24th September 2026 – (Hong Kong) Seres Group (09927) is taking the driving seat on its Huawei-linked AITO brand after a cooperation reset announced this month, with Huawei’s Richard Yu Chengdong saying the car maker asked to lead and that Huawei supports the move.
Yu said Seres had made “great progress” through years of partnership and now wanted to run the brand itself. Under the new model, Seres will dominate product definition, brand marketing, channel retail and service systems for AITO, shifting more commercial control to the listed manufacturer.
Chairman Zhang Xinghai insisted the partners are not breaking up. He described the change as an upgrade around exclusive dealerships and higher service standards — the kind of dedicated network luxury marques typically demand — rather than a divorce.
AITO has already delivered more than one million vehicles through the first half of 2026. Huawei still fields other smart-car brands including Zhijie, Xiangjie, Zunjie and Shangjie alongside the Seres collaboration, so the group is not exiting cars even as AITO’s front end moves toward Seres.
CLSA China industrials co-head Xiao Feng said Seres volumes have fallen year on year for several months, piling on pressure. Because of the Huawei tie-up, he argued, Seres has little room to push overseas or expand into some passenger-car lines, so a fuller parting is only a matter of time.
He expects Huawei to lean further into the back end — automotive electronics and technology research — selling kits to car partners rather than fronting every retail brand itself. For Hong Kong investors in 09927, the reset is both relief and risk: more control of AITO marketing and stores, but less cover from Huawei’s sales machine if volumes keep sliding while CLSA frets about an eventual split. Investors will watch whether AITO volumes and Seres earnings recover once the new division of labour beds in.
 is taking the driving seat on its Huawei-linked AITO brand after a cooperation reset announced this month, with Huawei's Richard Yu Chengdong saying the car maker asked to lead and that Huawei supports the move.){kind=link}