Can Huawei reinvent itself as a successful car brand with its smartphone business still reeling from US trade sanctions?
- Huawei needs to find new revenue drivers after its once lucrative smartphone business was hobbled by US trade sanctions
- Smart vehicles is one area that Huawei has chosen to pursue, betting on its own operating system and intelligent automotive solutions
At its Smart Life showroom in downtown Shenzhen, Huawei Technologies Co displays everything from tablets to vacuum cleaners as it seeks to woo consumers in China’s southern tech hub.
But the most eye-catching offering from the Chinese technology giant is a navy blue sport-utility vehicle, the Aito M5, which Huawei launched last week in its latest bid to crack the country’s highly competitive electric vehicle (EV) market.
The Aito M5 comes equipped with Huawei’s proprietary operating system, HarmonyOS Smart Cockpit, and the vehicle was developed in a partnership with Chinese automotive brand Seres.
HarmonyOS currently runs on 220 million smart devices such as phones and watches. Smart Cockpit helps drivers and passengers control vehicle functions such as navigation and music seamlessly, much as they would use a Huawei smartphone.
Huawei needs some success as it struggles to find new revenue drivers after its once lucrative smartphone business was hobbled by US trade sanctions that have cut off its access to high-end chips.
Huawei will not have it easy in the EV market though, going up against the likes of Tesla, Xpeng and NIO, and traditional carmakers ranging from BYD to SAIC Motor, as well as rival tech giants with car ambitions of their own, such as Xiaomi and Baidu, analysts say.