“Huawei Does Not Make Cars” Founder Ren Zhengfei Reiterates
On March 31st, Huawei’s founder and chairman Ren Zhengfei issued a signed statement reiterating that “Huawei does not make cars” with an effective period of five years. In addition, Ren Zhengfei also made strict requirements for the display of Huawei’s logo in car designs.
The announcement emphasizes that HUAWEI can not be presented in vehicle promotion and appearance.” A source said, and it specifically pointed out, “Huawei Wenjie’ and ‘HUAWEI AITO’ can not be used.
In September 2019, Huawei officially established the Intelligent Automotive Solutions Business Unit, positioning itself as a provider of “incremental components”. However, given Huawei’s achievements in the mobile phone terminal field, speculation about “Huawei building cars” has never stopped in the industry.
Therefore, in November 2020, Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei issued a document emphasizing that “Huawei does not make cars”, and at the same time sternly stated that “whoever proposes to make cars and interferes with the company in the future can be transferred from their position and find another job”. The article also indicated at the bottom that it would take effect from the date of publication for a period of three years.
In mid-2021, Richard Yu took over Huawei’s automotive business and led the integration of Huawei’s automotive business unit and consumer business group. Yu Chengdong became the overall leader. Speculation about Huawei’s car manufacturing has once again emerged.
The subsequent business progress also shows that the Smart Selection mode led by Richard Yu has helped revive struggling sales of Sailesi, and the jointly launched Wenjie model achieved monthly sales of tens of thousands.
Afterwards, Richard Yu provided a planning blueprint for the intelligent vehicle, stating that ‘we want to create an open alliance for the Wenjie’.
According to the depth of cooperation with car companies, Huawei’s automotive business can be divided into three categories: The primary level of cooperation is selling parts, such as HarmonyOS operating system and domain controllers.
Secondly, it is the supply of modular solutions. Huawei’s deepest tie with automakers is its “HiCar” smart car solution.
If in the cooperative model of components and HI solutions, Huawei is still a clear supplier, then in the intelligent vehicle business, Huawei is a deeply cooperative and bundled partner with automakers.
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In terms of product definition, core component selection, and sales service system of HiCar, Huawei will be deeply involved. The most iconic feature is that HiCar will eventually be sold in Huawei’s retail stores. The role of car companies in the HiCar business focuses more on vehicle development and manufacturing.
Especially on March 8th, in the promotional language on social media channels, the original wording of ‘AITO Wenjie’ was changed to ‘HUAWEI Weijie’. This is seen as a signal that Huawei is further leading the development of AITO cars.
No matter how the outside world speculates, Ren Zhengfei’s signed announcement undoubtedly once again demonstrates Huawei’s position in the automotive business.
