In the past few days, a news that Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has drawn a red line again poured cold water on rumors such as “Huawei is infinitely close to building a car” and “building a car is a matter of time”.
At the center of this message is Avita. It is said that Huawei’s original plan to take a stake in Avita was stopped at the last minute by Ren Zhengfei. He explained to Changan Avita that it is the bottom line not to take a stake in a complete vehicle company, and he does not want the outside world to misunderstand the concept of Huawei’s car manufacturing.
Looking at the history of Avita, it has been established for nearly 4 years, during which time the registered capital, shareholders and share ratio have undergone great changes.
According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, Avita Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. was established in July 2018. At that time, there were only two shareholders, namely Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Weilai Automobile Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 98 million yuan Yuan, the two companies each hold 50% of the shares. From June to October 2020, the company’s registered capital increased to 288 million yuan, and the share ratio also changed – Changan Automobile accounted for 95.38% of the shares, and Weilai accounted for 4.62On June 1, 2022, Bangning Studio inquired that the registered capital of Avita has increased to 1.17 billion yuan again, and the number of shareholders has increased to 8 – in addition to the original Changan Automobile and Weilai, it is eye-catching. What ’s more, Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. invested 281.2 million yuan on March 30, 2022. The remaining 5 shareholders are Nanfang Industrial Asset Management Co., Ltd., Chongqing Nanfang Industrial Equity Investment Fund Partnership, Fujian Mindong Times Rural Investment Development Partnership, Chongqing Chengan Private Equity Investment Fund Partnership, and Chongqing Liangjiang Xizheng Equity Investment Fund Partnership.
Among Avita’s current shareholders, there is indeed no Huawei.
However, in the context of the era of Apple, Sony, Xiaomi, Baidu and other technology companies setting off a wave of car building, as China’s most honorable and presence technology company, Huawei’s move into the smart car industry has always attracted much attention.
However, after a series of arguments about Huawei’s car manufacturing, people are waiting for repeated reiterations-Huawei does not build cars, but only helps car companies build cars.
The concept was established as early as in an internal meeting in late 2018. In May 2019, Huawei’s smart car solution BU was established and made public for the first time. In October 2020, Ren Zhengfei issued the “Resolution on the Management of Smart Auto Parts Business”, saying that “who will make a car, interfere with the company, and be adjusted from the post in the future”.
Analysis of the reason why Huawei does not build cars should be derived from its long-term experience and culture.
One, out of business thinking.
Zeng Guofan, a politician in the Qing Dynasty, once said: “Don’t go to the places where the crowds are fighting, and don’t do things that benefit Jiuli.” The street stall economy just took off, and Wuling Hongguang was the first to benefit because it provided equipment for the people who set up street stalls. To make money from those who want to make money is the nature of business. Under the trend that the Internet, technology, real estate, home appliances and other industries have entered the trend of new energy vehicles, Huawei has gone against the trend and chose to help car companies build good cars, which is actually a higher-dimensional reverse harvest.
Second, for strategic goals.
In the field of mobile communications, Huawei has achieved success through its enterprise-oriented 2B business in domestic and overseas cooperation. In the era of smart cars, autonomous driving technology is the focus of the industry’s competition, and Huawei’s advantages just lie in the new electronic architecture, smart cockpit operating system and ecology, autonomous driving systems and sensors and other technological fields.
Avoiding the unfamiliar vehicle manufacturing business, and transforming the previously accumulated technology into components and supplying them to vehicle companies is the most secure transformation plan for Huawei to enter the automotive market. By selling more components, Huawei aims to become a global tier-one supplier of smart cars.
Third, out of prudence.
Under the sanctions of external forces, Huawei’s 5G equipment is under great pressure in the traditional European automobile power market. Once the official announcement of the production of cars, it may change the market attitude and damage Huawei’s core communication business.
It can be seen that Huawei does not build cars, it should be out of safety considerations. Even so, public opinion has never let go of speculation about Huawei’s car manufacturing.
The reason is very simple. At present, Huawei’s automotive business is mainly divided into three types of businesses: the traditional parts supplier model, Huawei Inside and Huawei Smart Choice. Among them, Huawei Inside and Huawei Smart Selection are two in-depth participation modes, which are virtually infinitely close to car building. Huawei, which does not build cars, has almost mastered all the important organs and souls of smart electric vehicles, except for the body without a car.
First of all, HI is Huawei Inside mode. Huawei and OEMs jointly define and jointly develop, and use Huawei’s full-stack smart car solutions. But retail is operated by OEMs, with Huawei assisting.
The aforementioned Avita is an example. Avita focuses on the C (Changan) H (Huawei) N (Ningde Times) intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, which aggregates the advantages of Changan Automobile, Huawei, and Ningde Times in the fields of vehicle R&D and manufacturing, intelligent vehicle solutions and intelligent energy ecology. In-depth integration of three-party resources, we are committed to building a global brand of high-end smart electric vehicles (SEV).
Secondly, in the smart selection mode, Huawei is deeply involved in product definition, vehicle design, and channel sales, but has not yet involved the technical blessing of HI’s full-stack smart car solution.
Post time: Jun-02-2022