00:00The speed at which upstart Chinese car makers series built its third and largest factory represents just how fast it's risen to the top of China's luxury EV segment.
00:11The Chongqing plant spreads across a million square meters, built in just one year from breaking ground to start a production of what has been a groundbreaking four-year-old tie-up with tech giant Huawei.
00:23Here we're going to go get the president.
00:25Which has its Harmony OS fingerprints all through these cars.
00:29It's been quite a meteoric rise for the once small minivan maker series with its Ito brand.
00:36This is its flagship M9, fairly large SUV that should be giving the established foreign luxury car makers like Mercedes and BMW a bit of a scare, actually quite a big scare.
00:49This car was the number one seller in the luxury segment last year, beating the likes of Mercedes, beating BMW.
00:57So this is what the new luxury customer in China wants.
01:02High fashion, high value, high tech.
01:06I think the Chinese EV market in general scares the dickens out of all of the foreign players that are trying to stay relevant here in China.
01:12People likes intelligence, likes to play cars with mobile phones.
01:18Series president John Zhang says proceeds from the Hong Kong listing will be put toward further R&D in safety, automation and connectivity, tapping China's own supply chains and homegrown tech and offering gadgety perks today's discerning buyers demand.
01:35Actually, our cars, you can drive to, let's say, a parking lot to the elevators.
01:42Get out and then.
01:42You get out and then you go and the car will find a spot to park itself.
01:47This is the new kind of luxury.
01:50And while other EV makers in China are mired in a damaging price war, the profitable series hasn't followed suit with its $70,000 Ito M9.
02:00We haven't lowered a penny.
02:01Aided by the fact most in China see Ito as essentially a premium Huawei EV without the Huawei badge, an advantage it might not otherwise have in Western markets because of U.S. sanctions against Huawei.
02:15We partnered up in the difficult times.
02:18We're going to help each other.
02:20They are probably the most successful player within the luxury market, allowing them to stay above the fray in the ongoing trade war.
02:29In large part due to advancements in physical AI in the factory, where more than 3,000 robots can help churn out a car every 30 seconds.
02:37And beyond the dash, where Siri says Harmony assisted driving rivals Tesla's latest FSD, at least in China, where LiDAR is standard and local road training has a head start.
02:49Nevertheless, authorities are dialing back industry promises of full autonomy until safety is assured.
02:54Human drive plus assisted driving system together is the best solution.
03:03Along with just possibly a humanoid sidekick of a different kind.
03:08If you have a maid or you have a servant, it is luxury.
03:13But in the future, when intelligence redefines this luxury, it's going to be a robot.
03:19A butler-bought assistant riding shotgun may be the next luxury must-have.
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