On March 20th, multiple new models under Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto were unveiled, including the newly launched Aito M9 and Aito M5 ULTRA, as well as the Aito M8 and Enjoy S9 extended-range versions set to be released in April. On the same day, Yu Chengdong, a standing director of Huawei, chairman of the Terminal BG, and chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solution BU, announced that a brand event for the Zhijie series would be held in April.

Image source: Photographed by Times Weekly reporter

This is the day with the most new car launches for Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto so far. At the same time, He Liyang, President of Seres Group (parent company of Aito brand), Zhang Guofu, Chairman of BAIC New Energy (parent company of Enjoy brand), and Zhu Xiaodong, Executive Director of Chery Zhi Jie, made appearances on the same stage, drawing attention from the industry.

In the previous February, Huawei held a technical briefing for the S800 Zunjie, which was launched in collaboration with JAC Motors. The car is positioned as a large luxury new energy vehicle, with an expected price of over one million yuan. However, after the aforementioned event, Huawei and JAC Motors were embroiled in public opinion due to leasing vehicles for evaluation. Today, 3 "Jies" gathered, but JAC Motors was notably absent.

In the industry's view, Huawei hopes to accelerate product pace and improve product layout to continuously enhance the performance of its automotive business.

3 "realms" gather for the first time

The highlights of Huawei's automotive business mainly focus on three brands under the smart selection car model.

Among them, Huawei released its new Aito M9 and new Aito M5 ULTRA in collaboration with Seres. The new Aito M9 comes in two versions: all-electric and range-extended, priced at 469,800 to 569,800 yuan. By 2024, the sales of this car have reached 170,000 units, making it the best-selling large SUV in the domestic market.

The M5 by AITO is the first model launched in 2022 through the collaboration between Huawei and SERES, and it is also the first model to feature Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto. The new M5 ULTRA has been upgraded in terms of intelligent driving and power, with prices starting from 229,800 yuan.

In addition to the two officially launched Aito models, Huawei also unveiled two Select Car models that will be released in April.

One of the models also comes from Seres, namely the Aito M8. This vehicle is positioned as a large new energy SUV, with dimensions similar to the Aito M9. The Aito M8 has started pre-sales on March 6, with a pre-sale price starting at 368,000 yuan. Richard Yu stated that within two weeks, the car has received over 70,000 orders and will be officially launched in April.

Another one is the Enjoy S9 Extended Range version, a collaboration between Huawei and BJEV. The Enjoy S9 was launched in August last year, positioned as a mid-to-large-sized new energy sedan. However, after its launch, it faced质疑 due to a car blogger mentioning quality issues during a test. Entering 2025, the monthly sales of the Enjoy S9 were only more than 600 units. Note: "质疑" was left untranslated as it seems there might have been an oversight in providing the full context or intended translation for this term. If you meant to translate it, the appropriate English would be "skepticism" or "doubts." Thus, the revised sentence would read: "However, after its launch, it faced skepticism due to a car blogger mentioning quality issues during a test."

Many industry insiders analyze that, in addition to being influenced by public opinion, the pure electric version of the model is not easy to alleviate users' range anxiety, which also affects the sales of the Enjoy S9. The extended-range version of the Enjoy S9 launched today belongs to the hybrid model, with a maximum range of 1,355 kilometers. This is conducive to Huawei and BAIC New Energy boosting the sales of this model.

Image source: Photographed by Times Weekly reporter

The third brand present today, "ZhiJie," did not release any new products. However, Richard Yu stated that more information will be revealed at the ZhiJie brand event in April, and he also announced that actress Liu Yifei will serve as the brand ambassador for ZhiJie. Currently, ZhiJie has launched two models, the S7 and R7.

Apart from the products, executives from Seres Group, BAIC New Energy, and Chery Automobile were present at the event today. However, JAC Motors, the parent company of Zunjie, the 4th "realm" of Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto, did not bring any new products and also lacked executive speeches.

In February, Huawei held a technology launch for its collaboration with JAC Motors on the Respect World S800, and conducted multiple performance comparisons with the Mercedes-Maybach S680. However, a netizen claiming to be an owner of a Maybach subsequently stated on the platform that the relevant parties had conducted violent tests on their vehicle without consent. JAC Motors responded that they indeed rented the car for testing.

Can it still accommodate the 5th "realm"?

The executives of 3 car companies and 4 new models made their debut on the same day, which can be considered the most powerful lineup in the history of Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto. However, Huawei's automotive map is still expanding.

On February 21st of this year, SAIC Motor and Huawei signed a deep cooperation agreement in Shanghai. The agreement states that both parties will carry out strategic cooperation in areas such as product definition, production manufacturing, supply chain management, and sales services, to create a new intelligent new energy vehicle. Some media reports say that both sides will jointly create the 5th "realm", namely the "Shang Realm".

Both parties did not deny the name "Shangjie". According to the content of the aforementioned agreement, the cooperation model between the two parties is consistent with the current smart selection vehicle model between Huawei and other car manufacturers, meaning that Huawei is deeply involved in product design, management, and marketing, among other aspects. In other words, the de facto "Shangjie" is already underway, and Huawei's HarmonyOS Auto will usher in the 5 "Jie" era.

Huawei's cooperation with GAC Group has also made new progress.

On the evening of March 19, GAC Group announced an investment of 1.5 billion yuan to establish Huawang Automobile, in collaboration with Huawei to create an independent high-end intelligent car brand. This is the latest progress in the GH project cooperation between GAC Group and Huawei. The new brand's models will be equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving software, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent vehicle control solutions.

GAC Group stated that its cooperation model with Huawei is not the智选车mode. However, their renewed collaboration is undoubtedly another move by Huawei in the automotive sector. Note: "智选车" seems to be a specific term or brand name that might not have a direct English translation. If it's a known term in the context, it should remain as "Zhixuanche." Otherwise, it may need further clarification for an accurate translation.

However, compared to the previous rapid development of Wanjie alone, other brands under Huawei's Smart Selection Car model have not yet successfully replicated Wanjie's success. He Liyang stated today that the Wanjie brand has cumulatively sold about 600,000 vehicles. Meanwhile, the cumulative sales of vehicles with Huawei HarmonyOS Auto is approximately 680,000, and brands such as Zhi Jie and Xiang Jie still have a significant gap compared to Wanjie.

Especially entering 2025, although the number of HarmonyOS Intelligent Travel models has increased, there is no significant growth in overall sales. HarmonyOS Intelligent Travel delivered a total of 21,517 vehicles in February this year, which is lower than the data for Li Auto, Xpeng, Xiaomi Auto, and Leapmotor during the same period. In the same period of 2024, the WENJIE brand alone delivered 21,142 vehicles.

Not only that, the public opinion crisis faced by the Zunjie S800 in February also objectively reflects the market's doubts about JAC Motors' ability to create a luxury car at the million-yuan level.

The cooperation between Huawei and Seres can be considered an excellent case in the automotive industry in recent years, with their launched products such as the Aito M7 and M9 becoming blockbuster hits. However, with the increase in the number of cooperative car manufacturers, whether it can provide sufficient support to each partner and how to avoid internal consumption within the system, Huawei needs to provide answers.