Aito shakes the luxury car market again

Author | Chai Xuchen

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Two or three years ago, if you wanted to buy a 500,000 RMB SUV, it might have been difficult to look beyond Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, and other well-established brands. Unexpectedly, a newcomer in the industry has replaced them all and maintained strong momentum over the past six months.

On October 10th, Hongmeng Intelligent Drive released a poster announcing that the Aito M9, which has been on the market for over nine months, has sold over 150,000 units and has been the best-selling model in the 500,000 RMB luxury car market for six consecutive months. This flagship SUV from Huawei has achieved a miracle that independent brands have not reached in over twenty years.

It is worth noting that consumers willing to spend 500,000 RMB on a car are rare, accounting for less than 3% of the entire Chinese car market. Last year, this market volume was only 560,000 units, with the BMW X5 L leading with 93,800 units sold.

Just 20 days ago, Aito M9 completed the delivery of 100,000 new cars, and with the current 150,000 pre-orders, Aito still has over 50,000 orders in hand. With a delivery trend of approximately 16,000 units per month, the M9 has secured the "throne" in the domestic 500,000 RMB+ luxury car market this year.

This sales trend has directly disrupted the perception of the smart electric car market, causing established players to be on edge, with German and American car companies unable to sleep at night, constantly fluctuating between price cuts and increases.

The reason why the Aito M9 has caused a huge stir in the luxury car market is primarily due to its ability to break the "short lifecycle" curse of smart electric cars and maintain a high level of sustained output.

A senior executive from a new force mentioned to Wall Street News that the sales trend of smart electric cars is increasingly similar to consumer electronics products, "the first three to four months are booming, the fifth month is flat, and promotions start in the ninth month, even Huawei's core models follow this pattern."

Indeed, the M9 is no exception. After reaching a peak delivery volume of 17,200 units in July this year, it began to decline, dropping to 15,500 units in September. However, Richard Yu, who has been immersed in the consumer electronics market for decades, quickly found a solution to the problem.

On September 10th, with the introduction of ASD 3.0 intelligent driving, double-standard zero-gravity seats, and the Rolls-Royce-style rear "Mountain and Sea Seat", Richard Yu launched a more luxurious five-seater version of the M9, and the series' performance turned around. According to Richard Yu's disclosure that day, pre-orders for the M9 five-seater version exceeded 130,000 units, increasing by over 20,000 units in just one month.

The new upward trend of the M9 comes from incremental growth. Jielanlu's research report shows that the two versions of the Aito M9 have significant differences in user needs: five-seater owners are more focused on quality and service performance, while six-seater owners value brand and practicality more. It is evident that the launch of the new five-seater M9 is not limited to maintaining existing customers but also expands to different customer groups.

It is clear that Richard Yu's management of high-end models priced over 500,000 RMB is becoming more sophisticated, and the Aito brand is gradually reaching its peak.

Industry insiders point out that the fundamental logic of the Chinese high-end car market is to pay for recognition. In the era of fuel-powered cars, creating a luxury car brand from scratch was an extremely difficult task. Traditional luxury brands have historical heritage and have established absolute technological barriers. Faced with these advantages, most challengers end up leaving disappointed Finding consensus among high-end consumer groups is the key to breaking the deadlock. Otherwise, these attempts will ultimately be expensive flashes in the pan without sustainability. HiPhi, Haobo SSR, and others are all cautionary tales.

Aito has been using more "niche demand" design ingenuity since the M9, gradually leveraging its unique value in the luxury category, further enhancing consumer word-of-mouth. Successfully utilizing technology and differentiated value to penetrate specific luxury car users. What is even more valuable is that it is changing the mindset of high-end consumers and subtly subverting the luxury car industry landscape.

In the era of electrification, when new competitive elements emerge, the competitive situation will also change. New technologies, designs, and experiences can all win over consumers, which is both the charm of the luxury car market and human nature. The shift in demand from the target consumer group means that the dominance and discourse power of "old money" in the luxury car market are rapidly diminishing.

This is not an exaggeration. The luxury car market has never been dominated by a single player. On the contrary, the concentration of China's luxury car market (TOP5) has been declining over the past five years, from 80% to less than 70%.

With the success of Aito M9, Huawei's Car BU and Ceres have both turned losses into profits, enriching their pockets. With new resources and word-of-mouth, Enjoy and Honor brands are also poised for action. Huawei's automotive legion has finally entered a positive cycle, aiming to quickly become the leader in the 300,000 to 1 million yuan market.

However, Richard Yu cannot rest on his laurels. To achieve the goal of dominating the high-end new energy sector, he must replicate more successes like the "M9" and establish a foothold in the pure electric field.

Currently, the acceptance of extended-range vehicles in the luxury market of over 400,000 yuan is close to 30%, with a considerable base. At the same time, the counterattack of the BBA trio has begun, with Mercedes-Benz and BMW's full range of pure electric platforms set to land in the next two years, and Audi's cooperation with SAIC also making rapid progress.

Facing this complex and brutal market, Huawei still faces many challenges and difficulties. In this regard, Enjoy S9 is Richard Yu's foray into the luxury pure electric and sedan fields, and the upcoming collaboration with Jianghuai's Honor brand will also attempt to enter the million-MPV track.

With the desire to become Huawei's second pillar, Huawei, which has staked everything on the automotive market, has no choice but to become a top player. The market also hopes that it can break through the ceiling of more "old money" and pave a new path for independent high-end players