whether for the sake of face or technology. But it doesn't matter anymore – Mercedes-Benz and Audi are the world's top brands and have the biggest market appeal, which can also prove that Huawei has indeed gone this way.