Under the agreement between the two, Huawei has committed not to engage in the automobile manufacturing business and not to engage in the same business as the new company, Changan chairman said.
Changan Automobile chairman revealed the name of the company’s joint venture with Huawei and more details after the two signed an agreement about two months ago.
Changan’s JV with Huawei is tentatively named Newcool, the Chinese auto giant’s chairman Zhu Huarong said today at its global partners conference.
Under the agreement between the two sides, Huawei has committed not to engage in the automobile manufacturing business and not to engage in the same business as the new company, Zhu said.
Changan signed an investment cooperation memorandum with Huawei on November 25 to jointly support a company set up by the latter to provide automotive smart system and component solutions, according to a previous stock exchange announcement by the carmaker.
Huawei plans to set up the target company, in which Changan and its affiliates plan to acquire no more than a 40 percent stake, according to the announcement.
The company’s business scope includes automotive smart driving solutions, smart cockpit, smart car digital platform, smart car cloud, AR-HUD and smart car lights.
Huawei plans to integrate the core technologies and resources of its smart car solutions business into the new company, which will aim to become a world-class industry leader in automotive smart driving systems and components, according to the announcement.
The new company will be a public resource platform company for the entire industry, and Changan and Huawei will first explore launching specific products and achieving scale, Zhu said at today’s partner conference.
Zhu mentioned that Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun brought a team to talk with Changan in August 2023, and both sides want to work together to help China’s automotive industry rise in the field of vehicle intelligence.
It took only three months from the presentation of the intention to cooperate to the signing of the investment memorandum, Zhu said.
Huawei has three types of cooperation with car companies, of which the model of building cars with OEMs is the one it is most deeply involved in, which is known as Zhixuan.
In Huawei’s least involved model, the tech giant only provides components and the HarmonyOS system. In the middle of the spectrum is the model that offers “Huawei Inside” solutions.
The first automaker to partner with Huawei in the Zhixuan model is Chongqing-based Seres, which jointly created the Aito brand and launched the Aito M5, Aito M7, and Aito M9.
In addition to Seres, Huawei also co-branded Luxeed with Chery and made the Luxeed S7, the first model of the new brand, available on November 28.
Changan’s sub-brand Avatr is also one of the automakers that has partnered with Huawei, but has opted to use the “Huawei Inside” solution.
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