Three Stories and Two Books: Wang Hui Succeeds Avita and Reveals "Trump Card"

On September 20, Wang Hui, the chairman of Avita, announced Avita's Strategy 2.0 at Baiyun Lake Park in Yubei, Chongqing. The press conference was originally scheduled for 1 hour but extended to 1.5 hours. The invitation received by the media had the theme "Avita 07 2026 Model Launch Conference," but upon arrival, the theme of the conference changed to "Avita Strategy 2.0 Release Conference and Avita 07 2026 Model Launch."

Clearly, this is a temporary decision. The day before the press conference, Avita officially announced that Wang Hui would succeed Zhu Huaron as the chairman of Avita Technology, overseeing the company's strategic planning and decision-making, management, and global business operations. The "newly appointed" Wang Hui showcased his vision for the company's future development by announcing the Avita 2.0 strategy.

According to the information, Wang Hui was born in 1981 in Chibi, Hubei. He joined Changan Automobile in 2003 and previously served as the executive vice president of Changan Mazda Engine Co., Ltd. In September 2022, Wang Hui succeeded He Zhaobing as the executive vice president of Changan Automobile. From his resume, it appears that Wang Hui does not have experience in leading an independent brand and has had no direct contact with Avita.

Therefore, someone asked Wang Hui if he was completely unfamiliar with Avita. At the press conference, he responded by telling three stories.

Three Stories of Wang Hui

"Today is my 27th day since joining Avita. Before we release Strategy 2.0, let me share three stories with you." Wang Hui said.

In January 2019, two weeks before the Chinese New Year, Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan Automobile, and Xu Zhijun, Rotating Chairman of Huawei, were enjoying tea and drinks while envisioning the future. The discussions and interactions between these two leaders gave birth to Avatr, and Wang Hui was one of the witnesses to this story.

The second story is that in August 2024, Changan Automobile held a signing ceremony at its global R&D center for the comprehensive strategic cooperation between Changan Automobile and Huawei, as well as for Avatr's investment in Yinwang Company. Avatr invested 11.5 billion yuan to acquire a 10% stake in Yinwang, becoming the first automobile company shareholder in Yinwang. Wang Hui is the leader of this project.

The third story takes place this year, on February 9, when Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Changan Automobile simultaneously announced that they were "planning restructuring matters with other state-owned central enterprises." The day before, Wang Hui was in his office in Thailand discussing Changan Automobile's expansion plans in Malaysia and Indonesia, which also included strategies for expanding the Avita brand. That morning at 10 AM, he received an urgent phone call and immediately flew back to China to lead the restructuring of the new Changan Automobile Group.

After telling three stories, Wang Hui continued, "Electrification is just the opening act; globalization is the main stage." Currently, Avita has entered over 25 countries and regions, including Thailand, the UAE, and Singapore. Avita is accelerating its globalization strategy and plans to enter over 80 countries and establish more than 700 sales channels by 2030.

At the press conference, Avita also invited a large number of partners, major customers, and channel investors. "In the 27 days since I joined Avita, my time allocation has been 55-45, with 50% of my time spent interacting with young colleagues in the company about Avita's business," said Wang Hui. "The other half of the time has mostly been spent communicating with partners about Avita's future strategy, and I have visited five or six cities, engaging with dozens of channel investors and frontline sales consultants."

Wang Hui has laid so much groundwork to dispel doubts from outsiders regarding his capability of not having served as a "top leader" before. By showcasing his experience in the establishment of the Avita brand and the restructuring of the new Chang'an central enterprise group, Wang Hui demonstrates that he possesses sufficient overall planning ability, resource integration skills, and experience in overcoming complex situations.

"I have witnessed the journey of Avita from its inception to now, and have fully experienced the significant event of the establishment of the new Changan Group," said Wang Hui, deeply aware of the national strategic mission of the new Changan Group and what Avita should undertake in relation to this mission.

Since its establishment in 2018, Avita has undertaken the mission of elevating the Changan Automobile brand and is an important part of Changan's goal to achieve annual sales of 5 million vehicles by 2030. It also carries the national strategic mission of "creating a world-class new luxury brand." In this sense, Avita "must succeed, cannot fail."

At the end of July, the new central enterprise China Changan Automobile was officially established, and its sub-brands, including Deep Blue, Gravity, and Qiyuan, announced their sales targets for 2030. However, Avita did not specify its sales targets or strategic plans. At this press conference, Wang Hui outlined Avita's future goals: achieving global sales of 400,000 vehicles and an annual revenue of 100 billion yuan by 2027; global sales of 800,000 vehicles by 2030; and challenging global sales of 1.5 million vehicles by 2035. As a high-end luxury brand, Avita will account for 16% of China Changan Automobile's sales target for 2030.

Currently, Avatr is under significant sales pressure with a target to sell 220,000 vehicles this year, having delivered 79,711 units from January to August, achieving only 36% of the target. Deep Blue Auto sold 199,000 vehicles from January to August, completing only 40% of its annual sales target. Consequently, Deep Blue Auto has recently reduced its previously set target of selling 500,000 vehicles by 2025 to 360,000 vehicles.

What support will Huawei and CATL provide to Avita?

Avita was jointly established by the "three giants" of Changan Automobile, CATL, and Huawei. In the automotive industry, the Avita brand possesses leading original design capabilities and an intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, as well as the Kunlun range extension power system, with a strong foundation in vehicle manufacturing technology.

In the era of smart electric vehicles, intelligent assisted driving and power batteries have become important aspects of new automotive value. For Avita, the creation of new automotive value relies on the support of its two shareholders and suppliers, CATL and Huawei. However, since both CATL and Huawei also have extensive collaborations with other car manufacturers, there has been a perception in the industry that "Avita is unlikely to enjoy exclusive technologies from Huawei and CATL, making it difficult to form a differentiated competitive advantage."

On August 9th, Zhu Huarong, Chairman of China Changan Automobile Group, arranged a "meeting gift" for Wang Hui to pave the way for his future work. Zhu Huarong led a team to Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen. Zhu Huarong stated that Ren Zhengfei provided targeted and strategic guidance to support Changan Automobile and its high-end brand, Avita.

At the Strategic 2.0 launch event, Avatr held the "Avatr Strategic 2.0 Joint Launch Ceremony" with Huawei and CATL, indicating that the "CNN" relationship has advanced further. Avatr will join hands with Huawei to create a strategic community, achieving "one team, one goal, one set of tactics, and one success." They will engage in comprehensive and in-depth integrated collaboration across business chains such as user insights, product strategy, product launch, and marketing promotion.

Huawei's Intelligent Automotive Solution BU CEO Jin Yuzhi used two books to illustrate the support Huawei will provide during the Avatar Strategy 2.0 period. The first book is "From Accidental to Inevitable," which summarizes Huawei's success. Its core viewpoint is: a one-time success might be accidental, but to achieve continuous success and move from accidental to inevitable success, a reliable process is essential. "We will share Huawei's successful process with Avatar."

The second book is "Focus on Quality," and its core viewpoint is to integrate a "quality-first" strategy into all aspects of business management, forming an end-to-end comprehensive quality system. "In this strategic design, we will join hands with Avita to adhere to safety first and quality priority, pursuing a zero-defect philosophy. Together, we will build high-quality cars, achieving success through quality rather than price," said Jin Yuzhi.

In addition, in terms of intelligent assisted driving technology, Huawei will also give priority to supplying Avita. Jin Yuzhi said, "Our Huawei QianKun technology will support Avita at the first opportunity, and we will also use the world's most powerful cloud computing resources to create intelligent products. Our goal is to achieve the highest level of intelligence in the automotive field."

CATL contributes more to Avatr in terms of brand marketing and overseas expansion. Gao Huan, CTO of CATL, stated: "The joint creation of brands is a mutual value addition for us and Avatr in a new field. As the saying goes, a good horse deserves a good saddle. Many people are unaware that Avatr's entire lineup comes standard with CATL's batteries. In the future, CATL will further integrate resources and deeply participate in brand positioning, marketing strategies, product promotion, and safety marketing."

"On the path of Avita going global, CATL will provide new support for Avita's overseas after-sales service system with global production capacity, supply chain, diverse technological cooperation, and licensing service models, in addition to battery power," said Gao Huan.