After appearing at the Huawei winter flagship new product launch three days ago, it is rumored that the order volume for the WENJIE M5, priced between 250,000 to 320,000 RMB, has exceeded 1,000 units today.
Compared to the Huawei Select SF5 in April, which sold 3,000 units in two days and 6,000 units in one week, the growth of the WENJIE M5’s orders seems to be more convincing and grounded.
From the Seres SF5 to the Huawei Select SF5, and then to today’s WENJIE M5, Huawei’s venture into the automobile industry is gradually deepening.
The story behind the AITO WENJIE M5
Is the AITO WENJIE M5 a “Huawei car?” Yes and no.
This is the first car product to appear at the Huawei Winter Annual Flagship Release, alongside the Huawei P50 Pocket Smartphone, Huawei WATCH series smartwatch, Huawei smart glasses, and Huawei MateBook X smart notebook. It can be said that, other than not having a Huawei logo, the WENJIE M5 can enjoy the same dissemination resources and top-level consumer electronics product lines as Huawei.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the M5 chapter of the launch event, Yu Chengdong, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Consumer BG and CEO of the Intelligent Vehicle Solutions BU, once again declared that Huawei is committed to becoming a “smart networked-car incremental component supplier.”
Comparing the Huawei Select SF5 in April (top) and the WENJIE M5 (bottom), it appears that the difference in chassis design between the two cars is even smaller than the changes made on a facelift.
So, what are the differences, other than the exterior design?
The M5 is still an SUV built on the Seres SF5 platform, but during the process of becoming the WENJIE M5:
<img src="https://upload.42how.com/article/image_20211227161442.png">
Huawei has installed an entire set of its own electric drive assembly in the Wanjie M5, increased the battery capacity of extended-range power by 5 kWh to 40 kWh, and made significant upgrades to the intelligence in the entire car, reshaping the car’s interior interaction and entertainment experience based on the complete Huawei Harmony OS cockpit ecosystem and HUAWEI SOUND audio system.
From on-site experience after the press conference, the cockpit experience of this car, whether it is the most basic operation of sliding or UI & UX design, is basically at the industry’s top level.
But Huawei has done much more than that. According to Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s industrial design and software teams participated in the research and development process of the Wanjie M5. In addition, starting on January 20th, the Wanjie M5 will gradually open for test drives at 500 Huawei stores in 118 cities across China.
This seems to be consistent with the online rumors that Huawei intervened in the design, research and development, engineering technology, sales, brand operation, and marketing communication of Wanjie M5. Furthermore, the English acronym for Wanjie is AITO, which stands for Adding Intelligence To Auto, while Huawei’s intelligent automotive solution BU’s mission is to bring the digital world into every car.
It can be said that through Wanjie M5, Huawei has become more involved and integrated into the entire process of a car from its conception to delivery. This obviously goes beyond the traditional OEM-supplier relationship in the automotive industry.
Huawei’s explorations
Can Huawei further intervene in the brand, marketing, and sales of Wanjie M5?
In fact, this question was raised when three Huawei Smart Selection SF5 cars drove into Huawei’s global flagship store on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai on April 20.
If we look at Huawei’s Smart Selection SF5, the differences between it and the SAIC version of SF5 are even more limited: a rear motor produced by Huawei, a Hi Car intelligent interconnection protocol, and an HUAWEI SOUND audio system consisting of 11 speakers. All these differences combined are not as impactful as having Huawei drive it into offline stores.
So the essence of this question is actually whether the flow of the world’s top consumer electronics brand can be simply and rudely converted into the largest smart terminal category of intelligent electric vehicles. This is a question that Apple must be contemplating, and Huawei has experimented with it first.If we compare the months before and after April, according to the data of China Automobile Dealers Association, the monthly sales volume of Arcfox SF5 was less than 70 units from January to April this year, while the monthly sales volume of Huawei Smart Selection SF5 from May to November was 972 units, with a month-on-month growth of 1289%.
Of course, it cannot be denied that even with the monthly sales volume of 972 units, it is still below the passing line. This is believed to be the reason why Huawei launched the WEY M5 just 8 months after the SF5.
But the new question is, although the Huawei flavor is stronger in the WEY M5, it still has a close connection with the original Arcfox SF5.
The Arcfox SF5 and WEY M5 are like the Lynk&Co ZERO and the NIO 001 back then. The only difference is that the Lynk&Co ZERO completed the positioning leap before delivery, while the SF5 is a car that has already been delivered in batches.
As of now, the Huawei Smart Selection SF5 has been taken off the shelves from Huawei Mall, and the WEY M5 ordering page has been put in place.
Huawei is of course aware of the impact of rapid iteration on old users, so at the same time, Arcfox also sent a letter to the owners of the Huawei Smart Selection SF5.
According to the letter, in gratitude to the companionship and love of SF5 owners, Arcfox has launched two benefits:
Upgrade the whole vehicle and range extender to lifetime quality assurance for each SF5’s first owner.
Within four years, the first owners of SF5 can enjoy an additional discount of RMB 10,000 for purchasing WEY brand models.
Can this quell the anger of old car owners? We still need to observe. But the second issue with WEY M5 is that its advanced driver assistance system seems to be no different from that of the earlier Huawei Smart Selection SF5 and even the earlier Arcfox SF5.
As a brand that aims to bring intelligence to the automobile industry, the stagnant development of intelligent driving technology is seemingly one of the concerns for many consumers.In April 2021, the JIMU Alpha S, equipped with Huawei ADS autonomous driving solution, amazed the world with a video of safe driving through the busy streets of Shanghai, starting from Huawei R&D Institute. This even prompted the CEOs of the three new car makers, NIO, Li Auto, and XPeng, to come out and show their support.
On November 15, Changan’s high-end brand, AVITA, launched its first model, the AVITA 11, which also features Huawei ADS autonomous driving solution. This may put Huaweis relationship with WM Motors in an awkward position.
To answer this question, we need to go back to the cooperation between Huawei and Sailing Star, more precisely, Sailing Star’s parent company, Xiaokang Group. The two parties reached a comprehensive cooperation agreement on January 18, 2019. Representing Huawei at the signing of the agreement was He Liyang, who was then the general manager of Huawei’s Automotive Industry Solutions Department (fifth from right in the picture).
It was not until nearly five months later that Huawei established the Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, which is subordinated to the ICT Management Committee and authorized by Ren Zhengfei to organize.
The soul figure of Huawei’s cooperation with WM Motors, to some extent, is also the soul figure of the WM Motors brand, Yu Chengdong. He did not officially join Huawei’s automotive business until November 2020, serving as director of the Huawei Intelligent Terminal and Intelligent Vehicle Component Investment Review Committee. It was not until May 18, 2021, that he became CEO of Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU.
Does Yu Chengdong not care about intelligent driving? I don’t think so.
Huawei has a very long-term plan and goal for WM Motors. According to the brand conference on December 2, WM Motors will soon launch a mid-size intelligent pure electric SUV and a mid-to-large luxury SUV. Xiaokang Group’s goal is for the WM Motors brand to become one of the top three global new energy vehicle brands within the next five years.
On the other hand, to compete for the top three in the world, having a new energy powertrain is clearly not enough. From this perspective, the WM Motors M5 is still not the ultimate product of Huawei’s intelligent automotive technology.
From the Huawei SELECT SF5 to the WM Motors M5, Huawei continuously loads technology onto its cars, throws them on the road, and iterates product competitiveness with timely adjustment based on market feedback. Will the WM Motors M5 sell well? We don’t know.
What we do know is that the best is yet to come from Yu Chengdong.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.