Even Haier, a well - respected brand, is going to venture into the million - yuan luxury car manufacturing business.
I was so shocked! The household appliances were really loaded onto a car, and it's even a million - dollar luxury car.
Zhu Huarong, the chairman of Changan Automobile, personally led a team to visit Haier Group recently, and the results were quite remarkable. A cooperation was finalized. Avita, the high - end intelligent brand under Changan Automobile, will cooperate with Kataichi Holdings under Haier Group to create a new million - dollar flagship product. They will carry out joint innovation in product customization, vehicle - home interconnection, and function co - creation.
More specifically, based on Avita's new million - dollar flagship product, products such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and oxygen generators of the Casarte brand will be installed in the car. This has also been personally confirmed by Zhou Yunjie, the chairman of the board of directors of Haier.
As soon as the news came out, there were many doubts. Although integrating refrigerators, color TVs, and large sofas into cars is currently the mainstream in the industry, when car companies are competing to move smart home appliances into the cockpit, is this a revolutionary scenario innovation or a pseudo - demand created by capital?
After all, what users really need is not to be able to boil water in the car. They care more about practical issues such as whether the in - car system is smooth, whether the safety performance can be guaranteed, and whether the car can run longer.
On the surface, Avita's attempt to install large household appliances like oxygen generators in cars is a pioneering move. However, what it actually wants is to break through the "vehicle - home interconnection" ecosystem, or it's a "breakout" strategy for Avita in the upcoming market competition.
01 It's Not About the Household Appliances
It has to be said that Avita has always done an excellent job in confidentiality. So far, no information about this million - dollar model has been leaked on the Internet, not even spy photos.
What is certain is that Avita is really going to build a flagship model worth millions, and it will be launched next year.
Even earlier, when Changan Automobile shouted the slogan of "new central enterprise" after the restructuring, the deputy director of brand communication of Avita posted on a social platform, saying that Avita would launch a new revolutionary six - seat million - dollar flagship product, which would be officially launched in 2026.
At the recent press conference of Avita's Strategy 2.0, Zhu Huarong, who once again supported Avita, still said in a media interview that "in the future, there is no exclusion of launching million - dollar products."
With Zhu Huarong leading the team to visit Haier Group in person and finalizing the cooperation on the spot with Zhou Yunjie, the chairman and CEO of Haier Group, it undoubtedly proves that this million - dollar flagship luxury car does exist, and it is indeed as "revolutionary" as stated in the poster.
Installing refrigerators, air conditioners, and oxygen generators of Casarte, a brand under Haier, in a car is truly unprecedented...
According to the content of the cooperation agreement, the two parties will carry out in - depth cooperation in three major fields: product customization, vehicle - home scenario interconnection, and in - vehicle function design.
On the day when the cooperation was signed, Zhou Yunjie and Zhu Huarong personally experienced the "vehicle - home interconnection" ecological scenario. They could remotely control Haier's smart home appliances through Changan Automobile's voice system and remotely control devices such as the air conditioner in Changan Automobile through Haier's Xiaoyou, realizing "vehicle controls home" and "home controls vehicle".
Imagine that when the intelligent cockpit system of the vehicle is interconnected with your home's smart home system, when you are about to arrive home, devices such as lights, curtains, and air conditioners at home will automatically adjust to your favorite mode. Meanwhile, when you are about to leave home and get in the car, the in - vehicle intelligent cockpit system will also prepare the seats, air conditioner, navigation, etc. in advance.
Moreover, the concept of "vehicle - home interconnection" is not new. As early as when Huawei and SERES launched their first car, the Huawei Smart Selection SF5, the function of vehicle - home interconnection had already appeared.
In the car, you can remotely control your home's smart appliances through voice control, such as turning on the air conditioner in advance, starting the air purifier in advance, opening the curtains in advance, and even heating a basin of water for a bath in advance.
Before this cooperation between Avita and Haier, NIO and Midea Group also reached an in - depth cooperation to promote the implementation of a new vehicle - home interconnection experience. Users can freely customize smart scenario modes for leaving and returning home through the vehicle - home interconnection function.
There were also early signs of this cooperation between the two parties. In July this year, Changan Automobile and Haier Group had already signed a strategic cooperation. They will carry out vehicle - home ecological cooperation, including the interconnection of vehicle - person - home scenario systems, the development of in - vehicle electrical products, and the co - construction of a cold - chain full - scenario ecosystem; they will also conduct cooperation in the automobile industry chain, including the development and sales of new automobile products and the joint exploration of personalized modification business.
The signing of the current agreement has materialized the previous cooperation direction. Unexpectedly, the first car to "taste the crab" is their future million - dollar flagship product. It's not hard to see Avita's determination.
02 Breaking Through with Differentiation
Given that Avita already has the support of Huawei, why does it still choose Haier?
As is well - known, Avita, established in 2018, was born with a "golden spoon" in its mouth. CATL, Huawei, and Changan Automobile behind it are all "golden business cards" in their respective niches.
In the past two years, the hardware configuration of the Avita 12 has been top - notch. For example, it is equipped with Huawei's four - lidar system, CATL's batteries, and an 800V fast - charging system. These configurations are almost the top - level concepts in the industry.
However, the terminal sales data hardly match the efforts of its major investors. In 2024, Avita delivered a total of 73,600 new cars, only achieving 73% of the annual target of 100,000 vehicles. In the first 10 months of this year, Avita's cumulative sales volume was 104,000 vehicles. Compared with the annual sales target of 220,000 vehicles set at the beginning of the year, the target completion rate is only 47.4%.
The reason why the sales volume cannot break through is largely that consumers do not think that "technology stacking" means luxury. The supply chain is open, and most brands now have the same technological capabilities and can complete configuration stacking and installation in a short time. Being the first to install certain technologies does not mean true brand leadership; it only means seizing a time window.
For example, the Xiaoyao Super Hybrid Battery, which was officially announced by CATL to be first installed in the Avita 12, was soon adopted by a series of car companies within a few months, including the Zhijie R7, a direct competitor in the same class.
In addition, although Avita has attracted attention due to the label of "high Huawei content", as Huawei's circle of cooperation continues to expand, Huawei's assisted - driving and intelligent cockpit technologies have become more common.
Major automakers are competing to cooperate with Huawei. According to incomplete statistics, as of now, more than 10 brands and 20 models have used Huawei's Qiankun and HarmonyOS. Many of these models are priced in a similar range to Avita's models.
But when everyone has "Huawei", it means there is no "advantage". The boundary of the high - end market is showing signs of being diluted.
In other words, in the fierce competition, neither CATL nor Huawei can give Avita much uniqueness.
For example, for Avita's upcoming million - dollar flagship car, the existing intelligent driving and three - electric technologies are just the entry tickets. If consumers only feel that it is "another high - end car empowered by Huawei" rather than a car with unique features, it will be difficult to establish brand differentiation.
If Avita wants to gain a firm foothold in a higher market position, it must find more unique features and rely less on the "Huawei halo". There must be some fresh elements in design and user experience.
Therefore, when the CATL label is everywhere and the value of Huawei's support is being diluted, Haier has become a new trump card for Avita when CATL and Huawei are no longer its exclusive advantages.
Actually, Haier Group has been deploying in the automotive industry for nearly a decade. As early as 2015, HOPE, the open platform under Haier, cooperated with Faurecia, an automotive parts technology company. In 2017, Haier created the world's first industrial Internet platform that allows users to participate in the whole - process experience.
In 2022, Haier Group officially established the automotive ecological brand Kataichi, focusing on the new - energy vehicle charging and after - sales service fields. Until August this year, Kataichi Holdings acquired 43% of the shares of Autohome for about $1.8 billion and became the controlling shareholder, starting to seek an overall layout in the automotive ecosystem.
For Haier, it can officially enter the automotive manufacturing market under the name of an ecosystem. And Haier's participation provides a new entry point for Avita, bringing more different experiences to Avita.
After all, in the Chinese market, the million - dollar level means scarcity. If Avita wants to truly reach this height, although it already has technological support, it still needs to answer what Chinese - style luxury is.
This article is from the WeChat official account "SuperEV - Lab" (ID: SuperEV - Lab). Author: Wang Lei, Editor: Qin Zhangyong. Republished by 36Kr with permission.