Huawei has announced plans to expand its presence in the auto industry by forming partnerships with further vehicle manufacturers to produce Aito-branded electric vehicles,.
The Chinese technology giant will collaborate with Chery Automobile, BAIC Motor, and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group to develop and produce Aito-branded vehicles, Huawei’s Smart Car CEO Richard Yu announced at the China EV 100 forum in Beijing.
Yu added that Huawei, which already has a partnership with Seres Group (601127.SS) to manufacture Aito automobiles, is planning a series of SUVs, sedans, and multipurpose vehicles under the Aito brand.
“We’d like to fully use the automakers’ resources of production capacity,” Yu said.
According to company filings, Seres sold a total of 80,000 Aito vehicles equipped with Huawei’s HarmonyOS system in 2022, which was developed by the company as an alternative to Android. This figure represents a sixfold increase from the previous year.
Eric Xu, chairman of Huawei, reaffirmed at a press conference on Friday that the company does not manufacture cars but rather assists other manufacturers in producing better vehicles.
Washington has imposed a series of export controls on Huawei, claiming the company poses a security danger, which Huawei denies. The sanctions have prevented Huawei from purchasing essential components and utilizing Google’s Android operating system.
Yu stated on Saturday that the sanctions have also impacted Huawei’s partnerships with global manufacturers, who have ceased using Huawei’s vehicle connectivity technologies over the past two years.