Seres Launches AIVA: Can Seres Replicate the Success of AITO in the AI Era?

On June 9, Chongqing Saitou Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SERES (601127.SH, 09927.HK), launched a new AI automotive brand, AIVA.

The AIVA brand proposes a vehicle - building approach where AI (Artificial Intelligence) defines the car, meaning AI comes first and then the vehicle. It takes the large AI model as the origin of vehicle development. The first concept car, AIVA Origin Concept, was launched simultaneously. The first mass - produced model, AIVA ME7, is planned to be launched within 2026, targeting the market segment above 200,000 yuan.

At the press conference, Zhang Zhengyuan, the chairman of AIVA, and Li Bo, the president and product manager of AIVA, made their debut appearances. Li Bo's resume shows that he was formerly the head of the Huawei Smart - Selected Vehicle Product Department and joined SERES in March 2024. He is currently the vice - president of SERES Group.

(From left to right: Chen Jingwen, the person - in - charge of the intelligent cockpit of Volcengine; Yang Liwei, the vice - president of Volcengine; Zhang Zhengyuan, the chairman of AIVA; Li Bo, the president and product manager of AIVA. Source: The enterprise)

Saitou Technology was formerly known as Chongqing Landian Technology Co., Ltd. and completed its name change and capital increase and share expansion on May 29. Business registration information shows that SERES' shareholding in Saitou Technology has decreased from 100% to 32.96%, and it is no longer the controlling shareholder. Shaci Zhiyuan led the investment with 3.43 billion yuan and became the largest shareholder. Industrial investors such as Wending Investment under CATL, Jiangsu Bojun Technology, and Changzhou Xingyu participated together. The scale of this round of financing exceeded 6.6 billion yuan.

At the press conference, Li Bo elaborated on the underlying logic of "AI defines the car, AI first and then the vehicle". Traditional vehicle - building mainly relies on market research, scenario deduction, and manual judgment to complete product definition. The cognitive boundary of humans is the limit of demand exploration. In the AI era, user needs can be actively and batch - mined.

(Li Bo, the president and product manager of AIVA. Source: The enterprise)

Li Bo made an analogy that in the past, humans mined for resources, and now AI does the mining while humans are responsible for sifting the valuable ones. He said that the car is not designed but grows from AI's understanding of humans.

The capital market is still in a wait - and - see stage regarding the new brand. On June 10, SERES closed at 68.88 yuan, with a single - day decline of 3.95%. The company responded on the investor interaction platform that the stock price fluctuation is affected by multiple factors such as market sentiment, industry environment, and macro - economy. The company will focus on its main business and continuously strengthen its core competitiveness. Since the name change of Landian Technology on May 29, SERES' A - share price has dropped by 14.6% in total. Although it briefly rose after the brand was exposed, it fell back after ByteDance refuted the rumor of entering the automotive industry. Looking at the longer - term, from the beginning of 2026 to the close on June 10, SERES' A - shares have fallen by about 40% in total. As of June 10, the stock price has corrected by more than 60% from the intraday high of 173.55 yuan on September 30, 2025, and the market value has dropped from about 300 billion yuan at its peak to about 120 billion yuan.

A Boisterous Press Conference and Brand Controversy

This new brand press conference has attracted much attention. On the one hand, it is due to the market's curiosity about AI cars. On the other hand, there have been multiple episodes such as public opinion misinterpretation and brand controversy before and after the press conference.

With the exposure of the Saitou Technology brand, the outside world once equated Saitou with Doubao Automobile, and many media reports interpreted it as ByteDance entering the automotive industry. On June 6, ByteDance officially issued a statement to clarify that it has no plan to build cars or launch an automotive brand. Saitou is not an automotive brand launched by ByteDance or Doubao, and there is no equity cooperation between them.

ByteDance stated that the cooperation between Doubao large - model, Volcengine and automakers belongs to the category of technical services, aiming to provide automakers with technical capabilities such as large - models and intelligent cockpits to help improve the in - vehicle intelligent interaction experience.

The market has deeply associated Saitou with ByteDance's automotive - building plan, blurring the boundary between technical cooperation and brand operation.

(Yang Liwei, the vice - president of Volcengine. Source: The enterprise)

In fact, the cooperation between ByteDance and Saitou is essentially a deep co - creation from the product definition stage. Yang Liwei, the vice - president of Volcengine, said at the press conference that AIVA will jointly define, design, and create the AI car experience with Volcengine. Volcengine will provide technical services such as the Doubao large - model and intelligent cockpit. He believes that an AI car should not simply add AI functions to a vehicle but should become a new physical AI species with the ability to continuously iterate.

On the eve of the press conference, Avatr posted on social media, saying that a brand with a similar name has emerged in the market. Avatr's legal department then issued a statement, saying that it will resist unfair competition and reserve the right to pursue legal liability. Although not naming names, public opinion focused on AIVA. Netizens found that the visual similarity between AIVA and AVATR is relatively high after comparing the English logos. As of press time, Saitou Technology and the AIVA brand have not made a public response. Li Bo interpreted the brand concept at the press conference. AIVA means that AI accompanies users to embrace the future. AI will improve efficiency and transform the car from a tool into an emotional partner. One hour after the press conference, Roewe released an interactive post, welcoming more peers to join the AI - native track and pointing out that AI - native cars are a common evolution for users' travel experience. Roewe is Volcengine's first AI - native automotive partner and has launched the Jiayue series of models targeting family users, which are expected to be launched in the third quarter. Saitou focuses on the young consumer group, forming a differentiated layout with Roewe.

(Source: Avatr's Weibo platform)

SERES' Strategic Intention from Wenjie to Saitou

The industry generally believes that the launch of Saitou and the AIVA brand is a key layout for SERES to replicate the myth of Wenjie's explosive success.

From 2022 to 2025, the sales volume of Wenjie increased from less than 10,000 to 420,000, which also drove SERES' market value to exceed 300 billion yuan at one point. Relying on Huawei's intelligent driving technology, offline channels, and brand endorsement, Wenjie has become the largest commercial achievement of Huawei's intelligent driving ecosystem and has also enabled SERES to quickly enter the high - end market.

In April this year, He Liyang, the president of SERES Automobile, summarized the five - year development of Wenjie and sorted out the enterprise's technological evolution path, from the integration of intelligent electricity and software - defined vehicles to finally moving towards AI empowerment and AI - defined vehicles. He also revealed that SERES is simultaneously promoting technological reserves for the next 2 - 3 years and a new exploration of L4 - level embodied intelligence.

2026 is regarded as the first year of physical AI. The application of AI in cars has moved from concept to reality. Wenjie has verified the commercial value of software - defined vehicles, but SERES also faces real bottlenecks. Under the original cooperation system, the growth dividend of Wenjie is gradually diluted, and the risk of relying on a single ecosystem continues to be prominent.

When Huawei is no longer the exclusive moat, SERES needs to build a new development narrative. The management clearly stated that AI is not an option but a must - answer question. However, the investment in AI cannot be infinitely increased within the Wenjie system, so Saitou Technology, which operates independently, came into being.

In the AI - defined vehicle track, Saitou is not the first to enter, but it is the first brand to clearly propose "AI first and then the vehicle" and simultaneously complete the adaptation of the organizational structure and cut into AI - native R & D from the product source. The outside world speculates that through Saitou, SERES is trying to establish an AI - vehicle development route independent of the Huawei system.

Years of high - intensity investment in R & D provide a foundation for its transformation from software - defined to AI - defined. Data shows that in 2025, SERES' R & D expenses were 12.51 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 77.4%, accounting for 7.58% of the revenue. In the first quarter of 2026, this trend continued, with R & D expenses of 1.794 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 70.7%. In addition to being used for the development of new models, this fund is mainly invested in the AI - driven platform, Magic Cube Technology Platform 2.0, for the evolution of L4 - level embodied intelligence of the whole vehicle, AI transformation, and robot business.

Meanwhile, He Liyang clearly stated that profit will not be the consideration standard for R & D investment.

In addition to technological reserves, the new brand also needs a business carrier that can operate healthily. Landian Technology, the predecessor of Saitou, had a poor business performance before. In 2025, its sales volume was only 25,600, and it had not formed a scale effect and had long - term losses, which imposed a financial burden on SERES' listed company. By separating and restructuring Landian into Saitou, it not only optimizes the financial statements of the listed company but also opens up an independent operation channel for the AI strategy.

This name change combined with over 6.6 billion yuan in financing not only injects sufficient cash flow into the new brand but also completes the integration of industrial resources. The entry of leading power - battery companies such as CATL and automotive parts enterprises, combined with the leading investment of Shaci Zhiyuan with local state - owned background, Saitou has built a complete industrial matrix of vehicle manufacturing + power battery + parts + AI technology + capital.

Some analysts point out that the competition in the physical AI era has extended from the single - product end to the competition of industrial organizational capabilities. Those who can integrate manufacturing, energy, supply chain, capital, and AI technology faster will have a better chance to find a new path. Sun Shaojun, the founder of Chefans, told Caijing that SERES is currently positioned as an ecological collaborator, cooperating with both Huawei and ByteDance. ByteDance has a strong demand to expand its automotive ecosystem. If SERES becomes ByteDance's core hardware partner, it can reduce hardware costs and obtain priority computing power support.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Caijing Automobile", written by Wang Xin and Zhao Cheng, and reprinted by 36Kr with authorization.