According to Chinese media reports, Huawei‘s smart car solution BU (referred to as “car BU”) is undergoing a number of personnel adjustments. The car BU COO and intelligent driving solution product line president Wang Jun have been suspended. This is only half a month after Wang Jun’s last public appearance. On January 14, Avatr held a user meeting for the limited edition model Avatr 011 in Shanghai. Wang Jun appeared on the scene as a partner and car owner.
It is reported that in May 2019, Huawei officially established the car BU department, which is tied with the four major BGs. It belongs to the first-level department and is under the management of the ICT Management Committee, marking Huawei’s official entry into the smart car industry. From the perspective of car manufacturing models, in addition to parts supply, Huawei has created two other car manufacturing models. The first is the “Huawei Inside” mode of in-depth cooperation with traditional car companies, that is, car companies use Huawei’s full set of smart car solutions, and the “HI” model is marked on the rear of the car. Its first batch of cooperative car companies include ARCFOX (a sub-brand of BAIC), Avatr, a sub-brand of Changan Automobile, and Aion, a sub-brand of GAC Group. Another mode is the “Smart Selection” mode in cooperation with SERES (AITO brand).
Many Huawei insiders and original car BU employees believe that this is related to the HI model of the car BU and the unsatisfactory progress of the auto parts business after Yu Chengdong took over the car BU. Huawei HI mode, currently launched a total of two models. The ARCFOX Alpha S HI was delivered in July 2022, and the monthly sales of the entire Alpha S series in the second half of last year were only a few hundred units, and the sales volume of the HI model was even less; the second model, Avatr 11, delivery has just begun at the end of December 2022, and 2,000 units have been delivered so far. At the same time, the high-end intelligent driving solution ADS, which is the main product feature of the HI model, is also the product line led by Wang Jun, and the delivery is much later than expected.
According to the data, Huawei’s car BU has 15 secondary departments, including smart driving product department, MDC product department, smart car control product department, smart car cloud product department, smart driving product department, smart cockpit product department, and smart car solutions dept. etc. Yu Chengdong once publicly stated that car BU will achieve profitability in 2025. “The auto business is a money-burning business. Huawei invests more than one billion US dollars in research and development every year. It is currently the only loss-making business for Huawei. It has as many as 10,000 direct and indirect R&D personnel, 70% of which are working on intelligent assisted driving. “
