Some cities in China are providing exclusive advertising subsidies for Huawei Powered Cars
Wired contacted Huawei to ask about its potential role in subsidies. Huawei did not publish in time.
One of the earliest subsidies appeared online in March, when it was the Commerce Bureau in the Granghen Longgang area of Shenzhen, where Huawei’s headquarters is located, where local buyers can buy a car on the driver-driver of Huawei. Subsidies will be on a first come first served basis until the total budget is exhausted by RMB 14,000,000, which means residents with more than 3,500 residents can benefit from it.
Starting in May, the Bureau of Commerce subsequently issued many announcements in similar languages in other provinces and municipalities. In China, these business bureaus are the job of consumer regulators and are responsible for distributing government subsidies, including a massive program launched last year to encourage old electronics and automobile transactions to help stimulate the economy. Huawei subsidies are announced through the Commerce Bureau, which is almost indistinguishable from the official government welfare program.
In some cases, such as in the provinces of Hinan and Anhui, these subsidies are issued by provincial auto industry associations. While these are technically private trading groups, the announcements are printed on official-looking credit heads and red stamps, giving them a sense of authority.
The tech giant has been working to reshape itself after U.S. trade restrictions destroyed Huawei’s global smartphone business and essentially forced it to withdraw from markets outside China. In addition to creating harmonious operating systems for smart phones, smart devices and cars, it also increasingly worked on large language models and autonomous driving technologies as AI flourished.
The company has vowed to never build the car itself (like its smartphone peers and rival Xiaomi), but it works with a range of Chinese auto companies. Huawei’s autonomous driving technology has particularly attracted Chinese manufacturers that do not have the ability to develop autonomous driving on their own. It is “technical branding is not suitable, which is attractive to brands struggling to keep up with advances in smart driving,” Tu said. “Effectively, if you are desperate and unable to keep up, then you should work with Huawei in the Chinese market.”
These subsidies have caused controversy in China because they seem to make certain brands a cruelly competitive EV landscape. With the saturation of the domestic market, Chinese electric vehicle brands are forced to cut prices and offer consumers free technology upgrades or interest-free financing options to maintain benefits.
Earlier this year, Beijing indicated that automakers should avoid extreme pricing strategies. “The central government ultimately wants to see stable, profitable companies rather than a super-dispersed industry where no one makes money,” said Ilaria Mazzocco, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has carefully studied the industrial policy of China’s electric vehicles. “It’s great for consumers, but in the long run, it’s just unsustainable.”
The pressure from central government to avoid refueling may be prompting companies to propose more creative ways to make cars more affordable. Meanwhile, local governments may benefit Huawei’s autonomous driving technology because it conforms to another policy goal of developing high-tech manufacturing and self-sufficiency AI technologies, Mazzocco said.
Until this year, Wired can only determine other similar Huawei auto subsidies starting from 2022. That year, Huawei’s hometown of Shenzhen donated $1,400 per vehicle to those who bought harmonious vehicles. Huawei did not answer questions about whether the company paid for it.
