- Shangjie will have an initial investment of RMB 6 billion ($820 million) and a dedicated team of more than 5,000 people.
- The new brand will use SAIC's most mature production lines and will have an exclusive factory in the future.
Huawei has officially unveiled a new automotive brand called "SAIC Shangjie" (SAIC尚界 in Chinese), which it is building in partnership with SAIC Motor (SHA: 600104), after formally signing an agreement two months ago to build cars together.
Richard Yu, Huawei's managing director and chairman of the terminal business group, officially unveiled the Shangjie brand yesterday at a new product launch event for the tech giant's HIMA (Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance) business, saying the new brand aims to launch its first electric vehicle (EV) this fall.
Shangjie is the fifth vehicle brand under the HIMA umbrella, with the other four being Seres Group's Aito, Chery's Luxeed, BAIC Group's Stelato, and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group's (JAC) Maextro.
The business currently has seven models on sale -- Aito M5, Aito M7, Aito M8, Aito M9, Luxeed S7, Luxeed R7 and Stelato S9.
Shangjie has an initial investment of RMB 6 billion ($820 million) and a dedicated team of more than 5,000 people, SAIC's president Jia Jianxu said at yesterday's event.
The new brand will use SAIC's most sophisticated production lines and will have an exclusive factory in the future, Jia said, adding that Shangjie will definitely launch its first model this year.
Shangjie will focus on style, technology, and a high-quality traveling experience for users, Jia said.
SAIC and Huawei signed an in-depth cooperation agreement on February 21 in Shanghai, where SAIC is headquartered.
The two companies would cooperate in areas including product definition, manufacturing, supply chain management, and sales and service to jointly build EVs, a statement from SAIC said at the time.
The companies did not mention any more information about the first model of the partnership, but according to previous reports from several local media outlets, the car will target a younger demographic.
On February 17, Yicai reported that Shangjie's first model would start at around RMB 150,000 and will be the cheapest model under the HIMA umbrella.
All of the new brand's models would be sold through HIMA's channels, with the first model based on SAIC sub-brand Roewe's new car internally codenamed "ES39," according to the report.
($1 = RMB 7.3086)
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