AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)06/17 Report--

Henan Pingdingshan Hezhong Huiwin Automobile sales and Service Co., Ltd. was fined more than 35000 yuan by Pingdingshan Market Supervision Bureau for publishing false advertisements on June 13 for using the advertising term "Huawei Automobile" to promote M5 cars.

The illegal facts announced in the penalty decision are that the above-mentioned companies have advertisements such as "Huawei Automobile" and "HUAWEI" in the auto exhibition area, and the car "AITO question M5" displayed is actually a Cyrus car, not a "Huawei car". The company said that the display car "AITOQ M5" was designed and produced by Huawei in conjunction with Selis to promote terms such as "Huawei Automobile" and "HUAWEI", and could not provide relevant certification materials. In the end, the above-mentioned companies were ordered to stop publishing advertisements, eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope, and were fined more than 35000 yuan.

On March 31, Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, issued an internal announcement emphasizing that "Huawei does not build cars" and extended the validity period for five years. At the same time, Ren Zhengfei also put forward strict requirements for the exposure of Huawei logo in car design, stressing that Huawei / HUAWEI should not be used in vehicle promotion and appearance. Subsequently, Yu Chengdong, BU CEO of Huawei's smart car solution, personally ordered the store to remove all promotional materials with the words "Huawei".

In fact, in the past few years, despite Huawei's repeated statements that it does not build cars, the industry's speculation that "Huawei wants to build cars" has never stopped. AITO, a car jointly built by Huawei and Cyrus, changed the well-known "AITO question" slogan to a new "HUAWEI question" in the posters posted on the official Weibo and Wechat platforms on March 8, which was interpreted by the industry as a sign of Huawei's further dominance in the development of AITO cars, but the news was soon denied by Huawei and Selis.

With regard to the ownership of the AITO brand trademark, AITO and its LOGO trademark belong to Chongqing Kang Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., which is owned by Cyrus. According to information from the Trademark Office of the State intellectual property Office, the AITO trademark still belongs to Cyrus, but the trademark belongs to Huawei.

On June 6, the application of Beijing Yongan Shida Science and Trade Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Yongan Shida") to transfer and transfer the "ask the boundary" trademark (category 12) to Huawei Technology Co., Ltd. has been approved. Category 12 trademarks mainly cover automobiles and various means of delivery, including cars, trams, motorcycles and their parts and components.

In response to Huawei's acquisition of the "ask the boundary" automotive trademark, Huawei told the media: "Huawei does not build cars alone, but with car companies to build good cars" has not changed. At the recent opening ceremony of Huawei's 100th production car, Yu Chengdong, Huawei's smart car solution, also reiterated: "Huawei does not build cars alone, but works with car companies to build cars, build good cars, and build the best cars."

Mr Cyrus's partnership with Huawei began in 2021, when Yu Chengdong was appointed BU CEO of Huawei. In December 2021, Chongqing Xiaokang Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (now renamed "Cyrus Group Co., Ltd.", hereinafter referred to as "Cyrus") jointly launched the AITO automobile brand with Huawei, in which Cyrus is responsible for R & D, production and delivery, while Huawei is responsible for brand sales channel promotion. In addition, AITO is also the first attempt at Huawei's smart car selection model, which is the closest partnership between Huawei and carmakers and is considered to be the most "flamboyant" model.

In the same month, the first AITO model, the M5, was launched, with an AITO graphic logo hanging on the front and rear, and the right side of the rear affixed with the word "ask the M5". Since then, "asking the boundary" has become the naming method for the product series of the AITO brand.

So far, AITO has a total of M5, M5 EV and M7 models. According to the plan, in the fourth quarter of this year, AITO will also launch the new M9 model, with an estimated price range of 50-600000 yuan. The M9 will become the most expensive car in the MJ series after its launch. Yu Chengdong revealed that he is confident that the M9 will become the most luxurious, high-end and intelligent car on the market.

In response to the ban on the slogan "Huawei asks the boundary", Xu Zhijun, Huawei's rotating chairman, has stressed: "some departments and partners are abusing the Huawei brand, and Huawei has been in the process of investigating and dealing with it. We will not let the Huawei brand be abused. Huawei does not build cars, nor does it have any brand of cars. In the latest document released by Mr. Ren, Huawei explicitly demanded that the Huawei brand be prohibited from appearing in front of or as a car brand. We will clean up and rectify the existing materials in all flagship stores and sales stores so that they can return to our strategic positioning. "

Auto Industry concern believes that Ren Zhengfei banned "Huawei / HUAWEI in vehicle promotion and appearance" because Huawei has repeatedly reiterated that it does not build cars, and in a way, it is also to avoid misleading consumers and abusing the brand.

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