A prominent automobile entrepreneur from Anhui is fighting a desperate battle.
Although the Zhijie brand has been on the market for less than two years, its development has been full of twists and turns, as if it has gone through what other brands took more than a decade to achieve. Now, the cooperation between Chery Automobile and Huawei has entered the 2.0 stage. According to official information, Zhijie will invest over 10 billion yuan in the future, and the R & D team will expand to 5,000 people. This is not only a leap for Zhijie but also a stress test for the entire Chery organization.
Two years ago in September, Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei and Chairman of the Terminal BG, officially announced the cooperation with Chery Automobile. Since then, the Zhijie S7 and R7 have been launched successively. Embarrassingly, in the 200,000 - 250,000 yuan market segment, neither of these two models has made a significant splash.
On August 25th this year, the new Zhijie R7 and S7 were officially launched. This time, with the relaunch after the facelift, Zhijie has one principle: big value and stable price. As a result, the two models received 52,000 small - order bookings during the pre - sale period, and more than 10,000 large - order bookings were made within 24 hours after the official launch.
On August 29th, the revamped Zhijie S7 and R7, along with their "brothers" such as Wenjie, Xiangjie, Zunjie, and Shangjie, made an appearance at the Chengdu Auto Show, showing a strong momentum of making a comeback.
Actually, before this facelift, the Zhijie S7 had been launched three times, and the Zhijie R7 had its first generation update in April this year. However, these actions didn't have much impact on the actual sales.
The reason why Zhijie is selling better than before is largely because it has taken Huawei's advice. According to an insider from Zhijie, the current team highly respects the opinions of Yinwang (Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.).
Since the birth of the "Zhijie" brand in 2023, Huawei and Chery Automobile have been in a two - year period of running - in. As an "old hand" with nearly 30 years of experience in car - making, Chery Automobile is at the crossroads of an IPO. Although Zhijie's sales are relatively small compared to its brother brands like Chery and Jetour, its success or failure is still very important for the entire Chery.
01
"Relative possession, absolute freedom"
According to several Zhijie employees, since September 1st, the company has adopted an updated contract system. From now on, new employees joining Zhijie will no longer sign contracts with Chery but with Anhui Zhijie New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd.
Tianyancha App shows that Anhui Zhijie New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. was established on January 23, 2025, with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan and is wholly - owned by Chery Automobile.
Although Zhijie still belongs to Chery Automobile in the end, the relationship between the two has reached the best state - "relative possession, absolute freedom".
On August 7th, Yu Chengdong and Yin Tongyue, the chairman of Chery Automobile, jointly announced that the cooperation between the two parties has officially entered the 2.0 stage. According to official information, Zhijie will invest over 10 billion yuan in the future, and the R & D team will expand to 5,000 people. Moreover, the entire chain from product R & D, manufacturing to sales and service will operate independently and integrally.
Actually, in the second half of 2024, Zhijie established an independent business unit within Chery. A source close to Zhijie revealed that the Zhijie business unit was originally the "EH Business Unit" within Chery and was later upgraded to an independent business unit under the Chery Group. It operates independently in accounting and management and is fully responsible for the development of product competitiveness, business operations, investment, and development management of the Zhijie brand.
However, there were still some frictions in the cooperation between Zhijie and Huawei. Now that Zhijie is completely independent, it has entered the era of pure - blood Hongmeng. The transfer of power is just the beginning of the story. When Huawei's genes start to penetrate into every aspect of Zhijie, it is actually a stress test for the entire Chery organization.
In August 2025, Yin Tongyue, the chairman of Chery, attended the autumn new product launch of Zhijie and Wenjie.
Zhao Peng, a Zhijie employee, witnessed the expansion stage of Zhijie. When he joined the company, there were only a dozen people in his department. In less than four months, the team size has expanded to 100 people. "With more people and more projects, but a short running - in period and poor management, we are simply swamped with work."
As the Zhijie brand enters a period of rapid expansion, personnel reuse has become the norm.
Zhao Peng, whose main job is a R & D engineer, had to recruit people for the department himself due to team - building needs. He spends two hours a day browsing resumes and frequently communicates with headhunters and HR, gradually becoming a "half - recruiter". As the team size expands, he has also been "forced" to take on the work of multiple departments such as marketing and operations, taking on multiple roles at once.
In the past six months, Zhao Peng has lost weight from 165 pounds to 147 pounds. The rapid development of Zhijie has even burned off his fat. Even though he is so busy, the brand's influence has not been established, which makes him a bit frustrated.
Now that Zhijie is completely independent, it has introduced Huawei's management system. Every link from design, R & D, testing, supply chain, manufacturing to sales, delivery, and service has been reformed.
In Zhao Peng's words, "The current work state is like being on a high - energy mode. Assault teams can be formed at any time to tackle any problems." He took the example of a problem with a product function. In the past, it would take half a month to solve it according to the process, but now the project schedule is only five days. "Then we gather everyone in one area, work in a closed - loop mode, and make a concentrated breakthrough. This mode is tiring but efficient."
It is reported that Zhijie has also started to learn from the Wenjie model in terms of channels. In addition to selling cars in Huawei stores, it also plans to set up independent user centers.
Not long ago, the national investment promotion conference for Zhijie user centers was held, attracting many dealers, including those of traditional luxury brands. According to Hai Lantian, the product director of the Zhijie series, the first batch of Zhijie exclusive user centers will be opened in cities such as Wuhan, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.
There are also high expectations within Chery for Zhijie's independence. At the beginning of July, Hai Lantian announced on the social platform: "After this week, Zhijie can run forward with all its might!" and added the caption "The noise has settled."
In fact, Yin Tongyue has stood up for Zhijie many times before, clearly sending the signal that all resources will be tilted towards Zhijie, and other product lines and brands must make way for it. He also said bluntly that Zhijie is Chery's top - priority brand without reservation.
02
"This price made Mr. Yin and Chery 'bleed'"
As the result of the cooperation between Huawei and Chery entering the 2.0 stage, the new Zhijie R7 and the new Zhijie S7 carry the expectations of the top management of both sides. It is reported that the new Zhijie R7 is priced at 249,800 - 309,800 yuan, and the new Zhijie S7 is priced at 229,800 - 289,800 yuan.
At the autumn new product launch of Zhijie and Wenjie on August 25th, even Yu Chengdong admitted that "this price made Mr. Yin and Chery 'bleed'."
Specifically, the Pro version of the new Zhijie R7 has been cancelled. The starting price now corresponds to that of the old - model low - end Pro version. Compared with the old - model high - end version, the price of the new Zhijie R7 Ultra has been reduced by 10,000 yuan, and the new S7 Ultra has seen a direct price cut of up to 40,000 yuan.
Looking at the hardware of the facelifted Zhijie "7" models, there is also great sincerity. The new Zhijie R7 and S7 are all - standard equipped with Huawei's ADS 4 assisted - driving system, including a 192 - line lidar, a distributed 4D millimeter - wave radar, a rear - facing high - precision lidar, and a total of 30 hardware components, which can achieve functions such as urban navigation and automatic parking.
All models of the Zhijie S7 and the pure - electric version of the R7 use an 800V high - voltage platform, the new HarmonyOS 4 cockpit system, and a new - generation 16.1 - inch in - vehicle smart screen and other new technologies. You know, this level of configuration is comparable to that of the Wenjie M9, which is priced at around 500,000 yuan.
In addition, the new car also debuts other new technologies, such as the voice - controlled car function outside the car and the inter - window communication function. According to the official statement, users can use voice - control commands to open the trunk or drive the car out of the parking space while driving. This function allows people inside and outside the car to communicate and control the car without rolling down the windows.
However, some netizens joked that the advantage of this function is that after a driver cuts in line, they can use this function to politely thank the following car. The disadvantage is also obvious. If there is a road - rage driver, they may use this function to "lash out" at the other party.
To highlight the cost - effectiveness of the new products, Yu Chengdong, when introducing the new R7, specifically compared the interior space, audio power, trunk volume, and other aspects with the Tesla Model Y refreshed version and the Xiaomi YU7. He also promised that starting from September, all old Zhijie owners can upgrade to Huawei's ADS 4.
This "revamping" inevitably reminds people of the "resurrection" path of the Wenjie M7 before.
At that time, Seres invested 500 million yuan. It not only developed several new technologies but also remolded the body structure of the Wenjie M7 and even renovated the entire welding production line. The newly launched Wenjie M7 became a phenomenal hit in 2023 as soon as it was launched.
Some industry insiders commented that only Huawei may have the ability to completely revitalize a product that had a mediocre market response and reverse its situation from the periphery to the mainstream with such a radical reconstruction and operation.
Despite the full - scale bet by Huawei and Chery, there are still concerns in the industry about Zhijie's facelift this time. From November 2023 to November 2024, the frequent facelifts and launches of the Zhijie S7 have left a psychological shadow on some users.
The Zhijie brand has been around for less than two years, but it seems to have gone through what other car - makers took more than a decade to experience. Now the market is speculating whether it can become the next Wenjie with Huawei's support.
03
Chery's calculation
Some industry insiders pointed out that the biggest challenge for Zhijie still lies with Chery itself. Externally, it relies on Huawei's empowerment, but since Huawei doesn't actually make cars, whether Zhijie can succeed depends on Chery's internal decision - making.
Currently, it is obvious that it is not enough for Zhijie to become the next Wenjie with only the existing two models. Since their launch, the cumulative sales of these two models have just exceeded 100,000 units, which is even less than the sales of the Wenjie M9 alone.
It is imperative to expand the product matrix.
Internal resources within Chery are accelerating to tilt towards Zhijie. In addition to the "revamping" of the existing models, the R & D projects of models from other departments have been transferred to Zhijie.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, Zhijie is developing an MPV model codenamed "EHV", which is based on the E0X - L platform and offers two power forms: pure - electric and extended - range. The battery will be supplied by CATL, and it is expected to be launched in the first half of 2026. This MPV model was originally the Xingjiyuan E08, which was supposed to be mass - produced and delivered this year, but now the employees of the project team of this model have been transferred to Zhijie.
That is to say, the first MPV under the Hongmeng Smart Mobility will be launched under the Zhijie brand first. Ironically, as a traditional player in the MPV field, when Jianghuai cooperated with Huawei to launch the "Zunjie", the outside world generally expected that the first MPV of the Huawei - affiliated brands would be launched by Zunjie. In reality, it is very likely that Zhijie's MPV model will take the lead.
Since the launch of the Zunjie S800, the large - order bookings have exceeded 10,000 units. An insider from Zunjie told the Business Weekly that the senior management of Jianghuai is very satisfied with the current sales performance and even gave bonuses to the employees to celebrate. At the same time, due to the adjustment of the development strategy, the launch time of the originally planned Zunjie MPV has been postponed.
In addition, Zhijie will also build a large - sized SUV, the Zhijie R9, in 2026. By then, Zhijie's products will cover the fields of coupes, SUVs, and MPVs.