Huawei’s automotive “legion” in full force
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Author | Chai Xuchen
Editor | Zhou Zhiyu
Unexpectedly, Yu Chengdong was absent from Huawei’s first major product show of the year, but the automobile “legion” was ready to go full throttle.
On March 23, He Gang, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, took the stage in place of Yu Chengdong, who was absent for some reason, and unveiled HarmonyOS Smart Mobility's biggest lineup to date, launching three brand new models and six upgraded models that are already on sale, setting a new record.
The second product lineup for Stellar—shooting brake Z7 and Z7T—and the AITO M6 made their debuts; AITO M7, AITO M8, Luxeed S7, Luxeed R7, Stellary S9, Stellary S9T were all updated at once, all models equipped with a new generation 896-line dual-path image-grade lidar. In addition, He Gang also revealed that HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s first MPV, Luxeed V9, is expected to arrive in showrooms in late April.
After surpassing the one-million deliveries milestone last year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility is preparing to launch a new saturation-style attack to reach another level. But some industry executives have predicted that this year, the market will enter a period of stock competition, and with just a “car sea” strategy, can Huawei’s auto legion continue its aggressive march forward?
Playing the Hand
As Huawei’s first and most important press conference of the year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility set the tone for the whole year with 9 vehicles, but the ambition for volume still relies on tapping into the youth market.
In the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility annual livestream last December, Yu Chengdong revealed that by 2026, the product matrix of the "five realms" under HarmonyOS Smart Mobility will be further completed. The previously missing M6 of the AITO lineup is about to be launched.
Now, AITO’s final “trump card” has finally entered the public eye. This time, Huawei and Seres are pulling out all the stops.
The first trump card for the M6 is the upgraded smart driving hardware: dual lidar front and back, 500 lines forward, wider coverage and finer recognition. The rear lidar, combined with the car’s visual perception, makes nighttime high-speed detection of foreign objects and dynamic obstacles significantly improved.
Notably, as a competitor in the same segment, the Model Y series still uses pure vision. According to industry insiders speaking to Wallstreetcn, after dual lidar is installed on the same platform, its ability to detect borderline obstacles in bad weather improves dramatically; in extreme conditions, dual radar’s fault tolerance is far superior to a single sensor.
In addition to dual lidar, the M6 has a sportier and more youthful look: a closed front face, blacked-out rims, red Brembo calipers, and a ducktail rear wing; the entire sports kit is now less reserved. The front lines are lower, and its drag coefficient approaches that of the Model Y.
On the powertrain side, the M6 pure electric version packs a 100 kWh battery. For comparison, the XPeng G9 with 100 kWh range sells for over 300,000 yuan. AITO M6 uses a big battery to bring down the range threshold, positioning itself below the mainstream joint-venture and premium domestic EVs, which is highly appealing to young buyers with tight budgets.
Piling on the specs is also a signal that after AITO M5’s monthly sales dropped below a thousand units, Huawei is eager to win back the youth market’s say. And focusing on SUVs is just the beginning; Huawei’s next card is aimed at young people’s Dreamcar—the shooting brake coupe.
This time, the Z7 and Z7T, positioned as mid-to-large pure electric coupe and shooting brake respectively, have become the trump cards for the “fifth realm” Stellar. Sources close to Stellar and Huawei told Wallstreetcn, this coupe is directly targeting the Panamera.
Previously, NIO ET5T, Zeekr 001, and now Fangchengbao, Leapmotor, DeepBlue all jumped into this segment. After choosing the right path, SAIC and Huawei decided to go all in. Previously, Yu Chengdong stated, "Cars over 200,000 yuan must look premium, what we want is the modern feel of Shanghai’s Bund." As a member of the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility family, Stellar must be exquisite.
In the eyes of insiders, Stellar’s Z7 series puts pressure on hit models like Xiaomi SU7. However, Stellar did not choose to start a price war; the presale price is not lower than the SU7, which may be Huawei’s big gamble to overtake in sales by leveraging its ecosystem.
Iteration
For domestic automakers, this year’s pressure may not decrease but increase; a new force executive told Wallstreetcn frankly that the total volume of China's passenger car market will decline this year and next, and won’t grow rapidly as before, “This is the situation we face now, no illusions.”
The market has become more brutal: "New tech launches, and in half a year or a year, others catch up." The executive said, no one now dares claim their tech can stay ahead for six months or a year, and new car marketing paradigm has changed: “I call it the valley of death for new car effect; it’s now very hard to find an evergreen, consistently hot-selling car.”
Industry data shows that since last year, the hot-selling period for new or updated new energy vehicles with an average price over 200,000 yuan typically lasts just three months.
Insiders believe marketing is now “pulsed,” resulting in a quick fade of the “new car effect,” and a precipitous post-launch decline—the “valley of death.” “I think no company is immune, everyone will go through this, we must accept it; sighing is useless.”
As technology deeply penetrates the auto market, consumer enthusiasm rises and fades quickly. But Yu Chengdong, who has spent decades exploring the electronics sector, quickly found a way to break the impasse— rapid iteration.
Since last year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility almost holds major press conferences every month and releases flagship new cars every quarter. This time, it launched the facelifted Luxeed R7 and new S7, updated Stellary S9 and S9T, as well as new colorways for the AITO M8.
Early March, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s new tech conference launched an 896-line lidar, first equipped on the Stellary S800 and AITO M9, and today, core models AITO M7 and M8 also get versions with 896-line lidar; the newly released Z7/Z7T have it, too—elevating the smart experience to a new level and further consolidating the smart tech label.
It’s clear that Yu Chengdong is growing ever more skilled at managing the Five Realms, and HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s push for volume is hitting its stride.
According to insiders, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility boasts very strong product correction capability and very fast market response capability, so the market sees multiple upgrades and revisions in a short time.
HarmonyOS Smart Mobility is breaking the old thinking of separate marketing for each auto group’s brands and models, and instead, using the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility ecosystem alliance to repeatedly and frequently promote advantages and stories, prompting synergies between the Five Realms brands: the tech from Stellary S800 and AITO M9 can endorse other brands, helping Luxeed, Stellary, and Stellar accumulate potential high-end users.
This high-frequency iterative strategy is solving the problem of a short hot-selling period for blockbuster models.
Last year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s sales surged, reaching its first million deliveries in late October. This year, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility is headed for its second million. But since 2026 began, the domestic auto market's performance hasn’t been great; for all carmakers, reaching annual goals is a challenge.
HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s multi-launch is clearly aimed at capturing early rhythm and spurring rapid growth. But in a stock market, more press releases won’t automatically expand the pie—when competitors also learn fast iteration, the true question for Huawei’s auto legion is: how deep is HarmonyOS Smart Mobility’s ecosystem moat?
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