The Harmony Mobility Intelligent Alliance (HIMA), which has long held a stable position in the mid- to high-end market, has begun introducing multiple power battery suppliers across its brand portfolio.

The move comes as market competition has intensified since the start of this year, while supply chain costs, most notably memory chips, have continued to rise. For automakers, reducing supply chain costs and making product pricing more competitive has become increasingly urgent.

“Except for Maextro, which does not have enough scale in the short term to support a second supplier, the other brands may all bring in diversified battery suppliers,” one source familiar with the matter said.

According to 36Kr, Aito, which has long relied solely on Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), will introduce two second-tier battery suppliers: China Aviation Lithium Battery (CALB) and Gotion High-tech. The Aito M6 has already selected Gotion High-tech’s 81-kilowatt-hour battery pack. One source familiar with the matter said Gotion received HIMA’s nomination letter last year, while CALB will also enter Aito’s supply system.

Back in August 2022, Seres signed a five-year partnership with CATL, with both sides announcing that Aito models would be fully equipped with CATL power batteries. In June last year, CATL’s production line inside Aito’s facility began operations. It was CATL’s first “factory-in-factory” project and its first battery production line in Chongqing, showing how close the CATL-Aito partnership had become.

36Kr has also learned that Luxeed’s power batteries, originally supplied by CATL and CALB, will soon add Gotion and Sunwoda.

According to people close to Sunwoda and Gotion High-tech, the Luxeed V9 and Luxeed R7 may use Sunwoda’s 53-kWh ternary battery pack, while the Luxeed RX and Luxeed R7 are preliminarily planned to carry Gotion’s 81-kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack.

In addition, Gotion’s 81-kWh LFP battery pack may also be used in SAIC models. Previously, SAIC’s only battery suppliers were CATL and CALB. A person at Gotion said HIMA is auditing Gotion’s facilities ahead of mass production plans, and that Huawei has also sent personnel to observe Gotion’s battery cell production line.

At the recent Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Auto Show, both CALB and Gotion displayed labels at their booths promoting “giant whale” batteries. Huawei has been promoting the “giant whale” battery concept externally. The term refers to Huawei’s standard battery system and, externally, Huawei’s battery brand. Battery makers must pass the corresponding audit standards before they can enter HIMA’s supply chain.

However, a source close to HIMA stressed that before the models appear in Ministry of Industry and Information Technology filings, all of these plans remain subject to change. CATL is also actively seeking a larger procurement share.

A battery industry business representative told 36Kr that, for battery packs with the same capacity, Sunwoda’s quote to HIMA is “about 10% lower than CATL’s.”

This year, rising prices for memory chips and lithium carbonate have created significant cost pressure across the automotive sector.

For HIMA, achieving its 2026 delivery target of one million vehicles will require supply chain cost reductions that give complete vehicles more pricing room. This is especially true in the low- and mid-end market, where models such as the Aito M6 and SAIC Z7 need to capture more share.

36Kr has learned that one reason the Aito M6 selected second-tier battery suppliers is that the company is not satisfied with current order volume for the model and hopes to make it more competitive through cost reductions and price adjustments.

Supply chain cost pressure

For a long time, Huawei has worked to strengthen public awareness of the “giant whale” battery. One source told 36Kr that the concept sets standards higher than the industry norm. For example, in the high-temperature thermal runaway test, Huawei reportedly requires that when the battery pack, complete vehicle, and surrounding environment are all very hot, and the battery level is around 100%, the battery pack must not explode after thermal runaway.

At the China Automotive Chongqing Forum, held earlier this month, Seres chairman Zhang Xinghai shared that the average cost of an Aito vehicle had increased by RMB 15,000–20,000, (USD 2,210.1–2,946.9) creating significant pressure.

Those remarks reflect the broader reality that automakers are facing sharply rising supply chain costs this year.

Even high-end brands with some room for premium pricing are being squeezed by memory chips that are said to have risen to nearly RMB 100 (USD 14.7) per unit, as well as lithium carbonate prices that have increased from RMB 80,000 (USD 11,787.4) per ton a year earlier to RMB 180,000 (USD 26,521.7) per ton this year, 36Kr was told. In May, Nio founder William Li said in a media interview that such increases had compressed profit margins even for brands focused on the high end and premium pricing, raising operating pressure.

To some extent, this has pushed HIMA to bring in secondary power battery suppliers more broadly.

Whenever automakers seek cost reductions, the first component they usually target is the power battery, which accounts for about 30% of a vehicle’s cost. But when facing a relatively forceful industry leader, automakers often find it difficult to gain bargaining power. Introducing secondary suppliers such as CALB and Gotion High-tech is therefore a more direct way to lower power battery costs.

Sunwoda’s battery pack quote is “about 10% lower than CATL’s.” An industry source told 36Kr that, taking a 53-kWh ternary battery as an example, a 10% price gap may correspond to a cost difference of nearly RMB 2,000 (USD 294.7). At a time when supply chain costs have already been squeezed hard, that represents a meaningful reduction.

Second-tier power battery makers such as Sunwoda and Gotion are also often more cooperative with automakers.

People at Gotion and Sunwoda told 36Kr that introducing secondary battery suppliers does require automakers to pay a certain price. For example, they may need to build more prototype vehicles, assign additional personnel to handle calibration and matching, and complete vehicle and battery filings. But in order to enter HIMA’s supply chain, Gotion and Sunwoda are likely able to bear costs such as battery filings themselves.

CATL, of course, will not easily give up HIMA, a major customer. One source said CATL will also evaluate its pricing strategy as it competes with second-tier battery makers for HIMA orders.

Pushing into lower-end markets

Sales considerations may also be pushing HIMA to bring in secondary battery suppliers on a large scale.

At the end of 2025, Huawei executive director Richard Yu said during CCTV’s annual livestream that HIMA would launch more than ten new vehicles in 2026 and target annual deliveries of one million to 1.3 million units. Its five brands would cover price bands from RMB 150,000 (USD 22,101.4) to RMB 1.5 million (USD 221,014), using new products to drive incremental growth.

At present, new models such as the SAIC Z7, Luxeed V9, and Aito M6 have been released one after another. But the increase in models on sale has not yet translated into a major rise in HIMA sales. In May, HIMA’s sales grew nearly 3.8% year-on-year, slower than emerging EV brands such as Leapmotor and Xpeng.

Official HIMA information referenced by 36Kr indicates that its cumulative deliveries from January to May this year did not exceed 200,000 units, with more than 130,000 contributed by the Aito brand. Compared with the target of delivering one million vehicles in a year, HIMA faces a sizable shortfall and has still not shaken off its reliance on Aito as a single brand.

The high-end market remains HIMA’s comfort zone, but the price bands occupied by models such as the Aito M9 and Maextro S800 ultimately have limited market capacity. Moreover, the new Aito M9 is under pressure from competing models including the Zeekr 9X, Li L9, and Nio ES9.

As fierce rivals emerge in the high-end market, Xpeng, Xiaomi, and other brands are also lowering prices and adding features in the broader mid-to-low-end market, pressuring models such as the SAIC Z7, Aito M6, and Luxeed R7.

In January this year, the Xpeng P7+ launched with its starting price lowered by more than RMB 30,000 (USD 4,420.3) to RMB 186,800 (USD 27,523.6). Xiaomi added a standard version of the Xiaomi YU7, bringing its starting price down to RMB 233,500 (USD 34,404.5) while still equipping it with a full suite of LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and advanced driver assistance features.

Value for money is one of the selling points most valued by low- and mid-end consumers. But constrained by the high costs of Huawei’s intelligent solutions and CATL power batteries, HIMA’s previous models targeting this price segment, including the SAIC H5, Luxeed S7, and Luxeed R7, did not achieve ideal market performance.

Now, under sales pressure, HIMA is trying to accelerate its penetration of this market through supply chain cost reductions.

An industry source close to Aito told 36Kr that all five HIMA brands have their own cost reduction methods. Aito has in fact been learning cost reduction from other HIMA brands and has long wanted to introduce secondary battery suppliers. Huawei and Seres had negotiated this many times. As companies gradually realized that the Huawei-CATL solution was too costly, Gotion’s 81-kWh battery pack is set to be installed on the Aito M6 this year.

At HIMA’s spring product launch in April, the Aito M6 had a starting price of RMB 259,800 (USD 38,279.6). After the introduction of secondary battery suppliers, the Aito M6 added two battery electric versions, Max and Max+. Both use 81-kWh battery packs and are priced lower than the original model, at RMB 229,800 (USD 33,859.3) and RMB 249,800, (USD 36,806.2) respectively.

This means the Aito M6’s starting price is several thousand RMB lower than the Xiaomi YU7 and about RMB 20,000 (USD 2,946.9) lower than the Li i6. In today’s intensely competitive automotive market, discounts of several thousand or even more than RMB 10,000 (USD 1,473.4) could become an important sales driver.

Luxeed is also experimenting with more cost-effective power battery solutions. A person close to HIMA said Luxeed is evaluating CATL’s mixed ternary and LFP battery system.

According to preliminary estimates, at the same 100-kWh capacity, a mixed-chemistry battery pack costs several thousand RMB less than a ternary battery pack. A RMB 5,000 (USD 736.7) reduction in bill-of-materials cost could translate into a viable cut of more than RMB 10,000 in the complete vehicle’s retail price.

For a long time, HIMA’s path has been to use technology to support brand premiums and quickly occupy the high-end market. But as its partner brand lineup expands and its market coverage broadens, it may also need tighter control over supply chain costs to maintain competitiveness.

KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Fan Shuqi for 36Kr.

Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.79 = USD 1 based on estimates as of June 23, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.