Huawei joins the automotive world with Avatar Technologies; First car to launch end-2021
Jerrica · Aug 26, 2021 12:42 PM
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Huawei will officially step into the automotive business with Avatar Technology. The new brand is a joint venture (JV) with CATL, the world’s top lithium-ion battery provider, and Changan Automobile. The first car that will roll out of the venture is the Avatar E11.
Technically, Avatar Technology is rebranded from the existing Changan Nio New Energy Automotive Technology Co. Ltd. The company was originally a JV between Changan Automobiles and the automotive brand Nio.
Avatar E11
But earlier this year, Changan increased its stake in the JV from 45 percent to 95.8 percent. This allowed Changan to take full control of the company while Nio founder William Li stepped down from his role as chairman.
Changan will be the main player that runs Avatar Technology while Huawei and CATL will work together to develope cutting-edge technology to be sold under the Avatar brand.
This resulted in the Avatar E11, a mid-sized full-electric SUV (4.8 metres long) positioned to rival Tesla and even the Nio brand itself.
The model is said to be equipped with Huawei’s full-stack HI intelligent vehicle solution (autonomous driving and Harmony OS) and will come with CATL’s latest battery technology.
It will also be the first car to be built on the new intelligent electric networked vehicle architecture known as the CHN platform.
Various media reported that the Avatar E11 has already completed its prototype development phase. Engineers are now working on fixing any remaining bugs so the car can be ready for launch by the end of 2021.
Those DRLs look sharp enough to cut
Plans for the CHN platform
The Avatar E11 is the first of five cars that are planned for launch. Avatar revealed it has plans to launch one car a year for the next five years built on the CHN platform.
Changan estimates to sell 3 million vehicles by 2025 and the brand Avatar will account for 35 percent of sales in the electric vehicle (EV) market.
There isn’t a time in memory that doesn’t involve staring at cars. After discovering the excitement of watching Schumacher vs Hakkinen, Formula 1 became a major part of life. The love for cars and F1 ultimately led to a job with CAR Magazine. The untimely death of the magazine meant a hiatus from cars at lifestyle women’s magazine Marie Claire before another opportunity came knocking again.
