AITO explores a new development model, and its four business segments will usher in focused resource allocation.

AITO will not break away from Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), but enter a new stage of "Seres taking the lead, Huawei enabling". For the other four brands of HIMA, this is obviously positive news, and the resources released by HIMA will be more concentrated on Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro and Shangjie.

The cooperation mode between Huawei and Seres has changed.

On the afternoon of September 15, in response to the earlier report that "AITO will be led by Seres and enabled by Huawei", the official Weibo account of Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance released the Statement on the AITO Cooperation Model, confirming that the cooperation arrangement between Huawei and Seres has been adjusted.

In response to the most concerned issue of the market, the official clearly stated that AITO is still one of the members of the HIMA community. From now on, AITO will explore a new cooperation model: product definition, product design, brand marketing, channel retail, and service system will be led by Seres.

At the same time, the official clarified the boundary, stating that the adjustment does not involve other brands of HIMA, and Maextro, Stelato, Luxeed and Shangjie still adopt the full-process cooperation model led by Huawei.

The situation is now officially settled. AITO will not break away from HIMA, but enter a new stage of "Seres taking the lead, Huawei enabling". For the other four brands, this is obviously a positive signal — the resources released by HIMA will be more concentrated on Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro and Shangjie.

Transfer of Leading Power: Seres "Graduates", Huawei "Lets Go"

It must be admitted that without the endorsement of the Huawei brand, there would be no AITO as it is today.

In 2020, Seres was still known as Xiaokang Co., Ltd. This Chongqing-based automaker, which started with motorcycles and then transformed into new energy vehicles, only sold 732 units of its strategic model SF5 for the whole year, with a net loss of 1.73 billion yuan, on the verge of a life-or-death crisis.

After Yu Chengdong took charge of Huawei's Automotive Business Unit, he chose Seres as the first partner of the "Smart Selection Vehicle" program. Zhang Xinghai, Chairman of Seres Group, overcame all objections and took the initiative to reconstruct the product system in accordance with Huawei's standards. Under this model, Huawei has an extremely deep level of participation, playing a leading role in product definition, industrial design, brand marketing and sales channels (Huawei physical stores).

AITO quickly broke through and became a phenomenal brand in the new energy market. Models including AITO M6, M7 and M9 have all achieved impressive results. In 2025, the annual sales of the AITO brand reached more than 420,000 units. The latest data shows that the cumulative delivery of the new generation AITO M9 has exceeded 30,000 units 12 weeks after its launch, ranking first in the 500,000-yuan market segment for three consecutive months; the cumulative delivery of M6 has exceeded 50,000 units.

According to the Brand Finance Global Auto Brand Value Ranking, AITO ranks among the top ten global luxury brands with a brand value of 3.448 billion US dollars, and is the only Chinese automotive brand listed on the ranking. Looking at the entire new energy industry, no other brand has achieved such a remarkable turnaround.

The success of AITO pushed Seres' revenue to a record high of 165.054 billion yuan in 2025, with net profit attributable to shareholders of 5.957 billion yuan, turning losses into profits. Its stock price soared all the way to a maximum of 173.55 yuan, becoming a highly favored asset in the capital market.

Over the past five years, Huawei pulled Seres back from the verge of collapse, and built AITO from scratch into a luxury brand positioned at the 500,000-yuan price range. This textbook-level industrial empowerment has become the most solid proof of Huawei's smart selection vehicle model.

Now that the first-phase contract between the two parties has expired, AITO has the ability to operate independently and clearly will not break away from HIMA. The complete pattern of the "five brands" of HIMA — AITO, Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro and Shangjie — remains unchanged.

With the adjustment of rights and responsibilities, the cooperation between the two parties has entered the next stage. Huawei returns daily operation to Seres, with Seres taking the lead in product, marketing, sales and service links, while Huawei steps back to the position of technical empowerment, continuing to provide core capabilities such as the HarmonyOS Cockpit and Qiankun ADS Intelligent Driving. The official also made it clear that all rights and subsequent services of existing users will not be affected in any way, and the quality and quality control of vehicles will not change. The transfer of leading power means that the operation mode of AITO in terminal channels will be adjusted accordingly.

Overall, Huawei used to shield AITO from all difficulties in the front end, and now Seres has to stand in the spotlight by itself. Obtaining independent operation rights, and whether it can truly achieve smooth independent operation, is the next test.

The relationship between Huawei and Seres is still closely connected through technical empowerment, brand legacy and equity in Yinwang. The cooperation has entered a new stage, but the connection has not been broken.

Resource Release, the Certainty of Benefiting the Four Other Brands

Whether the other four brands will change is another core issue of public concern. The official announcement gives the most direct "reassurance" to the four brand partners: "This adjustment does not involve other brands of HIMA, and Maextro, Stelato, Luxeed and Shangjie still adopt the full-process cooperation model led by Huawei."

This means that this adjustment is not a change in the overall structure of HIMA, but a case-specific arrangement after the AITO brand enters a mature stage. The cooperative relationship between Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro, Shangjie and Huawei remains stable, and all of them are advancing at the established pace.

For Huawei, a lot of resources and energy have indeed been consumed in building AITO in the past. Now the system capabilities, organizational energy and resource capabilities previously invested in AITO are released, which can be more intensively invested in the four other brands. Huawei's terminal team can focus more on helping the four brands with product definition, channel expansion and brand building.

The industry therefore believes that AITO has proved the feasibility of the HIMA business model, and also verified the replicability and portability of Huawei's empowerment capabilities, as the four other brands share a similar empowerment foundation. CITIC Securities judges that the second half of 2026 will be the "concentrated delivery period of new product lines" for the HIMA system.

According to Yu Chengdong's previous disclosure, the upgraded Luxeed R7 will open reservations in September, and new models such as Stelato V8 and Luxeed RX will be launched one after another. The product lines of the four brands are accelerating new product launches, the cooperation model remains stable, and the depth of resource input and channel collaboration will continue to be strengthened.

However, the biggest "change" is hidden in the "unchanged" arrangement. It is certain that Huawei's cooperation with each brand does not adopt a one-size-fits-all model, but is highly adaptive — product adaptation, marketing adaptation, channel adaptation, and the most appropriate cooperation depth is configured according to the development stage of each brand.

The reason is not hard to understand. Luxeed is accelerating brand recognition building, Stelato needs to break through public awareness of its luxury positioning, Maextro needs to gain a firm foothold in the million-yuan high-end market, and Shangjie covers a larger mass consumer market. Different brand positioning and different market environment lead to completely different required depth of Huawei's participation and refined operation methods. This adaptability is precisely a sign that the entire system is moving towards maturity.

Judging from the performance of the other four brands, Maextro has already achieved initial success. Maextro S800 has ranked first in sales of million-yuan luxury cars for 10 consecutive months, and the cumulative delivery of new cars will exceed 20,000 units in September. The number of firm orders for V800 and V680 exceeded 3,500 units within 24 hours of launch, firmly occupying the user mindshare of million-yuan luxury cars. The cumulative delivery of Luxeed V9 exceeded 20,000 units, refreshing the fastest delivery record for 500,000-yuan new energy MPVs. The number of firm orders for Stelato G9 exceeded 5,000 units within 24 hours of launch, with high-end trims accounting for more than 95% of total orders. Shangjie focuses on the 150,000-300,000 yuan market with the fiercest competition, attracting a large number of young consumer groups.

Overall, through clear brand positioning and price segmentation, HIMA has formed a "pyramid" layout covering all vehicle categories including SUV, sedan and MPV from the 150,000-yuan segment to the million-yuan segment, realizing all-round market coverage. It has not only achieved leapfrog growth in market size, but also completed the key transformation from an industry follower to a rule definer with ecological collaboration, model innovation and strong technical strength, setting a new benchmark for the intelligent vehicle industry.

Focusing resources on the four other brands is obviously conducive to HIMA consolidating its leading position in the industry.

Resonance of Five Brands Builds the Real HIMA

The cumulative total delivery of all HIMA models has exceeded 1.52 million units, among which AITO contributes the largest share.

The essence of this adjustment is Huawei's strategic resource reallocation after the smart selection vehicle model is fully verified to be successful.

A healthy brand matrix cannot rely on a single hit product line for a long time. The long-term competitive barrier of HIMA depends on whether the five brands can form a distinct tiered brand synergy: AITO successfully changes the existing pattern of traditional luxury brands BBA, Luxeed opens up new market space in the mid-range sedan and SUV segments, Stelato is accelerating the breakthrough of luxury brand awareness, Maextro holds the top position of the million-yuan high-end market, and Shangjie covers mass family users in the mainstream market.

The last sentence of the official announcement is: "HIMA will work together with the five brand partners to continuously promote the development of intelligent vehicle technology, and create intelligent vehicle products with excellent experience for users."

The core of this statement lies in the "five brands". AITO is still the steady anchor of HIMA, but the growth of the other four brands is the key step for HIMA to transform from "Huawei's automotive business" to "China's intelligent vehicle ecological platform".

Seres takes over the operation of AITO, and the four other brands welcome focused resource investment. AITO has completed the most difficult first leg of the race, and it is time for the four other brands to accelerate their development.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Polar Business" (ID: jdsy2020), author: Cindy, editor: Yang Ming, published with authorization from 36Kr.