This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporter Yu Jianping and trainee reporter Wen Chong report from Beijing.
On February 22, Mengshi Technology, a subsidiary of Dongfeng, and Huawei officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement, under which the two parties will work together to promote the commercialization of Huawei's intelligent vehicle solutions, continuously explore new technologies, new industries, new formats and new models in the future, and jointly build an intelligent vehicle industry ecosystem. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time that Huawei has empowered an off-road vehicle brand.
Although the official announcement did not mention the cooperation model between the two parties, it also mentioned that the two sides will realize the complementary advantages of the new energy luxury off-road brand and the intelligent technology pioneer brand and empower each other. Therefore, the industry speculates that the cooperation may be carried out in the HI mode. Subsequently, AVATR commented and **Mengshi Technology Weibo said "HI together", which further corroborated this speculation.
The HI model may not just be speculation, and the partners will continue to expand
Following the cooperation between Dongfeng's VOYAH Automobile and Huawei on January 22, Dongfeng's Mengshi Technology once again joined hands with Huawei, and exactly one month later. On the same 22nd, the same marketing methods, and the content of the landing smart car solutions have caused speculation that Mengshi Technology may also cooperate in the HI mode.
On February 21, Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution official Weibo released a warm-up Weibo: "New friends in the new year, happy events the next day". At the same time, the official Weibo of Mengshi Technology also responded with the same copy, announcing that there will be a happy event on February 22. This kind of marketing method is no stranger to everyone, when VOYAH Automotive and Huawei cooperated, the two sides used to "see you on Monday!" The form of dialogue appeared in the warm-up.
At 9 a.m. on February 22, Mengshi Technology and Huawei Intelligent Vehicle Solution announced that they had reached this cooperation. According to the cooperation agreement, the two sides will promote the sharing of industrial resources in their respective fields, complement each other's advantages and combine strong forces, establish a long-term strategic partnership to promote development and mutual benefit and win-win results, jointly build an intelligent automobile industry ecology, and help national brands to improve.
At present, Huawei's cooperation with car companies is divided into three modes from shallow to deep: first, the first-class parts business model, that is, Huawei provides standardized parts and modules to car companies; The second is the HI model, which is jointly developed by Huawei and car companies to provide full-stack intelligent vehicle solutions such as intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, and intelligent vehicle cloud. The third is the HarmonyOS model, in which Huawei is deeply involved in vehicle design, marketing, and terminal sales.
Although the relevant person in charge of Mengshi Technology said in response to **: "For the cooperation model, the two sides are still discussing and will give priority to parts or HI mode." However, Lu Jiamin, chief analyst of the automotive industry at Cinda, told the China Times: "The two sides should cooperate through the HI model, and its products may be equipped with Huawei's Harmony OS intelligent cockpit and ADS2 in the future."0 Intelligent Driver Assistance System. ”
It is worth mentioning that after the official announcement of Mengshi Technology, AVATR commented on this content, with the text "Together HI", which further proves the possibility of the HI cooperation model. More importantly, Mengshi Technology did not deny AVATAR, but directly replied "Smarter Together".
It is reported that Huawei's HI model partners may not only include AVATAR, VOYAH Automobile, and Mengshi Technology. When Changan revealed the name of the new joint venture with Huawei, Lu Jiamin said: "In addition to the existing HarmonyOS cooperation model, HI partners are still expanding, and we believe that with the gradual implementation of the new joint venture, more Chinese independent brands are expected to participate in the joint construction of smart car solution products." ”
Make the warrior smarter, and also make the off-road smarter
Although Huawei's HI model partners are still expanding, in the off-road circle, there is currently only one Mengshi Technology. As Mengshi Technology replied to AVATAR, the purpose of Mengshi Technology and Huawei is to "be smarter together", make Mengshi smarter, and make off-road smarter.
Mengshi Technology is a new brand officially released by Dongfeng Motor Group in August 2022, which is set as "luxury electric off-road", which is a sharp sword drawn by Dongfeng in the upward growth of the new energy vehicle market aiming at luxury electric off-road, and it is also a differentiated trump card played by Dongfeng in the gradually crowded new energy track.
Dongfeng told the "China Times" reporter that Mengshi Technology is a luxury electric off-road brand launched by Dongfeng Company to deepen the "Oriental Wind" plan and the "Science and Technology Leap" action strategic layout, and to upgrade the trend of off-road consumer demand, which is an important support for Dongfeng Company's transformation to science and technology.
At last year's Chengdu Auto Show, the first model of Mengshi Technology, Mengshi 917, was launched, which was first equipped with Mengshi intelligent off-road architecture M Tech, providing two power options: extended range and pure electric, which was defined by Mengshi Technology as "China's first luxury electric off-road car", and officially started delivery in September.
According to official data, by the end of 2023, 1,007 Mengshi 917 units have been delivered, with the proportion of range extension and pure electric being 93% and 7%, and the average price of a single vehicle exceeding 700,000 yuan.
Although for cars at this price, such sales results are not bad, but there is still a gap between BYD and BYD looking up to U8, especially at the moment when new energy vehicles enter the "second half" of the competition, Mengshi Technology wants to go further in the pure electric off-road market and occupy the first opportunity, so it needs to continuously improve its product strength, especially to improve the level of intelligence. Cooperation with Huawei is a good choice for Mengshi Technology to rapidly improve its intelligence level.
As Lu Jiamin said, "Based on Huawei's R&D foundation for smart cars, the product strength of cooperative brands is expected to continue to improve, and the level of intelligence is expected to continue to iterate with the expansion of sales scale." ”
It is reported that through this cooperation with Huawei, Mengshi Technology will be able to leverage Huawei's status as the world's leading ICT infrastructure and intelligent terminal provider to realize the complementary advantages of the new energy luxury off-road brand and the pioneer brand of intelligent technology, fully share Huawei's technology accumulation and leading advantages in the fields of intelligent networking and intelligent driving, jointly build an intelligent automobile industry ecology, and help the Dongfeng Mengshi brand build a leader in China's luxury electric off-road culture.
Wang Guojin, CTO of Mengshi Technology, said: "In the market segment, Mengshi's goal is to be the first in China's new energy off-road, and in 2024, it will create new products, expand the product matrix, and will launch more luxurious executive-level cars and more co-branded modified models." At present, the development of the second model of the Mengshi brand has started and is expected to be launched in 2025. ”
Editor-in-charge: Li Yanan Editor-in-chief: Yu Jianping.