Author |Zhen Yao.
Edit |Ge Bangning.
Produced by |Bangning Studio (GBNGZS).
China's 5,000-year-old culture is really broad and profound. On the afternoon of December 26, 2023, at the Shenzhen World Convention and Exhibition Center, the M9 and Huawei winter all-scenario press conferences were held here, with an audience capacity of more than 5,000 people. However, Yu Chengdong is still the familiar Yu Chengdong. "The best SUV within 10 million yuan, and the most powerful SUV on land, is here. Huawei's Executive Director, CEO of Device BG, and Chairman of Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU opened with such a remark, which immediately ignited the atmosphere of the scene. In the following 80 minutes of product explanations, he was repeatedly interrupted by the pollen shouts of "far ahead". The M9 deservedly became the protagonist. It is equipped with Huawei's full-stack smart car technology solution, which not only fully loads Huawei's top ten smart car black technologies, but also brings many leading product highlights such as new family design, versatile space, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving control, intelligent driving, and intelligent safety. As the most expensive model of Huawei's Hongmeng Zhixing model, the price range of the four versions of the M9 is 46980,000 56980,000 yuan. In the scene, from the Turing chassis to the giant whale 800V high-voltage battery platform, from the Hongmeng cockpit 40 to Huawei ADS 20, from the variety of space to ten screens, Yu Chengdong shouldered the responsibility of the entire product introduction by himself-this is often undertaken by two or three people in traditional automobile companies. 
Outside the scene, from the new strength of car manufacturing to the new power of car manufacturing, from the main engine factory to the first business, from the science and technology circle to the automobile industry, everyone is paying attention to Yu Chengdong's every move. Competitors are nervously paying attention to the data - the 2-hour big set (5,000 yuan, generally referring to non-refundable deposits) of the M9 exceeded 10,000 units. Another data for reference is that since the pre-sale opened in September, the number of orders has exceeded 540,000 units. It was destined to be a sleepless night. Huawei Smart Car BU decided to take advantage of the momentum and announced that the national AITO user center would be open until 24 o'clock that night, and the national AITO experience center would be open until the mall closed. The outside world has no way of knowing Yu Chengdong's true feelings at this moment, but he needs such a victory too much to say goodbye to the past. Looking back at 2023, Huawei's smart car BU is not all smooth sailing, but ups and downs and transitions, and it has walked out of a U-shaped curve in a complex and changeable market environment. In 2021, Huawei and Sailis jointly built the Wenjie and successively released three models: the Sailis SF5, the Wenjie M5, and the Wenjie M7. However, after entering 2023, the performance of Wenjie is not ideal, and Huawei's effect has declined, sales have been sluggish, and product popularity has declined ......Yu Chengdong was placed on the cusp of **. The countermeasure is as seen by the outside world, during which Huawei changed the words "AITO Wenjie" to "Huawei Wenjie", but then it was urgently stopped by Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei. Next, the core executives of Huawei Intelligent Car BU have undergone a series of personnel adjustments. The real turning point began in August, when Huawei launched the "Pioneer Project" and quietly put the Mate 60 Pro on sale in its own stores. At the Chengdu Auto Show held that month, Huawei launched the new M7 and received 100,000 orders in two and a half months. On November 9th, the second "world" of Hongmeng Zhixing, Zhijie S7, came out in a high-profile manner. On December 1, Huawei's third "world" was unveiled ......The initiative is back in Huawei's hands again. 
Over the past four years, we have encountered multiple rounds of sanctions, and last year the business fell to the bottom, and in this extremely difficult situation, we survived and survived the most difficult winter. Before the end of the M9 and Huawei's winter all-scenario press conference, Yu Chengdong, who stood on the stage, was full of emotion. As he said, looking back on the past four years, Huawei has put its words into practice, and countless Huawei people have worked together to turn the cliff into a mountain, and continue to break through in the face of adversity. Since stepping into the river of Huawei's smart car BU, 54-year-old Yu Chengdong has been breaking through adversity. The establishment of Huawei's smart car BU can be traced back to May 2019 and was signed by Ren Zhengfei himself. In 2021, Yu Chengdong took over as CEO and became chairman of the board in September this year, shouldering the responsibility of Huawei's smart car business. However, whether it is Huawei's terminal business or the smart car business, Yu Chengdong's goal has never changed, that is, "to be the first". Can this bold, passionate, and high-profile Huawei smart car BU soul rewrite the smart car pattern?
Not a distant promise
In 2022, Cialis Automobile is a dark horse that suddenly broke out in the industry. This year, the AITO Wenjie series has successively launched three new cars: M5 range extension, M7 range extension, and M5 pure electric series, with annual sales of more than 750,000 units, which is eye-catching to the industry. The question world is so capable of fighting, and even makes Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, afraid. "In the third quarter of 2022, the release of the M7 directly crippled the ideal one. We've never faced such a strong opponent, and for a long time, we couldn't fight back. On the evening of June 13 this year, Li Xiang, who has always been a "poisonous tongue", suddenly issued a Weibo and praised Huawei. He said bluntly: "The super ability of HW (Huawei) directly caused the sales of Ideal One to collapse and stop production ahead of schedule, and it lost more than one billion yuan (yuan) in one quarter." "Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. After entering 2023, there are signs that Huawei's automotive business is beginning to experience an eventful season. 
One, the Wenjie brand has encountered sales difficulties, and even from February to August 2023, except for June, the Wenjie series has not released sales data separately. The point of decline in sales was in January this year. From January to March, the sales data of the Wenjie series were 4,490, 3,505 and 3,679 respectively, and its sales in December last year were 10,157 units. In this context, the revenue of Cialis has been significantly affected. In the first quarter of 2023, Cialis revenue will be 509.1 billion yuan, this figure is less than 109 in the fourth quarter of last yearHalf of the 8.2 billion yuan is also less than the same period last year. "In the past year or so, Huawei has stepped into a new field and made some achievements, but at the same time, it has taken some detours due to its lack of capabilities and experience. Regarding the reason for the decline in sales, Yu Chengdong said euphemistically in an interview. Second, "Huawei's car" was urgently stopped. At the beginning of March, in order to reverse the decline in sales, Wenjie once offered a "big move" - the promotional slogan in the official Weibo and WeChat *** posters was quietly replaced from "AITO Wenjie" to "Huawei Wenjie". Huawei's stores around the country have posted promotional materials after the "surname change". This move is widely interpreted by the outside world as a signal that Huawei will further lead the development of AITO automobiles, and it is not ruled out that Huawei will enter the list of "car manufacturing". 
At a time when people are at a loss, Huawei once again issued an internal announcement on the decision-making of the automotive business, which was signed by Ren Zhengfei, once again emphasizing that "Huawei does not make cars" and that "it is valid for 5 years". In addition, the announcement also puts forward strict requirements for the exposure of the Huawei logo on the design of the car, including the fact that the Huawei logo cannot appear on the publicity and appearance of the whole vehicle, or use words such as "Huawei Wenjie" and "Huawei AITO" to promote it. As soon as the announcement came out, the word "Huawei" was urgently removed from the sales stores across the country, and the sales consultant was also told that it was not allowed to introduce products to the consultant in the form of "Huawei Wenjie". Yu Chengdong was under tremendous pressure as a result. On the evening of March 31, he wrote two comments under the resolution of "Huawei does not make cars". One of them is, "For an industry, only with in-depth insight and deep understanding can we grasp the right direction!".Mark it and come back in a few years!The other is, "Times have changed, and that will only make it harder for us!."In a few years, everyone will understand!Leave it to the test in time!In the comment area, there was a "cheering" sound cheering for Yu Chengdong. At some point, these 2 comments were deleted. More good people boldly speculated, "Will Yu Chengdong leave Huawei?"Someone else suggested, "Yu Chengdong can go to Xiaomi when he leaves Huawei, and I will definitely support one then." Of course, Yu Chengdong will not leave Huawei. However, the market situation is becoming more and more unoptimistic, and after losing the title of "Huawei", the sales volume of Wenjie in April fell month-on-month. 
On April 1, Yu Chengdong attended the high-level forum of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2023) and said that Huawei insists on not making cars, but helping car companies build good cars together. This is the first time that Yu Chengdong has publicly responded after the "Huawei does not make cars" turmoil. "In the past two years, we have withdrawn a lot of cooperation because of sanctions. In the past, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Tesla all chose us, because of sanctions, (everyone) slowly withdrew" "Among the new power car companies, Li Xiang and Li Bin are here today, and I believe that they are unlikely to choose Huawei ...... in intelligenceAmong the traditional car companies, those who are afraid of losing their souls will not choose us. In the nearly 20-minute speech, although Yu Chengdong's tone was relaxed, some analysts believe that he seems to be mixed with a little helplessness and grievances, which also reflects the current predicament facing Huawei to a certain extent. Third, core high-level changes. In February this year, Wang Jun, COO of Huawei's intelligent car BU and president of the intelligent driving solution product line, was suspended, and Yu Chengdong took over all the business of the intelligent car BU. Some analysts believe that Wang Jun's suspension is not a simple personnel adjustment, but the result of a game between different routes of Huawei's smart car business, which will gradually become the core model of Huawei's smart car business. Under multiple internal and external pressures, Huawei's automotive business is also constantly changing. 
Huawei's decision not to build cars is the result of its market positioning based on its accumulated advantages in information and communication technology (ICT) technology. To survive the crisis in the next three years, Huawei must take "survival" as its top priority, maintain a reasonable pace in the 2023 budget, and shrink or close down businesses that blindly expand and invest in it. These pressures are undoubtedly passed on to Yu Chengdong and the Huawei Smart Car BU team led by him. You must know that although Huawei did not disclose the revenue data of the automotive business, as the second card of Huawei's business growth, Huawei's smart car car BU has been in a state of loss for 3 years since its establishment, which is almost an open secret in the industry. Yu Chengdong himself has publicly stated that Huawei has invested a lot in automobiles, spending more than a billion dollars a year, and it is currently Huawei's only loss-making business. Under pressure, at Huawei's internal meeting held in December 2022, Yu Chengdong vowed that "the car BU will be profitable by 2025." "It's a promise that's not too far off. 
"The light boat has crossed the Ten Thousand Mountains".
The light boat has crossed the Wanzhong Mountain, and Huawei mobile phones are on the road to return. On August 4, the Huawei Device Developer Conference 2023 was held at the Dongguan Basketball Center, and Yu Chengdong expressed his heartfelt emotion in the face of thousands of participants. "The light boat has crossed the Ten Thousand Mountains" comes from Li Bai's "Early White Emperor City", which means that a person or a thing has gone through multiple difficulties and challenges and finally succeeded. At this press conference, Huawei unveiled the newly upgraded HarmonyOS 4 operating system and a new generation of short-range wireless connection technology, NearLink. No one expected that 25 days later, Huawei dropped a depth charge on the market. Its far-reaching impact has caused huge waves in the mobile phone, electronic and digital industries, and the automotive industry. 
At 12:08 p.m. on August 29, Huawei suddenly launched the sale of the Mate60Pro mobile phone without any marketing promotion, and quickly ignited people's enthusiasm. Huawei explained that since its release in 2013, the Mate series has shipped a total of 100 million units, and now it has launched the "Huawei Mate 60 Pro Pioneer Program" to allow some consumers to experience it in advance. This is a secret victory - after 1,500 days of hibernation, Huawei has successfully returned to the 5G market with its deep technology accumulation and innovation strength. This breakthrough not only proves Huawei's leading position in the field of communications technology, but also sets a new benchmark for the entire industry. "As long as we break through the 5G blockade, Huawei will be able to return to the top, restore its position as a leader in communications technology, and drive the development of applications in other fields, including the automotive brand. Industry insiders said. 
On September 12, AITO launched the new M7 in Shanghai. The new model is equipped with Huawei ADS 20 high-end intelligent driving system, the price of its 5 models is 24980,000 32980,000 yuan. The new M7 is 70,000 yuan lower than the old entry-level version. Another 13 days later, Huawei held an autumn new product launch conference in Shenzhen, which looks more like a real battle to "bring goods" to the world. Outside the venue, Huawei opened up a huge space to display the Wenjie modelIn the venue, after the release of a series of new products, Yu Chengdong did not forget to call for the world, pushing the atmosphere to a climax. "The M7 series has invested 500 million yuan to build, and through Huawei's in-depth empowerment, it has brought users the ultimate experience that is far ahead of the curve in both invisible and visible places. Yu Chengdong said. The popularity of the new M7 quickly responded to the offline, and the sales intensity of the store increased sharply. "There were a lot of test drivers, and I was so busy that I couldn't take care of lunch every day, and I had to work late at night to get home. The store sales consultant said to Bangning Studio. On November 27, AITO Automobile's official data showed that two and a half months after the release of the new M7, Dading exceeded 100,000 units. Yu Chengdong affirmed this, he said: "Huawei and Cialis have created the fastest 100,000 new energy vehicles off the assembly line, creating the 'Wenjie speed', and the new M7 has also created its own milestone. "The willows are dark and bright. Everything is developing towards Yu Chengdong's expected trajectory, and Hongmeng Zhixing has also blossomed one after another.
On November 9, Huawei released a new strategy for smart mobility solutions in Shenzhen, as well as a new ecosystem for smart car services, HarmonyOS Zhixing. "HarmonyOS aims to leverage Huawei's more than 30 years of experience in the ICT field in terms of incremental components and technical solutions for smart cars, and share Huawei's experience in quality control, sales service, and brand marketing accumulated in the consumer business over the past 10 years, so as to deeply empower partners and create a new era of smart cars. Yu Chengdong explained. There are three types of cooperation between Huawei and automotive companies: the first-class business model, the solution model, and the smart car model.
Among these three models, the first business model mainly provides ICT components. The HI mode is upgraded to the HUAWEI INSIDE (HI) mode, which provides packaged solutions, focusing on intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving full-stack solutions. HarmonyOS Zhixing is the most deeply bound to automobile companies, and Huawei has more dominant power and is involved in product development and channels, which is the main revenue of Huawei's smart car BU. Yu Chengdong revealed that at present, four automobile companies have become partners of Hongmeng Zhixing, namely Cialis, Chery Automobile, JAC Automobile and BAIC Group.
Huawei and Ceris have jointly built the AITO Wenjie brand, which includes three new energy SUVs: the M5, M7, and M9. It cooperated with Chery on the Zhijie brand, and the brand's first C-class pure electric sedan Zhijie S7 was launched on November 28. After the question world and the wisdom world, Huawei's third "world" has been unveiled. On December 1, JAC announced that it had signed a "Cooperation Agreement on Intelligent New Energy Vehicles" with Huawei terminals. Based on Huawei's intelligent vehicle solutions, the two parties will cooperate in product development, manufacturing, sales, and service to build luxury intelligent connected electric vehicles. There is a power in the automotive world: one person can go fast, but a group of people can go further. Huawei's circle of friends is getting bigger and bigger. On December 11, Reuters reported that Huawei had made initial contacts with German automakers Mercedes-Benz and Audi to see if it was interested in buying a stake in its smart car software and components company. The news has not been confirmed by Huawei.
Previously, on November 26, Huawei and Changan Automobile signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Investment Cooperation to establish a new company, with Changan Automobile and other automobile companies investing no more than 40% of the shares, and Huawei will not engage in business that competes with the business scope of the new company in principle. In just two months, Huawei has accelerated its expansion in the automotive field by establishing a new company, signing new partnerships, and launching new products. What will Huawei bring to the development of smart cars?The answer from industry insiders is that Huawei is reshaping the future of the industry with its disruptive innovation. This kind of innovation is not limited to the technical level, but also brings revolutionary changes in business models, industrial chain structure and ecological cooperation. In this new wave, Huawei may open up a new market and space for upgrading. "Then you can see how we're rewriting the history of the industry. On December 9, at the 2023 Huawei Pollen Annual Meeting held at the Songshan Lake base, Yu Chengdong said that next year Huawei will launch HarmonyOS native applications and native experience products, "which will be the real king of China's terminal operating systems." The automobile circle often refers to Yu Chengdong as "Yu Dazui", thinking that he is a person who likes to "talk big". This is very different from the low-key and introverted style of the automobile industry, which has always been low-key and introverted, and although things have been done for eight points, they only talk about five or six points to the outside world. But don't be obscured by appearances - just look at the counterattack of Huawei's mobile phone business to find that most of the bulls that Yu Chengdong once bragged about have been realized. Will the smart car business be different?"Huawei's deeply empowered models (including Wenjie, Zhijie, and AVATAR) are expected to sell 670,000 units (units) in 2024, with a significant incremental contribution, and the retail sales of 'Huawei cars' in the domestic market may exceed Tesla's. "Ping An *** said.