Text/Lu Shiming
Editing/Gale
On June 25, Avita Technology landed at the Chongqing International Auto Show and launched a new generation of intelligent electric vehicle technology platform, C (Changan) H (Huawei) N (Ningde Times).
It is worth mentioning that Zhu Huarong, chairperson of Changan Automobile, Xu Zhijun, chairperson of Huawei, and Zeng Yuqun, chairperson of Ningde Times, attended the Avita press conference together. Under the "luxury" lineup, Avita’s popularity has been rising again and again.
Avita Launch
At present, all the traditional independent brands want to complete an upward breakthrough at the time of electrification and intelligent transformation. The Great Wall has salons, Geely has polar krypton, and the well-off has questions. Now Changan, which is a little slower, has also joined the array and launched its high-end new energy brand Avita.
Unlike most new brands, Avita had one more halo, and the three-way cooperation between Changan, Huawei, and Ningde Times made Avita’s prospects broader. But reality was always skinny, and even if there were real materials, Avita’s problems gradually appeared in front of many consumers.
That includes the naming of Avita, the appearance of the first model, the Avita 11, and the theory of "emotional intelligence" that Avita’s chairperson and chief executive, Tan Benhong, has spent a lot of time describing. These issues, while the opinion of the benevolent and the wise, also reflect some of Avita’s shortcomings.
More importantly, compared with other traditional brands’ "two factories" cooperation model, Avita’s so-called "three giants cooperation" not only brings obvious advantages, but also brings a question that the market can’t help but associate, that is, whether there will be differences in interests that will hinder the development of the brand.
As a latecomer to the market, Avita itself does not have an advantage. If the dispute points and potential hidden dangers are not resolved earlier, it may be difficult to get a piece of the cake in this highly competitive track.
Avita’s past and present life
In fact, Avita is not Changan’s "newborn", its predecessor is "Changan NIO", which is a brand jointly established by Changan and NIO.
At the 2018 Qixi Festival, Changan partnered with NIO to officially establish Changan NIO, with Changan Automobile and NIO each holding 45% and the other 10% held by the executive team.
However, as NIO gradually gained a foothold in the domestic new energy market, and the highly competitive market made it difficult for it to spare energy to focus on other businesses. In 2020, Li Bin stepped down as the chairperson of Changan NIO, officially ending this stage.
Of course, NIO did not fully withdraw, but the shares fell to less than 5%. But as the leading party, Changan did not give up, but continued to extend the life of "Changan NIO" through capital increase, and officially changed its name to Avita Technology in May 2021.
Avita 11
It is worth mentioning that as early as 2015, Changan released the "518" new energy vehicle development strategy, planning to launch 34 new energy vehicle models in 10 years. Then in 2017, Changan also announced the "Shangri-La Plan", which is expected to completely stop selling fuel vehicles in 2025. But today, both plans can be said to have failed.
The market will not stop because of a certain company’s strategic problems. Seeing Geely’s Jikrypton, Dongfeng’s Lantu and other brands gradually rise in the market, Changan, which is seriously out of touch with the new energy market, has undoubtedly become the "that person" who is caught off guard and on pins and needles.
In order not to be "abandoned" by the market, Changan not only had to keep "Changan NIO", but also use external forces to catch up. Therefore, after NIO left, Changan "introduced" Huawei and Ningde Times, two heavyweight friends, through capital increases.
At present, the top five shareholders of Avita are Changan 39.02%, Ningde Times 23.99%, Chongqing Chengan 19.01%, Southern Assets 8.73%, Fujian Mindong 5.00%, and NIO retains a 1.13% shareholding ratio. It is worth mentioning that behind Chongqing Chengan are Chongqing State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Liangjiang New Area.
Avita’s shareholding structure
Changan, Huawei, Ningde Times, state-owned assets… When these words appeared in the introduction of the same company, the imagination of the market and consumers was instantly opened. Since the official announcement of the cooperation in May last year, Avita has become the expectation of many people.
Unfortunately, in the blooming market environment, Changan overestimated the enthusiasm of consumers. Shortly after changing its name, Avita gradually "disappeared" from the track. Until recently, a press conference reminded people again that Changan also has a high-end brand of new energy vehicles.
From experience, the promotion of new brands during the release and official delivery window is crucial, and the recent Avita 11 overwhelming advertising is undoubtedly a good momentum.
Everything has its pros and cons. While Changan allows consumers to remember Avita, it has also ushered in some controversial issues.
Name, appearance, emotion theory, Avita sparks controversy
Judging from a large number of netizens’ comments, Avita’s name has attracted much attention.
Avita is taken from the English Avatr, which means virtual avatar in the game or online world. The official gave the word a deeper meaning, that is, to create another self in the intelligent parallel world for each user. This car is also defined as "emotional intelligent electric car, understand your intelligent avatar".
Such an explanation sounds very cultural and representative, but at first glance it will make people feel that it is an overseas brand. Too Westernized and without Chinese characteristics, "I feel a little foreign and foreign" has become a voice.
At the same time, the English Avatr of Avita is similar to the English of the science fiction movie "Avatar", except that one letter is missing, which is easy to confuse. Not only that, the name Avita is also difficult to remember compared to other traditional car brands.
Among the many elements of a brand, the name is the core element of the brand and the basis for forming the brand concept. If a brand wants to expand its influence, it must first make consumers remember the brand name. Compared with the previous Xiaocangxailis, it was difficult to get consumers’ attention at first, but after its model was named "Ask the World", the development momentum improved significantly.
Avita is not easy to remember, nor does it have many characteristics. If the product is not particularly outstanding, it may be difficult to familiarize everyone with this brand.
In addition to the name, as the first model of Avita, the appearance of the Avita 11 to be delivered is also "difficult to say". When it comes to appearance design, Changan’s ability is not weak, and even has a high level. For example, its UNI series has won the love of many young people just because of its appearance.
But according to the current official promotional map, the Avita 11 is a coupe SUV with a slippery back. The front is too "simple", and there are no other elements except for the separate design of daytime running lights and headlights, but the light group is too narrow and long, looking a little hideous and awkward.
Avita 11 front
The side of the car is still normal, but the biggest difference in the back of the car is that its rear glass area is very small and it is sunken inward. This design may minimize the drag coefficient, but for the sake of the drag coefficient, it sacrifices the appearance that consumers value, and may affect the rear view. Is this really cost-effective?
The most controversial aspect of Avita, compared with the name and the appearance of the "sitting" model, is its theory of "emotional intelligence".
At the brand launch, compared to the product information introduction of Avita 11, Avita Chairperson and CEO Tan Benhong spent more time interpreting Avita’s brand definition, namely "emotional intelligent electric vehicle", and proposed "E.I. user request theory system".
Avita Launch
From Tan Benhong’s explanation of "emotional intelligence", Avita’s pursuit is to "add personal touch" to the car, just like a consumer’s confidant, so that consumers can feel the meaning of Avita emotionally, rather than just limited to a machine.
The competition of new energy automobile brands has already risen to the intelligent level. The new brand release does not involve the word intelligent, and it seems that it is embarrassing to introduce it to consumers. The continuous involution of the brand has enriched the intelligent interaction experience of automobiles, and the functions and forms have become more and more complex.
Avita’s invisible and intangible metaphysical concept is more like a deliberate gimmick to be different from AI artificial intelligence.
Anxiety over control under multiple interests
There is no eternal cooperation, only eternal interests. As a result of the cooperation of giants, Avita may be limited to the capital triangle.
For Huawei, which provides software systems and platforms to a number of automakers, the purpose of its layout is very obvious in the era of software-defined smart cars.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, Huawei will grasp the core of smart cars, grasp the traffic entrance of smart cars, and compete with car manufacturers for more has the voice over. Or through the cooperation of multiple manufacturers to accumulate production experience, and finally build their own cars.
Although Avita advertises as "the first emotional intelligent electric vehicle brand with Huawei’s HI full-stack smart car solution", based on the fact that Avita is one of Huawei’s many partners, there is no "halo" effect for consumers at all.
And also think about it, if Avita really enters the Huawei channel, then the Huawei exhibition hall with the M5 is now placed, can it still squeeze Avita 11?
Huawei store ask the world M5
Let’s talk about the "battery Mao" Ningde era, as a battery manufacturer, Ningde era in order to improve the vehicle company has the voice over, as well as the bargaining power in the market, in the past two years, gradually through financing means to invest in new energy vehicle companies, such as Nezha Automobile, Aichi Automobile, Byton Automobile and Geely Krypton and other brands.
In the same way, as more and more car companies cooperate with Ningde Times, the "halo" of Ningde Times is no longer a halo. The difference is that Ningde Times may have another purpose in entering Avita this time. Whether it is the Kirin battery previously released by Ningde Times or the highly integrated CTC technology to be launched in 2025, Avita may be one of the first brands to be put into use.
The use of new technologies and the improvement of vehicle competitiveness will lay the foundation for its foothold in the high-end market. This is also the reason why CATL will invest in Avita, which is more like a "test field" for power battery black technology.
As a "leader", Changan certainly knew that it was a big "hidden danger" to let its partners "master" the most important power battery in electric vehicles and the intelligence of its views, but it had to choose to compromise.
On the one hand, as a leading enterprise in the field of autonomous vehicle enterprises, Changan has been in a marginal position in the field of new energy. If it does not try its best to catch up in the short term, the gap will only widen until it is abandoned by the market. On the other hand, whether it is power batteries or intelligence, the research and development costs are extremely high, which is not something that traditional automobile companies can afford. Choosing cooperation is undoubtedly the best choice.
In this way, the three parties can be said to have "each mind". As a new brand, with the gradual development of Avita, once a certain part of the three-party cooperation changes, it may become a major disaster for Avita. This will not only make people think, after the embryonic stage, how much support will the three parties give Avita?
Nowadays, new energy vehicles are getting more and more crowded, and whether the track can accommodate Avita, a new player, the market will provide the answer.