Author: Wu Kai
On January 22, Lantu announced the formal signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei. It is reported that the two parties will jointly create the ultimate intelligent travel experience around user requests according to their respective field advantages, and accelerate the large-scale commercialization of intelligent technology through innovation and exploration in multiple fields through cooperative models.
Landmap said: "Huawei’s deep accumulation in ICT technology and continuous breakthroughs in the field of intelligence will help Dongfeng Landmap to further upgrade and iterate in the field of smart new energy vehicles."
In the eyes of industry insiders, the cooperation between the two parties may adopt the Huawei HI (Huawei Inside) model. Under this model, Huawei and cooperative car companies jointly develop, and the cooperative models will be equipped with Huawei’s full-stack smart car solutions. At present, there are three car companies that have adopted this cooperation model: GAC Aian, BAIC Extreme Fox, and Changan Avita.
With Lantu joining Huawei’s cooperative car companies, Huawei’s automotive portfolio has expanded again.
With Baidu, why cooperate with Huawei?
Huawei is not the first tech giant to partner with Landmap.
In 2022, Lantu announced the formation of an effective technical alliance with Baidu. Lantu said that it will use Baidu’s technology in intelligent driving and intelligent cabin to create leading high-order intelligent driving assistance, intelligent human-machine interaction, intelligent networking and other technologies.
Then in 2023, the new Landmap FREE, equipped with Baidu Apollo’s pilot assist driving function, was officially launched.
In the field of smart cars, Huawei and Baidu have many of the same businesses, and intelligent driving is one of the core areas of overlap. Will this cooperation with Huawei, which is also a leader in the field of autonomous driving, change the cooperation between Landmap and Baidu?
Times Finance asked Landmap for information on this. As of press time, the official has not replied.
A person close to Huawei told Times Finance that the cooperation period between the two parties is long and is still in the early stage, and more information is expected to be announced one after another.
New Travel CEO He Lei revealed on the evening of January 21 that the cooperation between Lantu and Huawei will adopt the HI model, and subsequent products will be equipped with Huawei’s Hongmeng car machine and ADS (Huawei high-end intelligent driving system). However, self-developed businesses such as Lantu car machine system should also be retained, and its product portfolio may be a high-end and low-end matching model in the future.
Times Finance asked both companies for details on the specific content of the cooperation between Lantu and Huawei, and the responsible person of Lantu and Huawei replied that "there is no more information at present".
As a high-end new energy vehicle brand under Dongfeng Company, Dongfeng attaches great importance to the Lantu brand.
On July 29, 2020, at the Lantu Automobile brand strategy conference, Zhu Yanfeng, then chairperson and party secretary of Dongfeng Company, personally stood on the platform and explained the brand strategy and future planning of Lantu Automobile.
"We are committed to building Dongfeng Lantu into a leader in high-end new energy passenger vehicles in China. From 2021, no less than one new car will be launched into the market every year. In the next three to five years, Dongfeng Lantu’s products will cover various market segments such as cars, SUVs, MPVs, crossovers, and high-performance vehicles." Zhu Yanfeng said that the launch of the Lantu brand has opened a new round of hard work for Dongfeng to develop high-end brands and promote brand improvement.
Compared with other new car-making forces, the market performance of Lantu in 2023 is not impressive. According to the data provided by Lantu, its overall sales volume in 2023 was 50,552, with an average monthly sales volume of 4,212. However, in the second half of last year, Lantu’s vehicle deliveries began to rise rapidly, and it exceeded 10,000 in December.
At present, there are three models on sale in Lantu Auto, namely Lantu FREE, Lantu Chasing Light, and Lantu Dreamer. Lantu told Times Finance that the above three models will still be the main sales force in 2024, and a new car is planned to be released, but the timing is undetermined.
The debate between Huawei HI model and Smart Choice model intensifies
With the addition of Landmap to Huawei’s automotive map, the competition within Huawei’s automotive business will become increasingly intense.
Some people believe that the sales of BAIC Extreme Fox, Changan Avita and other brand models under Huawei HI mode are not bright. If Lantu and Huawei adopt HI mode this time, the effect remains to be seen.
Dcar data shows that in 2023, the sales volume of Changan Avita brand cars under the Huawei HI model was only 23,485; the annual sales volume of BAIC’s Extreme Fox α coefficient S series models, including the HI version, was only 15,163.
*** is the smart selection model. Since the second half of last year, with the hot sales of products such as M7, the cumulative sales of the Q brand under the smart selection model will increase to 94,380 units in 2023.
The HI model and Huawei Smart Choice model are both new cooperation models between Huawei and car companies. According to Huawei, in the HI model, car companies dominate, the underlying intelligent driving functions are provided by Huawei, and the car companies are responsible for product decision-making and experience; under the Smart Choice model, Huawei has a higher degree of participation, and it has a greater voice over product definition, design, channel sales, brand operation, etc. At present, car companies that adopt the Smart Choice cooperation model include Cyrus, Chery, Jianghuai, etc.
For different cooperation models, the attitude of each cooperative car company is also different. Recently, Zhu Huarong, chairperson of Changan Automobile, made a unique evaluation of Huawei’s HI model, highlighting the complex attitude of car companies towards the cooperation model with Huawei.
"Why doesn’t [Changan Automobile] work with Huawei to develop a smart selection model, why does it want to develop a HI model? First, Changan’s strategy is that cars must have their own brand, not someone else’s brand. If it is someone else’s brand, it will be wrong. Second, Changan must do things in line with the requirements of the national industrial policy, because I think other models are problematic." Zhu Huarong said on January 16.
In Zhu Huarong’s opinion, the cooperation model needs to clarify the attribution of responsibility. Under the HI model, any time there is a problem, Avita and Changan Automobile are responsible.
At the signing site between Lantu and Huawei, Huawei was represented by Xu Zhijun, vice chairperson and rotating chairperson of Huawei, and Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei Smart Car Solutions BU. However, the "key man" of Huawei’s automotive business – Huawei managing director, end point BG CEO, and chairperson of Smart Car Solutions BU Yu Chengdong did not appear.
According to a previous report by Economic Observer Network, Yu Chengdong is a representative of Huawei’s internal "car-making faction", and Xu Zhijun, who previously promoted Huawei’s car BU independence, is a firm "no-car-making faction". That is to say, Xu Zhijun more supports the HI model as a supplier, while Yu Chengdong more supports the smart selection model of deep participation in car-making.
"We Lao Yu [Yu Chengdong] are not convinced, but he only has one vote. As the head of the consumer business, Lao Yu wants to build cars from the start of consumer BG," Xu Zhijun said at the 2021 Huawei Technology Conference.
The appearance of Xu Zhijun and Yu Chengdong’s absence this time also added more uncertainty to the competition between Huawei’s HI model and Smart Choice model.