HarmonyOS Smart Mobility is expected to have over 17 models on sale next year. Huawei steps up efforts in the high-end market | Exclusive from 36Kr
HarmonyOS Smart Mobility, which has gathered brands from five sectors, will see a product explosion in 2026.
36Kr Auto has preliminarily sorted out the product lineup of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility for next year by combining public information, spy photos, and information provided by multiple industry insiders.
Next year, there are expected to be more than 17 models of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility on sale. In addition to existing models such as AITO M5, M7, M8, M9, Hozon S9T, S9 Ultra, Zunjie S800, Shangjie H5, Zhijie S7, and R7, new models will be launched in all five sectors of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility next year.
Under the AITO brand, SERES is discussing with Huawei to launch the AITO M9 Master Edition next year, and the AITO M6 is also in the process of seeking project approval.
The Hozon brand will launch a hardcore off-road vehicle next year.
Next year, the Zhijie S7 and R7 will adopt new internal codes. In this sense, starting next year, these two models will be two brand - new projects. In addition, the Zhijie brand will also launch a large SUV preliminarily named Zhijie R9 and an MPV with an internal code of EHV, which is preliminarily named Zhijie X9.
The Zunjie brand will release an MPV and a luxury flagship SUV priced lower than the Zunjie S800.
The Shangjie brand will launch a large SUV in the first half of next year and a sedan in the second half.
That is to say, there will be a total of 17 HarmonyOS Smart Mobility models launched next year. If the AITO M9 Master Edition and the AITO M6 are also launched next year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility will have 19 models on sale.
At the beginning of this year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility set a goal of exceeding one million annual deliveries. However, as of the end of August this year, the completion rate of this goal has just exceeded 30%. Next year, with the expansion of the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility product matrix, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility will be closer to the goal of annual deliveries exceeding one million vehicles.
HarmonyOS Smart Mobility Rewrites the Landscape of the High - end Vehicle Market
The launch of new HarmonyOS Smart Mobility models, especially the Zunjie SUV, will have the most direct impact on the industry, which is to rewrite the landscape of the high - end vehicle market next year.
An industry insider told 36Kr Auto that when defining the Zunjie SUV, it is benchmarked against luxury brand models such as Range Rover and Rolls - Royce. However, in terms of product pricing, in order to increase sales volume, its price will be lower than that of the Zunjie S800 but higher than that of the AITO M9.
Huawei and Jianghuai are full of confidence in the market performance of this SUV and have released an expectation of a maximum annual sales volume of over 40,000 vehicles to the supply chain.
In order to make the new vehicle comparable to Rolls - Royce in terms of product strength, Huawei has stacked almost all intelligent technologies on this SUV. In the words of relevant people, "the intelligent configuration is maximized."
The chassis is one of the key selling points of this vehicle. The chassis of this vehicle will undergo a major upgrade on the basis of the Zunjie S800's Tulin Longxing chassis. Not only will the hardware configuration be improved, but the assisted driving system will also be updated simultaneously.
Huawei's ability to create blockbuster products in the high - end market has been verified many times:
The AITO M9 and AITO M8 are the sales champions in the 500,000 - yuan and 400,000 - yuan markets respectively; the Zunjie S800, with an average price of over one million yuan, has accumulated over 12,000 large orders in 87 days since its launch; the AITO M7, with a pre - sale price close to 300,000 yuan, received over 100,000 small orders in 47 minutes after the pre - sale started; the Hozon S9T exceeded 20,000 small orders in 24 hours after the pre - sale started.
After the initial success of the Zunjie S800, Huawei and Jianghuai have transferred some technologies of the Zunjie S800 to the Zunjie SUV, which gives this SUV the potential to become a blockbuster.
In addition, Jianghuai Automobile's full cooperation with Huawei in the Zunjie project adds more certainty to the sales volume increase of the Zunjie SUV. 36Kr Auto has learned that in order to ensure the resource supply for the Zunjie project, Jianghuai Automobile has stopped many passenger car, heavy - truck, and light - truck projects.
If the Zunjie SUV sells well, the market share of traditional high - end brands such as BBA will be further eroded.
Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in 2024, the cumulative sales volume of vehicles with a starting market guidance price of 300,000 yuan and above in China was 2.9862 million. In the same year, the cumulative sales volume of the AITO M9, with an average price of 500,000 yuan, was 151,000. That is to say, in 2024, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility occupied more than 5% of the high - end market with just the AITO M9.
From January to July this year, the cumulative sales volume of vehicles with a starting market guidance price of 300,000 yuan and above in China was 1.555 million, a decrease of 2.8% compared with the same period last year. It can be seen that during the economic downturn, the overall demand in the high - end vehicle market is shrinking.
However, against this background, after the AITO M8, with an average price of 400,000 yuan, was launched in April this year, together with the M9, with an average price of 500,000 yuan, nearly 130,000 new vehicles were delivered in the first seven months of this year, accounting for more than 8% of the high - end market.
In August this year, the Zunjie S800 officially started delivery, and the Zunjie SUV will also start delivery next year. By then, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility will surely seize more market share in this shrinking market.
However, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility itself also faces the problem of competition among products of different brands.
If the AITO M9 Master Edition is launched, given that both AITO and Zunjie have the brand halo of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility and the premium of Huawei's technology, how to differentiate this new vehicle, which is positioned higher than the AITO M9 and lower than the Zunjie S800, from the Zunjie SUV poses a great challenge to Huawei's product definition ability.
Beyond high - end brands such as Zunjie and AITO, Zhijie and Shangjie, which are positioned in the market of 200,000 yuan and below, need to find a way for HarmonyOS Smart Mobility to break through in the highly competitive market. Since they are targeting the more mainstream consumer market, the tasks they shoulder are actually more important and arduous.
Transforming Channels and Organizational Structure
For the Zhijie and Shangjie brands, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility has made a series of adjustments at the channel end this year.
Previously, public information showed that Huawei will set up exclusive user centers for the Zhijie and Shangjie brands and held a special - network dealer investment promotion conference for these two brands in mid - May this year. Recently, 36Kr Auto has also learned that Huawei plans to build an independent experience center for the Shangjie brand, and the dealer recruitment work has already started.
The channels of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility can be divided into two major categories according to their functions: experience centers and user centers.
The functions of the experience center are limited to product experience and new - vehicle sales; the functions of the user center cover sales, new - vehicle delivery, and after - sales services, similar to traditional 4S stores.
There is also a relatively special type of user - center store called the "HarmonyOS Smart Mobility Super Experience Center", which actually functions as a delivery center, such as the stores on Bulong Road in Shenzhen and Huajiang Road in Shanghai. These channels are all owned by China Post Putaicom, a distributor of Huawei's consumer electronics. Public information shows that China Post is currently mainly building landmark stores in key cities and is also responsible for the management and operation of HarmonyOS Smart Mobility stores except for AITO.
AITO was the first brand for which Huawei separately opened user - center stores. Subsequently, Zhijie and Shangjie also have their own independent user - center stores.
The HarmonyOS Smart Mobility experience centers are from the supermarket stores in Huawei's 3C channels, including Huawei's direct - sales stores and franchise stores. However, the display area of the experience centers is limited. The expansion of the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility product lineup will inevitably lead to a shortage of experience - store resources. Therefore, Huawei has built an independent experience center for the Shangjie brand.
And Shangjie may just be the beginning. In the future, other brands under HarmonyOS Smart Mobility will probably also have their own exclusive experience - center stores.
The adjustment at the channel end is only one aspect. The adjustment of the organizational structure is a more thorough preparation made by Huawei for the launch of new HarmonyOS Smart Mobility products.
At the beginning of August, Chery and Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement for the Zhijie brand 2.0, announcing that the brand's development has entered the 2.0 stage: Huawei and Chery have clearly stated that they will invest over 10 billion yuan and a R & D team of 5,000 people in Zhijie and will simultaneously adjust the operation structure to achieve independent operation of production, sales, and service integration.
Under the new cooperation framework, Huawei will lead the full - process integrated operation of Zhijie from product, manufacturing to sales and service, and will be fully responsible for quality control.
Zhijie has been upgraded from a joint project between Huawei and Chery to an independently operated entity. Both Huawei and Chery are sending signals to the outside world about deepening cooperation and increasing investment. The significance of this organizational - structure transformation may be reflected in the sales volume of several new models including the Zhijie S7 and R7 next year.
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