Meizu is designing bigger flagship stores that will showcase vehicles.
Chinese phone maker Meizu may soon be selling vehicles in its stores like Huawei, after being taken over by Geely chairman's venture.
Wan Zhiqiang, an assistant vice president at Meizu, took to Weibo today to share two design proposals for the phone maker's new flagship store that show the company's stores will showcase cars.
Wan showed two designs in marble and metal styles and asked his fans to comment on which style they would prefer.
The new Meizu flagship store design is significantly larger than the current one, with the first of the designs showing the store displaying two cars.
Meizu was one of the first smartphone makers in China, founded in 2003, initially producing and selling only consumer electronics such as MP3s, and becoming one of the best-known handset makers as the smartphone era dawned.
But in the last two years, annual shipments of Meizu phones have dropped to about 1 million units, well below the peak of more than 10 million or more units shipped.
On July 4, Hubei Xingji Shidai Technology, a cell phone company founded by Eric Li, founder and chairman of carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, announced the completion of its acquisition of a majority stake in Meizu.
Xingji acquired a 79.09 percent controlling interest in Meizu and assumed sole control of the company.
Meizu will continue to operate as an independent brand, with founder Huang Zhang continuing to serve as a strategic advisor on the company's products, according to a press release at the time.
Xingji, which was founded by Li in September 2021 and is based in Wuhan, Hubei province in central China, aims to make high-end smartphones to serve the global market, according to a press release it issued last year.
While Wan did not reveal why Meizu is launching a newly designed flagship store, it is apparent that the phone maker may showcase the Geely family of models in the store.
Also of note, the Meizu headquarters building in Zhuhai was spotted today with a new poster reading "All in Auto," suggesting the company will be making new moves in the automotive space, according to local media outlet Mydrivers.
Yesterday, Meizu's auto-related job postings sparked speculation in several media outlets that the company might join the car-making bandwagon.
Earlier today, Geely senior vice president Yang Xueliang said on Weibo that this was a misunderstanding and that Meizu would not be involved in building cars, but would only provide services to car companies.
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