by Chen Xiaotong
SAIC Group, recently rumored to be collaborating with Huawei, has applied for several trademarks under the "Jie" series, including "Shangjie" and "SAIC Shangjie." These trademarks cover categories such as machinery and advertising and are currently awaiting review, according to corporate registry data on Tianyancha.
The use of "Jie" aligns with Huawei's existing branding strategy under the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), where all car brands—AITO (Wenjie), Luxeed (Zhijie), Stelato (Xiangjie), and Maextro (Zunjie)—include "Jie" in their Chinese names. This suggests SAIC may be positioning itself for deeper integration into Huawei's ecosystem.
Speculation about collaboration between SAIC and Huawei has been circulating since late last year. Reports suggest SAIC President Jia Jianxu is leading a project that may introduce a new partnership model beyond Huawei's existing roles as a supplier, in the Huawei Inside (HI) program. There is even talk of SAIC potentially making a strategic investment in Huawei's smart car subsidiary, Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology.
Although neither company has confirmed these developments, they have partnered before. SAIC's Rising R7 features Huawei's AR-HUD system, and SAIC Audi has incorporated Huawei's intelligent driving technologies.
SAIC, once China's top automaker for 18 consecutive years, was overtaken by BYD last year as its vehicle sales fell to 4.01 million units, a 20% drop year-on-year. The company also faced declining profits due to a shrinking fuel car market and intensifying price wars, projecting a net profit decrease of 87%-90% in 2024.
Meanwhile, Huawei's HIMA vehicles achieved cumulative deliveries of over 440,000 units in 2024, with standout performers like the AITO M9 exceeding 200,000 orders within a year of launch.
