Huawei has adjusted its cooperation model with Seres for the Aito brand, transferring leadership in product definition, design, marketing, channel retail, and service systems to the automotive partner, according to a report by HUXIU. Huawei Terminal will now play a supporting role, a change announced on September 15 that has sent ripples through dealers, investors, and customers.
The shift means that from January 1, Aito will be sold exclusively in dedicated stores, separating from other Huawei-backed brands like Zhijie, Xiangjie, and Shangjie, which will be sold in other outlets. Some Hongmeng Zhixing stores will remain mixed, but dealers face a choice about which brand to commit to. A channel source told HUXIU that dealers were caught off guard, with one saying, "We were all shocked."
The announcement also hit Seres' stock price, which fell to a record low on the Hong Kong exchange. In response, Seres vice president Kang Bo publicly assured investors and partners that Aito will continue to receive Huawei's latest and best technology and supply guarantees. However, the market remains skeptical about whether Seres can maintain Aito's momentum without Huawei's direct involvement.
From struggling to soaring
Seres, formerly known as Sokon, started as a spring factory and later made motorcycle engines and budget SUVs. Its partnership with Huawei began in 2021, when the two launched the AITO brand, with Huawei deeply involved in design, development, and sales. The first model, the Aito M5, delivered over 76,000 units in 2022, proving that Huawei's brand and retail network could sell cars.
But the early success masked challenges. The original M7, rushed to market in just a year, saw monthly sales drop to a few hundred by mid-2023. In August 2023, combined deliveries of the M5 and M7 were only 3,222 units. The partnership nearly collapsed, but both sides doubled down, investing over 500 million yuan (about $70.4 million) to revamp the M7, which launched in September 2023 at a starting price of 249,800 yuan (about $35,200, a Chinese guide price before taxes and incentives). The new M7 received over 50,000 firm orders in 25 days, and Huawei's Yu Chengdong declared the brand had "risen from the dead."
The M9, launched in December 2023, became a phenomenon, delivering over 150,000 units in 2024 and dominating the luxury SUV segment above 500,000 yuan. Seres' revenue surged to 145.18 billion yuan (about $20.4 billion) in 2024, a 305% increase, with net profit of 5.95 billion yuan (about $838 million), ending years of losses. Huawei's intelligent automotive solutions business also turned profitable, with revenue of 26.35 billion yuan (about $3.7 billion) in 2024 and 45.02 billion yuan (about $6.3 billion) in 2025.
New boundaries
As Aito grew, so did tensions. Huawei expanded its smart car partnerships to include Chery (Zhijie), BAIC (Xiangjie), JAC (Zunjie), and SAIC (Shangjie), creating a portfolio of five brands under the Hongmeng Zhixing umbrella. But Aito's success made it harder to balance Seres' desire for exclusive access to Huawei's best resources with Huawei's need to spread its technology across more partners.
The restructuring marks a new phase, with Seres taking the wheel while Huawei remains a technology supplier. However, questions linger about whether other partners will reassess Huawei's involvement, and whether Huawei's shift will dilute its influence. For Seres, the challenge is to prove it can steer the brand without losing the Huawei magic that made it successful.
