One of China’s most closely watched automotive partnerships is entering a new phase. Huawei and Seres built Aito into a major premium electric-vehicle name by combining Huawei’s software, intelligent-driving technology and retail reach with Seres’ vehicle engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Now, much more of that responsibility is moving directly into the automaker’s hands.
Under a new cooperation model announced in September 2026, Seres will lead Aito’s product definition, vehicle design, brand marketing, retail channels and service operations. Huawei will remain involved as a technology and ecosystem partner, and Aito will stay within Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance. The shift therefore looks less like a breakup and more like a maturing relationship in which Seres assumes greater control over a brand that has become central to its future.
Seres Is Taking the Operating Lead
The clearest change is who sits at the centre of Aito’s day-to-day operation. Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance said on September 15 that Seres would take the lead on product definition, product design, brand marketing, channel retail and the service system. Huawei’s consumer business will continue providing support and technological capabilities. Existing customer rights and after-sales services, the companies stressed, are not supposed to change because of the restructuring.
There is an important distinction around manufacturing. Seres was already responsible for building Aito vehicles, so production itself is not being transferred from Huawei in the same way that design or retail leadership is. Instead, manufacturing now sits alongside a much broader group of responsibilities controlled by the automaker. Seres effectively gains more command over the complete journey from deciding what an Aito should be to engineering it, building it, marketing it, selling it and supporting the owner after delivery.
Huawei Helped Create a Very Different Kind of Car Partnership
Aito emerged in 2021 when Huawei and Seres developed a cooperation model that went considerably further than the conventional supplier relationship. Huawei did not simply sell infotainment hardware or driver-assistance components. It became deeply involved in how products were defined, designed and presented to consumers, while its extensive retail presence helped put vehicles in front of shoppers who might otherwise have known Huawei primarily for smartphones and telecommunications equipment.
Seres brought another essential piece: the ability to engineer and manufacture cars at scale. The first jointly developed Aito model, the M5, began deliveries in March 2022. Growth accelerated quickly. By January 2026, Aito’s one-millionth vehicle had rolled off the production line at the Seres Super Factory in Chongqing. The milestone came roughly 46 months after deliveries began. The vehicle that marked it was an M9, Aito’s flagship luxury SUV, demonstrating how dramatically the partnership had moved upmarket from its early years.
Control Had Already Been Moving Toward Seres
September’s restructuring did not appear without warning. One of the biggest earlier changes came in 2024, when Seres agreed to acquire Aito-related intellectual property from Huawei. The package included 919 registered or pending trademarks and 44 vehicle-design patents, with a transaction value of approximately 2.5 billion yuan. That deal placed the identity of Aito more firmly inside the automaker even while Huawei remained heavily involved in running the business.
Seres also deepened its financial connection to Huawei’s automotive technology operation. It agreed to pay 11.5 billion yuan for a 10% interest in Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology, the company created from Huawei’s intelligent-automotive solutions business. Seres consequently became more than simply a customer of Huawei’s automotive technologies: it became an investor in the company supplying many of those capabilities. Taken together, the trademark purchase, technology investment and latest operating changes show control being reorganized gradually rather than through one sudden separation.
Aito’s Sales Experience Is Becoming More Distinct
Retail is one of the most important pieces of the change because Huawei’s consumer-facing network helped make the original cooperation unusual. Under the earlier structure, Huawei-linked sales channels gave Aito access to customers in environments shaped by the technology company’s brand, software ecosystem and reputation. That arrangement helped blur the traditional boundary between a consumer-electronics store and an automobile showroom.
The new structure gives Seres the leading role in channel retail and customer service. Aito separately described its future approach as an exclusive brand operation, while Chinese media have reported that the brand is expected to develop a more independent sales network, potentially including stores focused entirely on Aito products. For shoppers, the transition may eventually make the retail experience feel more like dealing directly with a premium automaker. For Seres, however, it also means greater responsibility for maintaining the polished sales and ownership experience that helped turn Huawei’s involvement into such a powerful commercial advantage.
The Change Arrives During a More Difficult Financial Year
The timing matters because Seres has been investing heavily while facing tougher financial conditions. The company reported first-half 2026 revenue of approximately 57.49 billion yuan. Aito deliveries still increased 10.2% from a year earlier during the period, but Seres swung to a net loss attributable to shareholders of roughly 1.72 billion yuan, compared with a substantial profit in the first half of 2025. Higher costs for important components and impairment charges were among the factors cited for the deterioration.
At the same time, Seres is not cutting back on technology spending. It reported approximately 7.0 billion yuan in research and development investment during the first half of 2026, an increase of 34.8% year over year. That combination — increasing deliveries, high investment and weaker profitability — helps explain why having more control over product planning, sales channels and operating decisions could matter. Greater autonomy gives Seres more opportunities to influence costs and commercial strategy, although it also leaves the automaker carrying more of the execution risk.
Huawei Is Stepping Back From Aito Operations, Not From Cars
It would be misleading to interpret the restructuring as Huawei abandoning the automotive sector. Aito remains part of the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, and Huawei continues to provide technology and ecosystem support. The arrangement also applies specifically to Aito. Huawei said the other HIMA brands — Luxeed, Stelato, Maextro and Shangjie — will continue using the existing model in which Huawei leads the process more comprehensively.
Huawei is simultaneously pouring resources into intelligent vehicles. The company said earlier in 2026 that it planned to invest about 18 billion yuan in smart-driving research and development during the year, including roughly 10 billion yuan for computing infrastructure. Over a five-year period, its planned smart-driving investment exceeds $10 billion. Huawei’s automotive revenue also grew sharply in 2025. The broader picture is therefore one of resource reallocation rather than withdrawal: Huawei can remain a crucial supplier of intelligent-driving, cockpit and computing technology while allowing its most established automotive partner to operate with greater independence.
Aito Has Grown Too Large to Remain an Experiment
When Huawei and Seres began working together, their model was closely watched as an experiment in whether a major technology company could reshape an automaker without manufacturing cars itself. Aito’s scale has since changed the conversation. The brand delivered more than 420,000 vehicles in 2025, making it the overwhelming commercial engine of Seres’ premium vehicle strategy. By the first half of 2026, cumulative deliveries of the flagship M9 alone had surpassed 300,000 units.
The ambitions are getting larger as well. Aito has outlined a target of reaching one million annual vehicle sales by 2030, more than double its 2025 level. International growth forms part of that plan. Company executives have said overseas sales, which represented less than 1% of volume, could reach about 20% within three years. Aito has already started building a presence in the Middle East, including a distribution partnership in the United Arab Emirates. Those goals make clearer ownership of brand strategy and international execution increasingly important.
The Real Test Comes After the Handoff
Seres is taking control while Aito still has considerable product momentum. During the first half of 2026, the company expanded the lineup with vehicles including the M6 and an updated M9. Seres said the M9 had exceeded 300,000 cumulative deliveries by midyear, while its new products generated strong early ordering activity. The brand has therefore entered the new operating structure from a position of scale rather than attempting a turnaround from obscurity.
The harder question is whether Seres can preserve the ingredients that made the partnership work while assuming responsibilities Huawei previously helped lead. Product decisions will need to remain competitive, dedicated dealerships will have to reproduce the strength of Huawei-linked retail, and service quality will become even more closely associated with Seres itself. Huawei’s software, intelligent-driving systems and broader technology ecosystem remain important assets, so the relationship is far from over. What has changed is the balance: Aito is becoming unmistakably Seres’ brand to run, with Huawei increasingly positioned as the powerful technology partner behind it.
