00:00So obviously, Ceres and the brand Aito has an amazing success story in a very short amount of
00:07time. In less than four years, you took this brand and above 500,000 RMB luxury segment to number one,
00:17beating BMW, beating Mercedes-Benz. We had a long head start in the luxury market in China.
00:23What do you attribute that rapid success to? Well, it was not an easy task. So we started with
00:34a very difficult time. We started to invest into the electric cars in 2016. So we've been working
00:47in Silicon Valley for four years. And we've done all kinds of motors, as you can see, batteries
00:56and different controllers' designs and explorations as well. So we spent a lot of R&D spending inside.
01:08So all the way until 2021. So we started the corporation, the co-design with Huawei and
01:19been through the difficult time.
01:23So the difficult time, was it difficult? You were in Santa Clara, weren't you? And trying
01:27to get into the U.S. market or learn from a very beginning part of a U.S. market. And
01:33it wasn't until you teamed up with Huawei here that you went like this?
01:38It was two phases of difficulties. So the first phase was, we used to be a traditional
01:45manufacturing company, which means a majority of my employees are workers. So the laborers
01:55on the lines. And starting from the investment in the U.S., we started to hire engineers, top
02:04engineers, PhDs, etc. So to change the mind of how to develop a product, that was the first
02:13difficulty. So it used to be build something to sell. And later on, we started to think it's
02:22not just building something, but we have to develop something to match the needs and the
02:28requirements of our customers. So that was the first phase.
02:32Tell me, how did the partnership with Huawei come up? And obviously, the Harmony OS is throughout
02:38this car. Some say this is a Huawei vehicle built by series, but you would probably argue
02:44differently that this is Aito brand, homemade, homebred. But really, the ins and outs is Huawei
02:53Harmony.
02:53We work very closely. So we started cooperation with different parts. Actually, we started
03:01not with the whole vehicle, but different parts like the motors, controllers, even the sound
03:07sound speakers. So at the beginning, we are, we have the best platform in China about 2020,
03:17because we developed everything ready at that time. And it's just technology, the best. And
03:25Huawei was looking for partnerships as well. So they want to try to put their products inside
03:32the cars. And that was how we started.
03:35I've talked to a lot of domestic EV makers, and a lot of them, because of the saturated
03:41nature of the domestic market, hyper competition, and the race to the bottom price war, they are
03:47having trouble finding profitability. So they're looking overseas. And overseas opens up a whole
03:52nother can of worms, in particular Europe and the United States. But they're looking at Middle
03:57East, they're looking at Southeast Asia. When and where are you going to start looking
04:02overseas?
04:03Okay, we have spent four years in China to build our bodies and the strength and to make sure my
04:12system runs smoothly, not just the design, not just building, especially the service, the
04:20service qualities. And by end of this year, we're going to put some products in the Middle East for
04:31the first, for the first time that the premium, Chinese premium EV go out.
04:38Like the M9?
04:39M9, yeah.
04:40Where? Saudi Arabia, UAE?
04:42UAE.
04:43UAE.
04:44Yeah. We're not going to expand like every country over the night. That's not real, but
04:51we're going to go one by one places to make sure that every country we go to, we deliver
04:59the exactly the same functions, the same services to my customers. We don't want to go abroad and
05:08cut this, that. So that's unfair. So every market, when we go, we go the exactly the Chinese version.
05:16Would that be an export product then, not made there? It will start with export.
05:21But eventually you could be possibly making it in the Middle East?
05:23Sure. Yeah, it depends.
05:25Where else are you looking? Because obviously the biggest car markets in addition to China
05:30are the United States and Europe. You have origins in the United States and California. Given the tariff war
05:37that's happening right now and the protectionism, what are your views on the U.S. market?
05:42Well, the U.S. market, we, to be honest, we rarely consider. It's been very far across the
05:52Pacific. So we start with the...
05:55Not very welcoming.
05:56We start with neighbors.
05:58Okay. Yeah. What about Europe? Because a lot of Chinese car makers are either finding
06:04production bases in Hungary, in markets, lower cost and more welcoming to the Chinese,
06:10and then entry into the EU that way. Are you looking at production partners and distribution
06:15partners possibly in Europe?
06:17Of course. We have lots of good friends in Europe. BMW, Mercedes. We are all good friends.
06:25Now I think it's just a... From technology side, we are ready. From product side, we are going
06:36to be ready. It's just, as you said, in China there are regulatory for the different level
06:432, level 3, level 4 in Europe as well. So it's better for us to align with different requirements.
06:53When we go to high requirement markets such as Europe. So...
06:59How do you answer the question, if there are those when they're raised, about your association
07:04with Huawei? We all know that Huawei has been sanctioned by the United States. It has some
07:09red flags. How do you deal with that question?
07:12We are good partners. We partnered up in the difficult times. We're going to help each other.
07:20And from what we did in China, accomplished. So this is a cross-border corporation. We used
07:28to be a traditional car manufacturer. Huawei used to be a communication and cell phone company.
07:37So in the past, these two industries had nothing to do with each other. But nowadays we partnered
07:46up. We're working together to build the next generation's EV car and the intelligent cars
07:52as well. So it has to be this way. For car companies itself, it's very difficult to move like us. For years, what we did today. And it's also a
07:55very difficult for companies like the cell phone companies to overnight shift to car manufacturing. It's also very difficult. So this partnership is innovative, I think.
08:09Were you surprised how quickly your brand went to number one?
08:27We were. I was. I was like, what is Aito? Ah, it's basically Harmony OS. It's Huawei on wheels. Oh, is it? What is Aito? What is series? It's not a household name.
08:40Um, we are not surprised. We're pleased to see that. Because the first thing when we shaking hands decided to work
08:50together, we're aiming for something, not, uh, build something to sell. Because companies like Huawei and like us, we
09:00have no, we have no room to back up in 2020. It was a very difficult time. So it's very difficult for Huawei a time
09:09as well. So we aiming for the best EV cars at that time. So Aito, this name is actually adding intelligence to auto.
09:21Wow. So A-I-T-O. It's, uh, uh, and our, our company name, Ceres is a Greek word. So it means the, the, the, the land of silk.
09:34So it's also the, the ancient China world. And, uh, we aiming for the best.
09:40You're in the luxury space. What did the existing, the legacy luxury players, I'm talking to Europeans mostly, the BMWs, the Mercedes.
09:49What did they miss? You captured something so fast. What did they miss? They've been in this market for decades.
09:57What did they get wrong? Well, um, I think it's a, there's the same in our company. It's a philosophy. Luxury redefines intelligence.
10:10So in the past luxury means leather, maybe quiet, solid, or, uh, rare, you know, expensive. But nowadays in China, as I can understand, people want intelligent luxury.
10:34Right. Not the traditional ways. They want a line flat in the car when they want. Yeah.
10:43They want to have, uh, ice Coke whenever they want. They want a big TV screens for family fundings.
10:56Hello.
10:57Did you know that this is a lot of stuff?
10:58I had a adjustment of the roadiness or a brand skinнения.
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