Shanghai (ZXZC)- The premium EV brand jointly built by Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. (Changan Automobile), Huawei, and CATL will be launched this month, according to a local media outlet. The brand, coded-named AB Auto, will reportedly go public as a standalone entity.

The soon-to-be-unveiled AB Auto and Changan New Energy are two independently operated companies with different brands and product segments, according to the local report, citing Tan Benhong, executive vice president of Changan Automobile.

He added Changan New Energy is responsible for new energy vehicle (NEV) business of Changan brand, while AB Auto targets a high-end smart EV brand leveraging resources of Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL.

Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said on Nov. 14, 2020 the automaker would join hands with Huawei and CATL to launch an all-new upmarket car brand, which will encompass a world-leading, independent and controllable intelligent electric vehicle (EV) platform, a series of smart car-related products, and a smart lifestyle and energy ecosystem integrating human, car and home.

Moreover, the three parties will jointly develop a smart EV platform dubbed “CHN”, the combination of the first letters of their company names.

AB Auto will roll out 5 NEV models, the first of which may be a premium all-electric SUV that uses Huawei’s cockpit data center (CDC) and autonomous driving domain controller (ADC), and some components of batteries, electric motor and electric control unit.

At the Auto Shanghai 2021, Zhu Huarong informed that Changan Automobile would build three platforms named EPA0, EPA1, and EPA2 based on the Ark architecture and CHN architecture. Over the next five years, the company plans to roll out 26 all-new smart EV models, and the first two will be unveiled this year.