The new M7 was launched on September 12 and contributed 84 percent of Aito's 24,468 deliveries in December.

(Image credit: Aito)

Aito, the new energy vehicle (NEV) brand backed by Chinese tech giant Huawei, is seeing orders for the improved M7 continue to grow, despite deliveries being limited by production capacity.

The new Aito M7 has accumulated more than 130,000 firm orders in the four months since its launch, Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei's smart vehicle solutions business unit, said in a January 20 Weibo post.

Aito is a premium car brand launched by Seres Group with Huawei on December 2, 2021, and has already released models including the Aito M5, Aito M7, and Aito M9.

Both the Aito M5 and Aito M9 are available in extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) versions, while the Aito M7 is available only in EREV version.

The Aito M7 was originally released on July 4, 2022. On September 12, 2023, Huawei rolled out the new M7 at one of its product launch events, bringing the price down significantly.

Aito currently offers four five-seat variants as well as three six-seat variants of the new M7, with a starting price range of RMB 249,800 ($34,700) to RMB 329,800.

Aito announced on November 27 that the new M7 had received more than 100,000 firm orders after 2.5 months on the market.

By the end of December, the new M7 had received more than 120,000 firm orders, Aito said on January 1.

Aito delivered 24,468 vehicles in December, with the new M7 contributing 20,611, or 84 percent, according to figures it announced on January 1.

The brand is continuing to improve its delivery capacity, which is expected to exceed 30,000 units in a single month from 2024, it said in its January 1 announcement of December deliveries.

Notably, as competition in China's NEV market gets fiercer, model refresh cycles are shortening, with a recent report stating that Aito will refresh its M7 SUV again in the second quarter.

Aito is expected to launch a facelifted version of the M7 in the second quarter, which will feature a family design language on the exterior, local media outlet 36kr reported on January 15.

Since the M7 is less than a year from the launch of last year's refresh, the 2024 facelift shouldn't feature too many changes, the report said, citing unnamed analysts.

($1 = RMB 7.1962)

Huawei-backed Aito to refresh M7 SUV in Q2, report says