Focusing on entrepreneurs in Liangjiang, Sailis Automobile Zhang Xinghai： Cooperation with Huawei has created a new idea for China’s automobile development

After a short slump, Cyrus finally has its own highlight moment again. The smart factory in Liangjiang New District is the main production base of Cyrus Automobile, and now it is fully loaded 22 hours a day.

This is due to the popularity of new models. AITO’s new M7 has exceeded 90,000, and even the unlisted M9 orders have exceeded 30,000.

Sailis Automobile is a leading enterprise in the automotive industry in Chongqing and Liangjiang New Area. In 2021, Sailis Automobile and Huawei jointly designed the "Smart Choice Vehicle" model, creating a precedent for cross-border cooperation between new energy automobile enterprises and ICT technology enterprises. It also opened up a new path for the booming Chinese new energy automobile industry.

Relying on this, Cyrus Automobile is playing an increasingly important role in building a world-class intelligent and connected new energy vehicle industry cluster in Chongqing. "In the past year, Cyrus Automobile has achieved a breakthrough in the new energy vehicle business from 0 to 1. In the future, we strive to achieve accelerated development from 1 to N." said Zhang Xinghai, chairperson (founder) of Cyrus Automobile.

"Back from the Dead."

From the second half of 2022 to the first half of this year, Cyrus suffered a serious sales decline, and the ensuing market doubts were also frequent.

In the face of difficulties, Zhang Xinghai chose to rise to the challenge – on the one hand, Sailis Automobile and Huawei formed a closer cooperation, and jointly established the "AITO Inquiry and Sales Service Joint Working Group", responsible for the end-to-end closed-loop management of marketing, sales, delivery, service and other businesses. On September 22, Sailis CARE Care Service Strategy was officially released, opening the era of Smart Service 3.0, and will be committed to building a full-link smart service system that runs through pre-sales, delivery and after-sales.

On the other hand, it is also more important. By continuously enriching the product matrix, Zhang Xinghai hopes to rebuild the confidence of the outside world in the increasingly fierce market competition.

On September 12, AITO asked the new M7 was listed, and in the following 64 days created a record of 90,000 vehicles in Dading. According to Zhang Xinghai, in December this year, asked the M9 will also be listed.

In order to ensure delivery, Sailis Automotive Smart Factory is making every effort to accelerate production capacity improvement. The entire supply chain has added 1 billion yuan and 20,000 more manpower. At present, AITO’s new M7 is being produced in batches, efficiently and steadily, and delivery has also been opened in many cities across the country.

Under a series of measures, the sales of Cyrus cars have finally turned around: in October 2023, the AITO series delivered 12,700 new cars, including 10,547 new cars for the new M7, and the monthly delivery of a single model exceeded 10,000, setting a record high.

This made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Yu Chengdong, executive director of Huawei, CEO of End Point BG, and chairperson of Smart Car Solutions BU, even wrote a late-night post: "It’s not easy to come back to life!"

Zhang Xinghai said, "In the past year, Cyrus Automobile has achieved a breakthrough in the new energy vehicle business from 0 to 1. In the future, we strive to achieve accelerated development from 1 to N."

Three principles define the development code

In 1986, Zhang Xinghai founded Chongqing Baxian Phoenix Electric Spring Factory and began to cut into the field of automotive parts such as automobile shock absorbers. Since then, he has been deeply involved in the automotive industry for 37 years.

"From independent entrepreneurship to joint venture vehicle manufacturing, and then to cross-border business cooperation, we have always focused on physical manufacturing companies, constantly seeking survival, change, and upgrading." Zhang Xinghai said.

In the process, he summed up the "three insistences" – "adhere to innovation-driven, adhere to long-term, adhere to commercial success", and use them as the development principles of Cyrus Automotive.

More specifically, "adhering to innovation-driven" means to provide users with the ultimate product experience through technological innovation, product innovation and business model innovation, so as to promote the development of enterprises; "adhering to long-term doctrine" means to always focus on the physical manufacturing industry, with the blessing of core technologies, to further promote the quality-focused strategy, to provide users with the ultimate service throughout the life cycle of the car; "adhering to business success" means to first enable users to succeed, serve users wholeheartedly, and meet users’ yearning for a better car life. At the same time, actively build an all-connected car ecosystem, form a closed-loop business, drive the success of all ecological parties, and share the fruits of development.

The cooperation with Huawei reflects these three principles. The smart selection model jointly created by both parties has also brought a new idea to the development of China’s new energy automobile industry.

In 2021, Sailis and Huawei jointly launched an intelligent range extension/pure electric platform based on DriveONE, and in April of the same year, the two parties signed a new energy vehicle cooperation agreement. Under the smart selection mode, Huawei will deeply participate in product definition, styling design, marketing, user experience and other links, and work with car companies to build complete vehicles.

In Zhang Xinghai’s opinion, Sailis Automobile is Huawei’s most stable, most reliable and deepest partner, responsible for the research and development of new cars, intelligent manufacturing, service and creating a pleasant car experience throughout the life cycle; Huawei is an important integrator of software products in the Sailis automotive industry chain, empowered by core software and hardware technologies such as electrification and intelligent parts, and the advantages of both parties are complementary and win-win.

This in-depth cooperation has also given Cyrus more confidence to face competition head-on. At present, with the strong support of national policies, Chinese auto brands are achieving industrial lane change and overtaking through new energy transformation. However, the global new energy vehicle market landscape is far from certain. Some multinational car companies have awakened and begun to transform, and the competition in the global new energy vehicle market is becoming more intense.

"The new energy vehicle track is a marathon, with heavy assets and long-term investment. Finally, it must be a competition of technological innovation system and intelligent landing." Zhang Xinghai said.

It is worth mentioning that Sailis Automobile has invested more than 20 billion yuan in the field of new energy vehicles, of which the AITO project has invested more than 12 billion yuan. In June this year, AITO’s 100,000 car was officially rolled off the production line in Liangjiang New Area, becoming the fastest new energy vehicle brand to achieve this result.

He said that in the next step, Cyrus Automobile will continue to strengthen cooperation with important integrators of software-related products in the industrial chain, such as Huawei, and continue to deepen "software-defined vehicles" to help build an automotive powerhouse.