Huawei-led Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) delivered 37,490 vehicles in September, down 29.15% from a year earlier and 10.95% from August, according to figures released by the alliance on Thursday.
The result marked HIMA’s fourth consecutive month of year-on-year decline and its third straight month of month-on-month contraction, highlighting increasing pressure on sales despite several new product launches during the month.
HIMA delivered 367,229 vehicles during the first nine months of the year, up 5.27% from the same period a year earlier. The growth rate slowed considerably from the 11.42% increase recorded through the first eight months.
The alliance said cumulative deliveries across its lineup have surpassed 1.56 million vehicles.
New Model Launches Fail to Reverse September Decline
HIMA’s September performance came as several brands introduced new or updated models. During the month, the alliance launched or opened pre-sales for the updated Luxeed R7, Stelato V8, Luxeed RX and updated Aito M8.
The sales decline also coincided with changes to the partnership structure between Huawei and Seres around the Aito brand.
Aito was the first brand established under HIMA and remains one of the alliance’s largest contributors. Huawei and Seres announced on September 15 that Aito would explore a new partnership model within HIMA, with Seres taking the lead while Huawei continues to provide support.
The revised arrangement covers product definition, product design, brand marketing, retail channels and service operations. Aito will remain part of HIMA, while customer benefits and existing services will continue unchanged.
For HIMA’s other brands, Huawei will retain its existing role of leading the full process. The changes do not cover Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro or Shangjie.
Huawei and Seres Continue Discussions Over Aito
Chinese media outlet Yicai reported on Thursday that Huawei and Seres had recently started another round of discussions over their cooperation and could adjust the Aito partnership model again.
According to the report, the existing cooperation framework is unlikely to be fundamentally changed. Instead, the two companies could further deepen their collaboration under the current arrangement rather than simply moving to a structure in which Seres leads and Huawei provides support.
The discussions come as Aito prepares to expand its updated vehicle lineup and address weaker recent sales momentum.
Updated Aito M8 Opens Pre-Sales
Aito opened pre-sales for the updated M8 SUV on September 30. The model has a starting pre-sales price of 389,800 yuan ($57,880), which is 30,000 yuan higher than the starting list price of the previous version.
The updated M8 continues to be offered with both extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) powertrains, along with five-seat and six-seat configurations.
The BEV version offers a CLTC driving range of up to 830 kilometers, while the EREV version has a combined range of up to 1,435 kilometers.
The M8 remains an important model for Aito. Its cumulative deliveries surpassed 180,000 vehicles as of August 6, although monthly sales have declined for several consecutive months.
The model’s performance will therefore be an important factor for Aito as the updated M8 enters the market and HIMA seeks to stabilize deliveries following several months of year-on-year and month-on-month declines.
