On 24 September, Huawei’s Richard Yu, also known as Yu Chengdong, appeared at a Harmony Intelligent Mobility store in Hefei and responded in public for the first time to the reshaping of the AITO cooperation model.
Addressing the many rumours in the market, Yu said: “After years of cooperation and development, Seres has grown substantially in capability, so they proactively proposed wanting to do it themselves, and we still support them.” This was his first public comment on the AITO brand adjustment.
Yu also walked through the new cars Harmony Intelligent Mobility is preparing. For Maextro, the ultra-luxury large SUV launches early next year. He took part in its pre-production review at the JAC plant and called the pricing sincere, describing the car with three “ultimate” phrases, an “ultimate car for high-end users,” the “ultimate SUV among those you drive yourself,” and the “ultimate SUV,” predicting it will be a hit. On appearance, he said the design is locked and “far more high-end than the spy photos online.”
For Stelato, the G9 began first deliveries in Beijing, and Yu said delivery is only the start and he will keep watching daily usage. He flagged the V8 as the next home-segment hit. For Luxeed, two major new products launch next week. Yu called the Luxeed RX the best-handling car Harmony Intelligent Mobility has built, and the refreshed R7 is reaching stores with upgraded ambient lighting. For the Huawei SAIC joint brand, SAIC has assembled a team of more than 5,000 and upgraded the Jinqiao dedicated plant.
On AITO itself, Yu said the new AITO models launched this year are still led by Huawei’s design team. Going forward, the team will concentrate on Maextro, Stelato, Luxeed and the SAIC brand, giving each “Jie” more resources so the four can rise together.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Chedongxi report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://chedongxi.com/p/376842.html.
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