Huawei is expected to have more than 1,000 AITO experience stores and user centers by the end of this year, an executive said.

(Image credit: AITO)

Huawei aims to make AITO a global premium smart electric vehicle brand within three years, an executive at the tech giant said.

Wang Lianjun, Huawei's director of business strategy for its Zhixuan business, mentioned the goal in a speech at a conference held by local media outlet Jiemian today and said he expects Huawei to have more than 1,000 AITO experience stores and user centers by the end of this year.

AITO, a premium new energy vehicle brand launched by Seres and Huawei last December, is currently offering M5 and M7 models, with the former available in an all-electric version as well as a version with extended-range technology and the latter currently available only in a version with extended-range technology.

AITO delivered a record 12,018 vehicles in October, the third consecutive month with more than 10,000 units, according to figures released earlier this month.

That sales performance is not the end of AITO's quest for the future, as Huawei looks to leverage its past strengths in ICT and consumer segments to bring the ultimate product to consumers, Wang said.

While traditional automakers do not have the concept of "beta" in terms of quality control, Huawei conducts user trials before products are launched to get feedback and optimize with suppliers, he said.

The automotive industry in the past has accumulated capabilities in manufacturing and supply chain, but software-defined cars will be the future, and intelligence is the endgame of the automotive industry, Wang said.

Notably, Richard Yu, Huawei's managing director and CEO of the intelligent vehicle solutions business unit, said in an interview with a local automotive blogger in October that AITO already has the capability to sell 20,000 vehicles per month.

Yu said at the time, when asked how many players there would eventually be in the Chinese auto market, that there would be no more than five major players.

For car brands, competition is like aircraft manufacturing, and only a few will win out in the end, Yu said.