The AITO M5 EV became available for pre-order at Huawei's HarmonyOS 3 launch event on July 27.
Huawei-backed AITO announced hours after making its first all-electric model, the M5 EV, officially available, that it had received more than 30,000 orders for the model.
This has caused a lot of awe, but the reality is not what it seems.
The AITO M5 EV was launched at Huawei's product launch event today starting at 14:30 by Richard Yu, the tech giant's managing director and CEO of the smart car solutions division.
At 20:38, AITO said on its official Weibo account that as of 20:30, more than 30,000 users had placed orders for the model.
The AITO M5 EV order page shows that consumers can currently pay RMB 1,000 ($140) to reserve the model, a deposit that is refundable at any time and brings optional benefits worth RMB 2,000.
They can also pay a non-refundable deposit of RMB 5,000 to receive an additional RMB 2,000 worth of options and receive priority production on the vehicle.
The order information shared by AITO does not mention which of the two these orders are, and how long these orders have been accumulated.
For those not in the automotive industry, though, they would likely assume that these orders were fulfilled in the past few hours, but that is not the case.
At Huawei's HarmonyOS 3 and all scenario launch on July 27, Yu announced that consumers could pre-order the AITO M5 EV through AITO's website as well as Huawei's online store, and that the official launch would take place in September.
Therefore, the number of orders announced by AITO today would probably be accumulated since the end of July, although no specific time interval is mentioned by it today.
Currently, announcing order information has largely become a marketing tool for car companies.
Still, the AITO M5 EV is an attractive product that targets the market where the Tesla Model Y is located, offering an additional option for local consumers with a lower price and powerful features.
Huawei-backed AITO launches first all-electric model, M5 EV, to take on Tesla Model Y
