China’s NEV War: Huawei’s 81,864 Delivery Ecosystem VS. The Stellantis-Backed Leapmotor

The Great Decoupling: China’s Domestic EV Power Reaches Escape Velocity

As an Auto Market Insight Analyst based in China, the November sales figures are not just monthly statistics; they are a direct report on the accelerating decoupling of the domestic Chinese market from global legacy OEMs. The intense competition is no longer a ‘race to scale,’ but a ‘battle for the value chain,’ where technology ecosystems and ‘asset-light’ global expansion models are rewriting the rulebook. For Western executives, these numbers represent a clear and present danger.

Two key narratives dominate the November ‘report card’: the shocking, ecosystem-level volume delivered by tech giant Huawei’s automotive alliance, and the continued, aggressive global expansion of a challenger backed by a major European/US auto conglomerate.

The Tech-Giant Threat: Huawei’s 81,864 Unit Ecosystem Dominance

The most important headline for a Western audience is the emergence of a technology conglomerate, not a traditional automaker, as a new sales behemoth. The **Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA)**, the automotive ecosystem led by Huawei, delivered a total of **81,864 new energy vehicles (NEVs)** in November, setting a new historical high for the platform.

This figure is crucial because it measures the performance of a tech-first *platform*, not a single brand, and signifies a major shift in the Chinese auto industry’s power structure. Huawei is effectively positioning itself as the ‘Android’ of the car industry, providing core technology—from the HarmonyOS cockpit to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADS)—to multiple traditional partners (Seres, Chery, BAIC).

Volume Drivers and the Production Ramp-Up

• AITO’s Performance: The primary volume driver remains the AITO brand (a partnership with Seres Group), which alone delivered **18,827 vehicles** in November, representing a 127.93% year-on-year increase.
• The M7 Engine: The revised AITO M7 crossover is the star, securing over 100,000 firm orders in less than three months and contributing over 81% of AITO’s November deliveries.
• New Brands Emerge: New entrants under the HIMA umbrella are also beginning to register volume, with Luxeed (in partnership with Chery) delivering 11,761 units, and Stelato (with BAIC) delivering 6,708 units, demonstrating the initial success of Huawei’s multi-partner strategy.

The Trojan Horse Model: Leapmotor’s Stellantis-Backed 70K Surge

In the high-stakes world of the Chinese NEV startup market, Leapmotor’s November performance underscores a successful blend of domestic scale and a groundbreaking international strategy. Leapmotor delivered a record-breaking **70,327 vehicles** in November, a 75% increase year-on-year, and has achieved its revised 2025 annual target of 500,000 units ahead of schedule. This scale and velocity are impressive, but the real story for the Western market lies in its structure.

Leapmotor is the quintessential “China Speed” threat to global OEMs, but with a critical twist: it is being accelerated by one of them.

• The Stellantis Advantage: Following the landmark deal in October 2023, where Stellantis acquired a 21% stake and formed the 51/49 Leapmotor International Joint Venture (JV), Leapmotor is now positioned to leverage Stellantis’ existing global network.
• Immediate Global Footprint: In November, Leapmotor officially accelerated its international push by entering the South American market, announcing plans for 36 sales outlets in Brazil and 5 in Chile by 2025. This signals the rapid execution of the JV’s mandate to sell Leapmotor products globally, starting in Europe by September 2024.
• Technology-as-a-Service: Leapmotor’s success is tied to its ‘technology-first’ approach, with 65% of vehicle cost self-developed, including core electric and intelligent systems. This high degree of vertical integration allows them to offer ‘technology-as-a-service,’ a model that dramatically reduces time-to-market and cost for global partners.

For US and European automakers, Leapmotor is rapidly evolving from a niche Chinese startup to a globally distributed, Stellantis-backed challenger, effectively using a foreign partner’s capital and channels to attack markets worldwide. This ‘asset-light’ expansion strategy is what demands attention.

Conclusion: The Looming Global Platform Conflict

The November sales report confirms that China’s NEV industry is fundamentally shifting from domestic rivalry to global platform dominance. The challenge is no longer about competing with Li Auto or Nio; it’s about defending against a highly organized ecosystem (Huawei/HIMA) that can deliver high-tech vehicles at staggering volume, and simultaneously combating a highly integrated, Stellantis-backed competitor (Leapmotor) that is now using established Western distribution channels to globalize at speed. The time for Western automakers to recognize this new, technologically-driven competitive landscape is over—the market is already here. Read more about China’s NEV market insights at CNEVPost.

Recommended Reading

Book Recommendation: AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee. This book provides essential context for understanding how the core technology competition between the US and China, particularly in AI (which powers the new NEV intelligence systems), will shape the global economic and automotive landscape. The rise of Huawei’s HIMA is a direct manifestation of this technological shift, where software and AI define the product.