Huawei and SAIC's cooperation is finalized, and Hongmeng Zhixing will launch the fifth brand | Exclusive from 36Kr.

The cooperation between SAIC and Huawei is becoming increasingly evident.

36Kr has learned from multiple industry insiders that the cooperation mode between Huawei and SAIC has been determined to adopt the Zhixuanche model. Judging from the trademark registered by SAIC, the initial brand name of this model is tentatively "Shangjie".

Different from the original four brands of Hongmeng Zhixing, Shangjie targets a younger market. According to sources, "The vehicle price will start from 170,000 yuan and 180,000 yuan, and reach around 250,000 yuan."

While the original four automotive brands of Huawei Hongmeng Zhixing: Zunjie, Xiangjie, Wenjie, and Zhijie, will adhere to the high-end market and currently cover the price range of 230,000 - 1,000,000 yuan. Among these four brands, the price of Zhijie is relatively lower, "but the prices of all these brands will increase in the future."

The newly established "Shangjie", although focusing on the younger market, will not be too low in price and will also maintain in the medium to high price market.

According to sources, the first model of "Shangjie" will be developed based on the original products of Feifan Automobile, a sub-brand of SAIC. "The appearance of the first vehicle will not change much, and the core is the integration with Huawei's electronic and electrical architecture and intelligent technology."

Huawei will utilize its product and marketing experience to re-polish the product. The new vehicle is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Currently, this cooperation is progressing rapidly. The Huawei Zhixuanche team has dispatched personnel for business docking, and SAIC has also formed a team of hundreds of people to prepare for the project advancement.

An informed source told 36Kr that in this cooperation, SAIC also approached the Huawei Vehicle BU team, the intelligent vehicle solution team, to discuss the cooperation of the intelligent solution Hi mode, but SAIC has long clarified the intention of cooperating with the Zhixuanche model.

The new brand implies new opportunities for both SAIC and Huawei. Shangjie aims at a popular high-quality market, and it is expected to consolidate the brand and sales volume. Meanwhile, Huawei's Hongmeng Zhixing is expected to rapidly expand its scale.

Under Sales Pressure, SAIC Seeks Transformation

Facing an increasingly severe competitive environment, Jia Jianxu, the new president of SAIC Group, stated at an internal meeting last year, "Only by learning to be humble can we have the opportunity to stand up again."

Behind SAIC's change in attitude, the decline in sales is the direct pressure.

In 2024, BYD temporarily replaced SAIC as the sales champion of Chinese automakers with an annual sales volume of 4.27 million vehicles. SAIC Group's cumulative wholesale volume for the entire year of 2024 was 4.013 million vehicles, with a year-on-year decline of 20.07%.

Among them, the independent brands successfully upheld the banner. The total sales volume of Zhiji, Roewe Feifan, MG, Maxus, Wuling, Baojun, etc. was 2.408 million vehicles, accounting for 60% of the total group sales volume.

SAIC-GM-Wuling had the highest sales volume, reaching 1.34 million vehicles; SAIC MG closely followed with an annual sales volume of over 700,000 vehicles; SAIC's high-end new energy brand Zhiji sold a total of 65,500 vehicles, with a year-on-year growth of over 70%.

Among the joint venture brands, SAIC Volkswagen's annual sales volume is expected to be 1.2 million vehicles, with approximately 150,000 new energy vehicles; SAIC-GM sold 673,000 vehicles, with a year-on-year decline of nearly 50%; SAIC Audi sold 43,000 vehicles.

From the perspective of the sales structure, the sales volume of joint venture brands that sell traditional fuel vehicles is decreasing, and its independent brands are mainly SAIC-GM-Wuling, a cost-effective brand, and SAIC MG, a brand that focuses on overseas markets.

The high-end new energy brand Feifan, which has been incubated for several years, was merged into the Roewe brand at the end of last year; although Zhiji's sales volume increased by 70% in 2024, the total sales volume is still less than 70,000.

The market competition has entered the elimination stage. SAIC Group's fuel vehicle sales volume is decreasing, and the new energy brands have not yet grown into major ones. The situation of "the new not yet replacing the old" has made SAIC start to consider how to break the deadlock.

With Huawei's Capabilities and SAIC's Advantages, Shangjie Is Born with a Favourable Start

In 2024, the Wenjie brand, jointly created by Huawei and SERES, sold 440,000 vehicles, and intelligence has become an important selling point that has gained the favour of consumers; Xiaopeng MONA M03 and P7+ have become two popular best-selling models in 2024 with their highly cost-effective intelligent experience.

In this consumer hotspot of intelligence, SAIC has also invested for several years. Since 2021, SAIC has heavily invested in the intelligent driving company Momenta. Now, SAIC is the largest institutional investor of Momenta.

The capabilities of Momenta are obvious to all. In several industry race points such as the launch of urban navigation functions, the application of mapless solutions, and the implementation of end-to-end technical routes, Momenta has closely followed the industry pace and even taken the lead.

The technical achievements of Momenta are usually first equipped on the Zhiji brand under SAIC. However, the sales volume of Zhiji vehicles still urgently needs to be boosted.

With the supply chain advantage brought by the large-scale sales volume and the advanced intelligent capabilities, the multiple capabilities such as products and brands between SAIC and the best-selling new energy vehicles are crucial.

This is precisely Huawei's advantage.

In 2024, the Wenjie M7 jointly created by Huawei and SERES sold 197,000 vehicles, and the Wenjie M9 with a price of up to 500,000 yuan sold 158,000 vehicles.

With a keen market sense and consumer insight, Huawei has enabled Wenjie to accurately position itself in two market segments: It has impressed young family users with space and intelligence, and has gained the trust of high-end customers with quality.

In addition, Huawei's analysis of the best-selling product logic and the rapid iteration of products are also one of the reasons for Wenjie's success.

After the Xiangjie S9 and Wenjie M9 were recognized by users, Wenjie M7 quickly launched the Ultra version model that includes a lidar and supports Huawei ADS3.0 intelligent driving system for consumers to choose. Various technologies such as the vehicle infotainment system and chassis are being iterated at such a speed.

This is what traditional automakers lack and also the reason why Huawei achieves high sales volume. In an era of frequent new vehicle launches, how to keep up with the industry trend and maintain market popularity is an important factor for the continuous survival of a vehicle.

SAIC is also accelerating its operational rhythm. After changing its leader in July last year, in the first quarter of 2025, SAIC initiated a large-scale organizational adjustment.

It is reported that SAIC has grouped five companies, including the Passenger Vehicle Company (Roewe Feifan, MG), SAIC International, R&D General Institute, Zero束 Technology, and Overseas Mobility, into the "Large Passenger Vehicle Division" and established the "Executive Management Committee". Major matters of SAIC's independent brands in the future will be collectively decided by the Executive Management Committee.

The operational model of the new division is also being reformed, and its management will adopt a full-staff competitive recruitment model, and those with excellent performance may be promoted across levels.

Zhou Xing, the general manager of the SAIC MG Brand Division, has publicly stated, "It is true that the management of SAIC's 'Large Passenger Vehicle' is recruited through full-staff competition, and the determination to change is also genuine. I have just submitted the competition materials. Wish me good luck!"

This reform of the Large Passenger Vehicle Division is SAIC's move to match Huawei's fast-paced development.

On February 10, BYD announced that all its vehicle models will be equipped with a high-level intelligent driving system, and the price will not increase with the addition of this feature. The Qin PLUS DM-i Intelligent Driving Edition is priced at 79,800 yuan, and the Seagull Intelligent Driving version is even only 69,800 yuan. BYD has significantly reduced the consumption threshold of intelligence.

As the sales champion of Chinese automakers in 2024, BYD's strong user base will make more and more consumers change their consumption psychology. Low-priced models are no longer a simple price game, and in the future, it will upgrade to an all-round product competition led by intelligent capabilities.

Before the new vehicle of Shangjie is even launched, it is also affected by this trend of technological equality. In the price range of 150,000 - 250,000 yuan, SAIC needs the all-round support of technology, products and brand power to withstand the fierce assaults of companies like BYD.