Huawei beats Apple to an electric car

Chinese automaker Chery and tech giant Huawei have teamed up to create a coupe-like electric sedan, which has been previewed for the first time in a social media post.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Intelligent Automotive Solution business unit, shared a single image of the sedan on a Weibo post where he called it a “pure electric coupe” and promised it will “meet you in this quarter”.

It will serve as a rival to the likes of the Nio ET5, XPeng P7i, BYD Seal and Tesla Model 3.

The model, codenamed EH3, will be badged and sold under a new brand called Luxeed, born from the Chery-Huawei partnership, rather than the AITO brand as originally rumoured.

Somewhat confusingly, Chery already has a premium brand called Exeed.

At the front of the vehicle, a full-width LED light bar can be seen connecting thin headlights, which are bracketed by slim air intakes.

A trapezoidal air intake sits at the bottom of the grille-less front fascia, making for a sleek front end accented by the Luxeed wordmark.

The side profile sports a sloped roofline, retractable flush door handles, and five-spoke wheels with red Brembo brakes.

There’s a LiDAR unit on the roof, and in total the EH3 will have 11 HD cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars to support the model’s active safety and driver assist systems.

The Huawei ADS 2.0 is claimed to be able to drive up to 200km without intervention and also supports Navigation Cruise Assist for autonomous city and highway driving.

These functionalities are expected to be available to customers in 45 cities across China from launch, with plans for further expansion.

The EH3 will reportedly sit on Chery’s E0X electric vehicle (EV) architecture, which uses CATL batteries to provide up to 700km of range with 800V charging.

The infotainment system running Huawei’s HarmonyOS 4 software will naturally be optimised for Huawei devices, with additional video gaming capabilities thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 CPU.

Unveiled by Huawei last week, the software supports a ‘Smart Cockpit’ with streaming and immersive cabin controls, as well as the ability to fly a drone while watching the footage relayed on the infotainment screens.

According to CarNewsChina, the starting price for the model will be 200,000 yuan (AU$42,380).

While the EH3, still awaiting its official name, is set to make its debut in the third quarter of this year, it may make its first appearance at the Chengdu Auto Show on August 25.

This isn’t Huawei’s first automotive effort. The company unveiled its first car, the SF5 SUV, at the 2021 Shanghai motor show.

That model was in collaboration with California-based electric vehicle startup Seres and was sold through Huawei’s flagship stores.

Teaming up with Chery suggests Huawei could have export markets in mind, given the company’s expanding global footprint.

While the EH3 hasn’t been confirmed for distribution outside of China, Chery has already indicated it sees Australia as a priority market, targeting a little over eight per cent of the total market in each category it competes in.

The brand began its Australian return with the small Omoda 5 crossover earlier this year.

Its local range will grow, with the Tiggo 7 Pro and Tiggo 8 Pro expected this year followed by an electric Omoda 5 next year.

Speaking previously on Chery’s presence in the Australian market, marketing director James Curtis said, “We’re getting priority shipment, we’re getting priority production; everyone is watching us. So it gives us a lot of confidence that the operations globally are geared and ready for us.”

“Australia really is a litmus test for the brand. If it’s successful [Chery] will rise to becoming a truly global company.”