(Yicai) Jan. 3 — The reason consumers can no longer see detailed information about Aito and Luxeed vehicle models on China’s Dongchedi, Autohome and Yiche platforms is due to expired partnerships, Huawei Technologies said.
Until new agreements are reached through negotiations, some partnerships are on hiatus due to the expiration of cooperation agreements between Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance and several automotive information providers, the headquartered telecommunications giant told Yicai in Shenzhen. It provides software for the Seres Group’s Aito and Chery Automobile’s Luxeed brands through the alliance.
Yicai discovered model information on the automotive platforms mentioned above, but the search results did not include details about nearby dealers and distributors, as websites tend to show.
Harmony between Dongchedi and Huawei could have started to erode last month when the platform revealed the results of winter battery life tests for several plug-in hybrid vehicles. The extended battery version of the Aito M7 was ranked the worst with less than 32% of the claimed capacity. Several models under Geely Holding Group and Great Wall Motor scored less than 40 percent.
Richard Yu, general manager of Huawei’s consumer group, said the test results were misleading to the public.
Autohome, Dongchedi and Yiche are some of the Chinese websites specializing in automotive information. Founded nearly twenty years ago, Autohome makes money by generating leads for automakers and dealers. Early last year, Autohome was boycotted by several provincial automobile dealer associations due to the platform’s steep price increases.
Huawei and Xiaomi, two Chinese phone makers that have moved into the automotive business, rely less on third-party websites for visibility because they already run stores and websites with established fan bases. Additionally, HIMA will most likely create its own mobile app.
Last year, Aito delivered nearly 94,400 vehicles in total. So far, it has received more than 120,000 orders for the Aito M7, which hit the market last September. The Aito M9, launched a week ago, has already received 30,000 orders and starting this year the brand should be able to deliver more per month.
Publisher: Emmi Laine
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