Three daily limit gains in four trading days: JAC has replaced Seres as the leading stock in the Huawei automotive concept sector.

On September 28 Beijing time, Jianghuai Automobile (600418.SH), a listed company on the A-share market, performed strongly throughout the trading day, hit the daily limit early in the morning, notching its third daily limit in the latest 4 trading days, with a closing market value of 56.85 billion yuan.

From the news perspective, the rally is mainly driven by the official announcement on September 15 that Seres (601127.SH) took back the leading right of AITO from Huawei. On September 17, media reports stated that Maserati has finalized cooperation with Huawei on two new models, which will be fully engineered and manufactured by Jianghuai relying on its Zunjie super factory, and will be sold in China under the Zunjie brand. Maserati is mainly responsible for styling design and overseas channels, while the versions sold overseas will retain the Maserati logo.

After the news came out, Jianghuai Automobile did not immediately enter a rally mode. The rise in recent trading days is mainly driven by market expectations that the Hongmeng Intelligent Mobility press conference on the afternoon of September 28 would disclose relevant cooperation details or even display related models, which did not happen in the end.

From the perspective of investors, after Seres took back the leading right of AITO, Seres lost an important label in the capital market — the Huawei Auto Concept Stock.

Judging from the recent stock price performance, Seres has also lost its position as the leading stock of the Huawei Auto Concept, which has been taken over by Jianghuai Automobile.

As Jianghuai Automobile posts three daily limits in four trading days, investors seem to be looking for a new leader of the Huawei Auto Concept, and have identified Jianghuai Automobile as this new leader.

So, can Jianghuai Automobile take on this important responsibility? Can it replicate the long-term rally of Seres' stock price in past years? (After Seres cooperated with Huawei, it recorded a super 30-fold increase in 5 years, with the stock price rising from 5-6 yuan in 2020 to a peak of over 173 yuan in 2025.)

The Zunjie brand launched by Jianghuai and Huawei previously has a higher product positioning than AITO, with product prices at the million-yuan level, which locks the upward development space for AITO.

When the Zunjie S800 was first launched, its sales volume was very impressive. Since its large-scale delivery in August 2025, the cumulative sales volume reached about 18,800 units as of July 2026, and the monthly delivery peak after launch hit 4,376 units in December 2025. However, after entering 2026, sales declined month by month, and the sales volume in August 2026 was only 391 units.

The market capacity targeted by Zunjie is inherently limited. In the same segment as the Zunjie S800, the sales volume of Mercedes-Benz S-Class (excluding Maybach) was 307 units, that of Maybach S-Class was 380 units, that of BMW 7 Series (including i7) was 378 units, and that of Audi A8L (including Horch) was 177 units.

In addition, the pre-sale and launch of the Zunjie V800 and V680 MPV twin models diverted some potential customers.

It remains to be seen what the stable monthly sales volume of the Zunjie MPV twin models will be after their large-scale delivery.

According to media reports, if the cooperation on two new models with Maserati is confirmed, the Zunjie brand jointly built by Jianghuai Automobile and Huawei has gained a firm foothold in the ultra-luxury brand market.

The next step depends on what types of new models Zunjie will launch.

On September 24, Yu Chengdong of Huawei, during his store inspection tour in Hefei, disclosed for the first time the progress of Zunjie's brand new ultra-luxury SUV: it has entered the pre-mass production review at Jianghuai's factory, and is expected to be officially delivered in February-March 2027. Positioned as a high-end flagship SUV, it is expected to challenge the price range of 2 million yuan or above, and challenge the market position of top luxury brand SUVs such as Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Bentley Bentayga at half their price.

However, the positioning and market capacity of the above-mentioned models determine that with only these models, it is difficult for Zunjie to achieve high sales volume, reach break-even, or even realize large-scale profitability.

The 2026 H1 financial report of Jianghuai Automobile shows that its operating revenue reached 22.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.31%, but the net profit attributable to shareholders was -749 million yuan, slightly narrowing from the -773 million yuan in the same period of last year. Its R&D investment reached 1.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.95%. The performance is more notable on a quarterly basis: the net profit attributable to shareholders in Q1 2026 was -606 million yuan, while the figure in Q2 2026 was -143 million yuan, meaning a substantial loss reduction in Q2. By segment, the passenger vehicle segment where the Zunjie S800 belongs recorded a revenue of 6.66 billion yuan in 2026 H1, a year-on-year increase of 36.9%.

Yu Chengdong clearly stated on September 24 that it was AITO that proposed to take the lead on its own, and Huawei will focus on developing the other four "Jie" (brands) afterwards.

If Zunjie can gain a firm foothold in the high-end market and later launch products that directly compete with AITO, it is very likely to achieve success.

In the automotive market, the path of expanding downwards from the high-end segment is far easier than the path of expanding upwards from the low-end segment.

Porsche and BBA have provided sufficient examples of how to move from high-end positioning to launching mass-market models. For Zunjie, as long as Huawei is willing, it can learn from Porsche and BBA to launch more affordable, high-volume products.

The models launched by AITO in 2026 are still defined under Huawei's leadership. By 2027, Huawei will focus its energy on the other four "Jie" brands, and Zunjie will very likely obtain more resource support. As for the Zhijie brand co-built with Chery and the Shangjie brand co-built with SAIC, the former has more resource input from Chery, while the latter has resource input from SAIC. Both of these two enterprises have rich experience in passenger vehicle operation. The Xiangjie brand co-built with BAIC may still need more support from Huawei.

With three daily limits in four trading days, is Jianghuai Automobile likely to become the next Seres? The peak market value of Seres appeared on September 26, 2025, with a closing market value of about 256.8 billion yuan.

If the Zunjie brand co-built by Jianghuai Automobile and Huawei follows the path of Porsche and BBA, that is, establishing a solid high-end positioning before launching mass-market models, the peak market value of Jianghuai Automobile is expected to exceed that of Seres. After all, after AITO requested to take back its leading right, Huawei will also reflect on its cooperation modes and details with automakers.

What Jianghuai Automobile needs to do now is to develop high-end brand products, polish its service system, and then seek to expand sales volume. As for the announced plan to invest in Yinwang and acquire a 10% equity stake with 11.5 billion yuan, it does seem overpriced from the current perspective.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Auto Intelligence" (ID: invehc), written by Michael Yuan, and authorized for release by 36Kr.