As the opening of Huawei and BAIC’s new joint venture draws nearer, excitement is growing. The pair plans to introduce a stylish executive vehicle at the next Beijing auto show in April with the goal of revolutionising China’s premium EV industry. After being postponed in 2022 due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the biennial event is back, much to everyone’s relief.
Huawei’s technological prowess in connection, intelligent features, state-of-the-art software, and now comprehensive EV powertrain solutions promise to enrich the EV experience, while BAIC boasts a strong automotive pedigree. That is, however, a hyperbole employed by all manufacturers launching a new product.
The new brand is rumoured to be called “Xiangjie,” which is an unusual combination of words because Jie typically refers to a realm or luxury and Xiang means enjoy or savour. The pair of words might signify either “Enjoy the Luxury” or “Enjoy the New World.”
The much awaited launch model—tentatively dubbed Jie Pai, or X4 for short—will be an executive sedan aimed at the high-end market. This striking electric vehicle (EV) is rumoured to retail for between RMB 300,000 and RMB 500,000 (about €38,900 and €64,810). Its goal is to challenge existing premium brands. According to early reports, it has a roomy interior, a futuristic look, and several useful features that are enabled by Huawei technology.
The EV division of BAIC Group, BAIC BluePark, has disclosed that the Xiangjie brand is not limited to China. The company’s objectives are global in nature, as evidenced by its 2024 target of building a distribution and service network in both Europe and Asia. It’s very possible that the new brand will go by STELATO when it gets to our shores.
Industry interest has been further piqued by the partnership’s audacious output ambitions. If it can meet its sales targets of over 10,000 units per month for the initial model and its estimated yearly manufacturing capacity of 300,000 vehicles, this project has the potential to completely change the luxury EV market.
It’s interesting to note that Huawei is involved in more ways than just supplying cutting-edge technology components. Because of its “Zhixuan” cooperation model, the company collaborates closely with BAIC and is fully integrated into the development process. Previous successes with this degree of cooperation might be seen in the well-liked Arcfox α-S model, which featured Huawei Inside solutions. We anticipate that this technical integration will increase even further with the launch of the new brand
