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interface news reporter | zhou shuqi

the hongmeng intelligent driving brand jointly developed by huawei and chery has launched its second model, the intelligent drive r7, which is another model developed to compete with the tesla model y in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan pure electric suv market.

on september 24, huawei's first hongmeng intelligent driving coupe suv product, the zhijie r7, was officially launched, with three versions priced from 259,800 to 339,800 yuan. among them, the mid-range and high-end models are equipped with huawei's latest intelligent driving system solution.

compared with the ledao l60, another model that competes with the tesla model y, the price of the zhijie r7 is not much different from the model y, and its entry-level model is nearly 10,000 yuan more expensive than the model y. however, yu chengdong, chairman of huawei's intelligent automotive solutions bu, said that the zhijie r7 loses 30,000 yuan for every car sold.

huawei has spared no effort in investing resources and applying intelligent technologies. the zhijie r7 is equipped with huawei's 800v high-voltage platform as standard, with a maximum range of over 800 kilometers. huawei's self-developed digital chassis is once again installed on the vehicle. in addition to the front double wishbone and rear five-link, air suspension and cdc damping adjustment, the chassis is also equipped with an intelligent body collaborative control system, dynamic adaptive torque system, etc. to enhance the chassis' response speed and control accuracy.

after the first product, the zhijie s7, did not achieve the expected results, the zhijie r7 became the key model that the zhijie brand placed its hopes on, and it is also an important product for huawei to prove its technology premium capabilities to its partners. from the perspective of the models within the hongmeng intelligent driving system, the zhijie r7 also has a cost-effective advantage.

two simple comparisons are that the five-seat rear-wheel drive intelligent version of the m7, which has a smaller battery capacity and is not equipped with huawei's self-developed chassis, is only 10,000 yuan cheaper than the same version of the r7. the rear-wheel drive long-range version of the s9, which has a similar battery capacity and is also equipped with air suspension and cdc variable damping shock absorbers, is 80,000 yuan more expensive than the r7.

zhijie r7 is expected to launch an extended-range version by the end of this year or in 2025 to meet the current consumer trend of transitioning from fuel to hybrid vehicles. according to the china passenger car association, in the context of a slight year-on-year increase in wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles in august, the sales of plug-in hybrid models and extended-range models achieved year-on-year growth rates of 84% and 109% respectively.

so far, the order volume of zhijie r7 has exceeded 30,000. tianfeng securities research report believes that compared with luxury brand suvs of the same level, zhijie r7 has significant advantages in intelligent driving experience and cost performance. compared with coupe suvs of the same level, zhijie r7 is larger in size, enabled by huawei's intelligent driving technology, and has a wider target user group with pure electric and extended-range dual-power types.

although zhijie and wenjie enjoy the same support of huawei's technology, marketing and channel resources, it has not yet replicated wenjie's success. after the wenjie m7 was launched and delivered in 2023, the cumulative sales volume exceeded 140,000 units. however, zhijie's first product s7 has been launched twice, but it still has not achieved the expected sales breakthrough.

chery automobile hopes that the zhijie brand will drive the company's overall development towards high-end. at the zhijie r7 launch event, yin tongyue, chairman of chery automobile, said that zhijie is chery's "first priority strategic" project, and has invested 10 billion yuan and a research and development team of 1,000 people. chery automobile has arranged its best factories and the best teams for the research and development, production, manufacturing and service guarantee system of zhijie products.

it is speculated that chery automobile may become another company to invest in huawei yinwang after avita and seres. in a recent interview, xu zhijun, huawei's vice chairman and rotating chairman, revealed that yinwang is still in the first stage and is beginning to operate as an independent company.

"we hope to complete the first step by the end of this year and load all assets and personnel to yinwang. there is no clear plan for when the second batch of automobile companies will come in, but huawei is in contact with all automobile companies."

in xu zhijun's view, the participation of automobile companies should not be just financial investment, but also the purchase of products and solutions. yinwang hopes to establish a solid strategic partnership with its partners, which is the basis for sharing risks and benefits, and the prerequisite for building an open platform for electrification and intelligence.

huawei's automotive bu has a r&d team of more than 7,000 people and has invested more than 40 billion yuan in r&d. it was once huawei's only loss-making business. in the first half of this year, huawei's automotive bu turned losses into profits and is expected to achieve full-year profitability.

according to a report recently released by seres, huawei's automotive bu gross profit margin is as high as 55.36%. and due to the decline in marginal costs, the gross profit margin of huawei's automotive bu software and service business has reached 86.17%. this is a high gross profit margin that is difficult for a vehicle manufacturer to achieve, and it is also far higher than other intelligent solution providers in the industry that operate similar intelligent businesses.