| Avatr Technology Co., Ltd. | |
| Native Name: | 阿维塔科技(重庆)有限公司 |
| Type: | State-owned joint venture |
| Predecessor: | Changan-Nio |
| Location City: | Chongqing |
| Location Country: | China |
| Area Served: | China |
| Key People: | President: Chen Zhuo |
| Industry: | Automotive |
| Products: | Automobiles |
| Num Employees: | 1000+ |
| Footnotes: | The company's registered address was Jiangning District Nanjing City Jiangsu Province, and the registered address was moved to Yubei District Chongqing City in January 2021. |
Avatr Technology Co., Ltd. (; pronounced "Avatar") is a Chinese electric automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Chongqing. Avatr Technology is a premium EV brand Changan Automobile joint-ventured with multiple Chinese domestic foundations, technology supported by Huawei and battery provider CATL. The company was founded in 2018.
In 2018, Changan intended to create a new company focused on the development of modern, technologically advanced electric cars in cooperation with Nio. For this purpose, a joint venture company Changan-Nio with a 50:50 share ratio was established in 2018, but two years later, the alliance did not materialize because of the withdrawal of Nio.[1]
After the withdrawal of Nio, the main shareholder Changan engaged the giants of Chinese modern technologies - the battery manufacturer CATL and the technology corporation Huawei,[2] and renamed the Changan-Nio to Avatr Technology in May 2021.
In November 2021, Avatr Technology launched its first round capital increase and share expansion Changan Automobile's ownership diluted from 95.38% to 39.02%. CATL held 23.99%, and the rest is hold by multiple investment foundations. Huawei is not a shareholder, but collaborated closely with Avatr, providing it with a comprehensive technology solution. [3] [4]
In August 2022, Avatr launched the Series A round funding, after introducing three more investors backed by Chinese private companies and local governments, Avatr Technology reached overall financing scale of nearly 5 billion yuan. Changan Automobile's ownership stake has increased from 39.02% to 40.99%, while CATL did not participate in the capital increase, its ownership stake being diluted from 23.99% to 17.10%.[5]
In August 2023, Avatr completed its Series B financing round, achieving a valuation of nearly 20 billion RMB. Changan Automobile, China Southern Industrial Asset Management, and Liangjiang Industrial Fund continued to increase their investments. Additionally, it attracted state-owned capital from Chongqing Industrial Investment Fund, China Everbright Investment, and Guangkai Holdings. Changan Automobile remains the largest shareholder, with its ownership stake unchanged at 40.99%. CATL is the second-largest shareholder, with its ownership stake decreasing from 17.10% to 14.10%, and Chongqin Cheng'an Foundation, a state-owned foundation, is the third-largest shareholder, with its ownership stake decreasing from 13.55% to 11.17%.[6]
In August 2024, Avatr Technology announced that it would invest in Huawei's subsidiary "Yinwang" (Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.), accounting for 10% of the shares, with a price of RMB 11.5 billion, becoming Yinwang's second largest shareholder.[7] Yinwang formerly known as Huawei Intelligent Automotive Solution, the automobile business unit of Huawei. In the second half of 2023, Huawei decided to operate the business unit independently and open equity investment to the public.[8] With Avatr becoming the first company to invest in Yinwang, the previous "HI"(Huawei Inside) model has been further upgraded to a new "HI Plus" model, enabling Huawei to get more deeply involved in Avatr's product definition.[9]
The first Avatr vehicle was the large, fully electric SUV E11, which stands out from competing designs with a long range on one charge of approximately .[10]
The start of production of the first model for the domestic Chinese market was scheduled for the second quarter of 2022, with deliveries of the first units scheduled for the end of the same year.[11] Finally, the production model called Avatr 11, with the letter "E" finally removed from its name, officially debuted in August 2022.[12] Sales of the luxury electric car began in November 2022, a year after the official launch of the new company, positioning it as a premium product with a price tag of $51,800.[13] [14] At the same time, Avatr Technology expressed its willingness to expand its model offer by 4 new cars by 2025. The first model that is part of the expansion of the Avatr brand's is the executive car, dubbed the 12, which was officially presented in July 2023.[15]
Avatr brings together the strengths of Changan Automobile, Huawei, and CATL to create the "CHN" cooperation model.The smart electric vehicle technology platform CHN adopts a six-layer architecture distribution: mechanical layer, energy layer, electronic and electrical architecture layer, vehicle operating system layer, vehicle function application layer and cloud big data layer.Products born on the platform have the capabilities of high integration, high scalability, high performance, high endurance, high security, strong computing, high intelligence, and evolvability.The platform supports the development of up to 3100mm long wheelbase models, can be extended to various models such as sedans, SUVs, MPVs, crossovers, etc., and is compatible with rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive transmission forms.[16]
| 2022 | 757 | |
| 2023 | 27,700 |