Huawei has started selling the new Seres SF5 car from its flagship stores in China. Huawei selling another brands’ car in its stores because this is the first car to support Huawei’s “1+8+N” ecosystem.
“1+8+N” is the name for Huawei’s product and software ecosystem. The idea is that users have “1” Huawei smartphone; “8” Huawei peripherals (Huawei FreeBuds, Huawei MatePad Pro, Huawei MateBook X Pro, Huawei Vision, Huawei Watch GT 2, Sound X, and Huawei FreeBuds); And the “N” represents third-party connected devices that seamlessly integrate with Huawei HiLink and Huawei Share technologies.
The Seres SF5 car is clearly an “N”.
Huawei’s move into the auto industry isn’t a total surprise. Earlier in the year, a spokesperson for Huawei told Reuters: “Huawei is not a car manufacturer. However, through ICT (information and communications technology), we aim to be a digital car-oriented and new-added components provider, enabling car OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to build better vehicles.”
The new cars are currently only available in China and will cost ¥24,6800 (NZ$52,904) for the four-wheel-drive model, and ¥21,6800 CNY (NZ$46,473) for the two-wheel-drive model.
The cars’ EV specs are pretty modest. With a range of only 180km in pure electric mode, though there is a range-extender engine onboard that pushes its actual range out to 1000km.
The car features Huawei HiCar. Which is a lot like Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. It lets users switch between their mobile phone applications to the vehicle’s central control panel, enabling access to navigation, music and more. Huawei also integrated its Huawei Sound core technicians and acoustic experts to tune the vehicle’s stereo system, giving it a “three-dimensional surround audio system consists of 11 sound units”.
That’s not all. Huawei’s press release also proudly tells us the “The new Seres SF5 has a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) rescue recharge mode, which can provide emergency power to isolated vehicles in the wilderness. It also provides vehicle-to-load (V2L) camping power supply mode, empowering induction cookers, stereos, and other equipment, so users can have BBQ when they stop.”
“So users can have BBQ when they stop.”
Richard Yu, Huawei’s Executive Director and CEO of the Consumer Business Group is excited by the announcement: “This exciting announcement sets a precedent for both the consumer electronics industry and the new energy vehicle industry”.
He continued: “In the future, we will not only provide leading smart car solutions to help partners build better intelligent vehicles, but also help them sell those vehicles through our retail network across China.”
