A New Luxury Electric Car Brand: Avita

Another luxury smart electric car brand has arrived, backed by three major players: Changan Automobile, CATL, and Huawei.

On November 15th, Avita Technology held a brand launch event in Shanghai. Tan Benhong, Avita Technology’s chairman and CEO, introduced the brand concept, positioning, and goals, unveiling the first car of the Avita brand, Avita 11.

Behind Avita are important figures from the automotive industry and technology world: Changan Automobile chairman Zhu Huarong, Huawei’s executive director/consumer business group CEO/smart car solutions BU CEO Yu Chengdong, and CATL chairman Zeng Yuqun all delivered speeches via video at the launch event. The CHN intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, co-created by the three companies, incubated Avita 11, and thus, the leadership of the three companies expressed their confidence and blessings.

The Avita 11 has a futuristic and bold design, a sense of intelligence, and is full of vitality and individuality. The cruising range is at least 700 kilometers, with a 0-100 kilometers/hour acceleration of less than 4 seconds. It has a 200 kW high-voltage super fast charging and a top-level computing power of 400Tops, making it outstanding in terms of intelligence, electric drive, charging, and relative performance.

The Avita 11 will be released in the second quarter of next year, with the first batch production and customer delivery in the third quarter. Currently, the exhibited car is a model only.

With Changan Automobile, CATL, and Huawei joining hands to make cars, it seems unstoppable. How strong will its competitiveness be?

Tan Benhong answered the question of why Avita was founded.

Why Avita? Tan Benhong’s answer

Introducing premium brands by domestic automakers is no longer a novelty. When such a big event happens, many automotive CEOs are reluctant to miss the opportunity to be in the spotlight, and often appear personally at the brand launch.

But Avita’s stage belongs to Tan Benhong.

“For more than 20 years, I have worked for a car company with 160 years of history,” Tan Benhong introduced himself.

Tan Benhong was born in 1975 and has a master’s degree. According to the resume provided by Avita, Tan Benhong joined Changan Automobile in 1998, served as a manager in various important departments such as technology, product, and brand communication, and has been the leader of many best-selling models from planning to market release. Tan Benhong claims that “technology has done half, and the market has also done half.”

In 2018, Tan Benhong served as the executive vice president of Changan Automobile. In July 2021, he officially became the chairman and CEO of Avita Technology, taking full charge of the company.

Tan Benhong spent quite a bit of time answering why he created the Avita brand.Tan Benhong believes that as a bulk consumer product, the fundamental attribute demands of cars will not undergo disruptive changes. However, there are two advanced demands for cars: luxury and warmth.

“High-end luxury” is no longer exclusive to traditional big players. “Young trendy brands can also create high-end luxury products as long as we truly care about design, innovation, and user experience,” says Tan Benhong.

As for “warmth,” the goal is to further personalize the car. “It should be warm and caring towards me, and it should understand me,” he adds.

In addition, the advancement of technology gives rise to another demand for this type of product: “future sense.”

“We believe this is the emotional demand triangle that our Avatar brand is built on: high-end luxury, warmth, and a sense of future,” says Tan Benhong. He summarizes that the concept of Avatar is to create “emotionally intelligent electric cars,” which consists of three features: a highly emotional aesthetic, a personality that knows and understands you, and the invisible charm of technological wisdom.

Avatar’s brand name, AVATR, is derived from the English word “Avatar,” which is the same as the sci-fi movie “Avatar.” This also demonstrates Avatar’s mission to create another “wiser self” for users in the parallel world of intelligence and become a “wise incarnation” that understands you.

After explaining the brand concept, Tan Benhong unveiled Avatar’s first prototype, the Avatar 11.

Designed by Avatar Global Design Center in Munich, Germany, the Avatar 11’s appearance in the electric car field is also unique. The front design features a thick bumper grille with extremely exaggerated eyebrows and F-shaped headlights, creating the main design.

Both sides are simple and clear, with only two lines of side windows speedily converging at the end of the car’s body, forming a sharp V-shaped angle.

The design of the rear windshield of the car is inspired by yachts, surrounded by thick window enclosures.

On-site, the posture of the Avatar 11 is quite high, with a slightly abrupt ground clearance. However, the bottom half of the body is black, creating the feeling of a floating body.

The car displayed was a prototype. Tan Benhong stated that “the appearance is 99.999% complete, including all gap tolerances the same. The appearance of the actual car will be the same.” However, the interior of the car is enclosed and not presented.

In terms of performance, the Avatar 11 has a range of at least 700 kilometers and can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in less than 4 seconds. It also has a high-pressure super-fast charging of 200 kilowatts and top-level computing power of 400Tops. Scheduled for release in the second quarter of next year, and delivery in the third quarter, its performance is not the best, but it is at the forefront of the industry.

Three powerhouses collaborate to create CHNTan Benhong said at the press conference, “In the past three years, we have been tirelessly building a new brand and products.”

However, during these three years, “we” have undergone significant changes.

Avita’s most unique aspect is the partnership between Changan Automobile, CATL, and Huawei. However, Avita’s predecessor can be traced back to December 2017 when Changan Automobile and NIO established a joint venture, Changan NIO, with a 50% stake each.

Due to NIO’s difficulties, Changan NIO failed to make progress for a long time. Changan Automobile’s stake increased to 95.38%. In May 2021, Changan Automobile announced that Changan NIO was renamed Avita Technologies, becoming a market-oriented entity that would develop and operate independently. The plan is to create a high-end smart car brand in conjunction with Huawei and CATL.

On November 5th, Avita announced that it had completed the first round of strategic financing with a total of 2.42 billion yuan raised from three strategic investors. CATL will hold a 28.99% stake and become the second-largest shareholder, while the Chongqing Liangjiang Fund Consortium and South China Asset Consortium will hold 20.88% and 9.97% respectively. Changan Automobile will hold 39.02%, and NIO will only hold a symbolic 1.14%.

Among the current shareholders, the Chongqing Liangjiang Fund Consortium represents the funds in Avita’s factory location. Avita intends to build an intelligent flexible production line in Chongqing with a maximum annual production capacity of 350,000 units. The South China Asset Consortium represents more financial investors. Undoubtedly, Changan Automobile and CATL are Avita’s two main supporters.

Although Huawei did not invest in Avita, it is adopting the “Huawei Inside” model and collaborating with three automakers to create three automotive sub-brands, one of which is Avita.

Furthermore, Changan Automobile, Huawei, and CATL have joined forces to create the CHN intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, aiming to build a global brand in the high-end intelligent electric vehicle field.

Changan Automobile (C), Huawei (H), and CATL (N) are leaders in their respective fields.

According to Tan Benhong’s introduction, Huawei will empower Avita in the field of intelligent automotive solutions, including intelligent driving, intelligent cabin, intelligent connectivity, intelligent electric, and intelligent car cloud. CATL will empower Avita in the fields of powertrain, energy management, and charging network.

The press conference did not specify how strong Huawei and CATL will help Avita achieve its smart and electric driving performance.Yu Chengdong said in his speech that “in the problem of advanced autonomous driving, it should surpass the peers’ level.” Judging from the exhibition car, the Avita 11 and the Alpha S both use three lidars placed in similar positions. From this, it can be inferred that the Avita 11 will support high-level intelligent driving on urban roads, similar to Tesla’s FSD and Xpeng’s City NGP. In addition, APA7.0 remote unmanned valet parking system may also be applied, which is an L4 level autonomous driving in special scenarios (a few enclosed parking lots).

In addition to applying its own cell and system technology, CATL is also actively exploring the combination of power battery and vehicle development. However, when asked by “Electric Vehicle Observer”, Tan Benhong said that “C2C, C2V still need to be done under other mature conditions.” According to the previous cooperation information between Changan and CATL, the outstanding performance that will be applied may be electric drive high-frequency pulse heating technology. This technology is expected to help the Avita 11 achieve 20℃ heating in 5 minutes in a -30℃ environment, effectively improving the low-temperature driving performance of the electric vehicle. Coupled with waste heat recovery technology, the cruising range is improved by 40-70km.

As for Changan Automobile’s role in CHN, it is naturally an intelligent electric vehicle platform. Avita did not elaborate on what platform it came from in Changan Automobile. However, Changan Automobile has revealed that they have created the MPA Ark architecture and SDA architecture. MPA was released in November last year and covers the new intelligent platform MPA Ark architecture from A to C class cars, and opens up upgrades from traditional internal combustion engines to electric power such as HEV, REEV, PHEV, etc. SDA architecture is an intelligent automobile super digital platform that serves users in all scenarios.

Under this platform, the Avita has planned to launch new products successively under the “Five Years Four Cars” plan.

Competitiveness of Avita

Three poor cobblers surpass Zhuge Liang, with the three strong partners, can Avita lead the high-end intelligent electric vehicle market with one shot?

In terms of the performance of intelligent electric vehicles, due to the support of CATL and Huawei, if the latest and most mature technologies of the two parties are applied, intelligent and electric drive will undoubtedly have a level that is not only top-notch, but also world-class.

In terms of vehicle development, Changan contributes years of experience and quality, and especially considers the electronic and electrical architecture and digital application platform of the intelligent vehicle era. Its capabilities, concepts, and production manufacturing level will represent the highest level among Chinese independent brands.

In terms of design, the first product given by Avita’s design center in Germany is bold, confident, intelligent, and futuristic. Compared with high-end products of traditional European and American car brands, it also has a refreshing subversion.

However, products are not just about assembling abilities, the key lies in discovering needs, defining products, and operating brands. Tan Benhong also said that “even with CHN, Avita cannot lie down and win.”He emphasized that Avita’s differentiating ability, which sets it apart from other Huawei Inside companies such as BAIC Group and GAC Group and makes it stand out is its “customer insight” capability. The success of the “Avita small theory” is not due to the provision of powerful performance, but rather the creation of a group of user needs and the delivery of corresponding products and services to meet them.

Returning to Tan Benhong’s argument about needs, he believes that the basic needs of cars have not yet been overturned, but rather advanced needs such as high-end luxury and warmth and care need to be met.

These two points are reflected in product power. First, it should not be worse than European, American, and Japanese brands in terms of luxury, but it should have an extremely cost-effective price. This was not reflected in the press conference. Judging from Avita’s own definition of “high-end”, the entry-level will not be very high, perhaps around three or four hundred thousand yuan.

Secondly, warmth and care should be demonstrated in terms of design, service, intelligent driving, and intelligent cockpit. However, the current information is extremely limited, and it is impossible to make judgments. But in terms of the industry’s level of intelligent cockpit, “Avita Small Theory” is at the top level and surpasses European, American, and Japanese car companies. The ideas and abilities from Internet companies are the key to their outstanding performance, and it remains questionable whether Avita can achieve this. On the service side, Avita is expected to borrow from new car-making forces and adopt a direct-operated model to ensure service experience when facing users.

In any case, Avita has set off. In terms of production and sales channel layout, Avita’s self-built intelligent flexible production line is located in Chongqing and can achieve an annual output of up to 350,000 vehicles. The first white body of Avita 11 was successfully trial-produced and rolled off the production line in Chongqing in October of this year. Avita 11 will be officially released in the second quarter of next year, and the retail network will also be gradually unveiled; and in the third quarter of next year, the first mass production of Avita 11 will be achieved and user deliveries will begin.

Whether high-end luxury and warmth and care can be achieved will be tested next year.

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.