AITO M8 refresh starts at 379,800 CNY, 10,000 below pre-sale

AITO, the brand Huawei and Seres (SHA: 601127, HKG: 9927) build together under the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), launched the refreshed M8 large SUV on November 13, 2026, with 10 versions priced from 379,800 CNY to 469,800 CNY (c. $56,558 to $69,961), in extended-range and battery-electric form with five or six seats. The cheapest version now sits 10,000 CNY (c. $1,489) below the 389,800 CNY pre-sale starting price set on September 30.

Huawei's Yu Chengdong opened the event at Seres' Chongqing factory, his first appearance at an AITO launch since the partners rewrote their arrangement. He said Huawei will lead core technology, product definition, product design and quality processes, while Seres leads manufacturing, engineering, marketing, sales, service and upgrades. That is a shift from September 15, when the two said Seres would lead product definition and design, with Huawei in a supporting role. Seres chairman Zhang Xinghai told the audience that a stronger HIMA makes AITO stronger, and the product itself was presented by Huawei consumer business CEO He Gang.

AITO said it spent 1.5 billion CNY (c. $223 million) on 126 upgrades, drawn from more than 1,000 suggestions by existing owners. The body is unchanged at 5,190 mm long on a 3,105 mm wheelbase, with a 0.254 drag coefficient. The visible changes are a mesh front grille, two new paint colors and two new cabin color schemes, plus a C-pillar camera that fills a side blind spot. Four of the seven paints, including the new ones, cost an extra 8,000 CNY (c. $1,191).

The new M8 adds two paint colors, an olive green and a pale teal, both 8,000 CNY options; official promotional image (AITO)

Extended-range (EREV) versions come in all three trims. The five-seat EREV costs 379,800 CNY for the Max, 399,800 CNY for the Max+ and 449,800 CNY for the Ultra (c. $56,558, $59,537 and $66,982), while the six-seat EREV runs 389,800 CNY, 419,800 CNY and 469,800 CNY (c. $58,047, $62,515 and $69,961). Battery-electric (BEV) buyers get only Max+ and Ultra, at 399,800 CNY and 449,800 CNY for five seats or 419,800 CNY and 469,800 CNY for six.

One report listed the three trims during pre-sales at 389,800 CNY, 409,800 CNY and 459,800 CNY (c. $58,047, $61,026 and $68,472). On that report, each trim's entry price has now come down by exactly 10,000 CNY, although the six-seat Ultra at 469,800 CNY tops the old pre-sale ceiling by the same amount. AITO is adding launch offers worth up to 35,000 CNY (c. $5,212), and existing owners of HIMA cars, AITO included, who add or trade in get a further 20,000 CNY (c. $2,978) off. Buyers also get a 21,000 CNY subsidy (c. $3,127) toward Huawei's advanced driver-assistance software package, which lists at 36,000 CNY (c. $5,361).

Every version now runs on an 800V architecture. All-wheel-drive EREVs pair a 1.5-litre turbo range extender rated at 118 kW with 170 kW front and 227 kW rear motors, while the EREV Max is rear-drive with one motor. A 56 kWh battery is standard, with a 75.4 kWh pack as the alternative, and on all-wheel-drive Max+ and Ultra models AITO rates that larger pack at 432 km (268 miles) of CLTC electric range and 1,435 km (892 miles) combined. BEVs use a 100 kWh or 120 kWh battery, and the rear-drive five-seat Max+ with the bigger pack reaches 830 km (516 miles) on the CLTC cycle.

Inside, the front row gets a 17.2-inch center screen and a matching 17.2-inch passenger screen, and the rear row gets a 21-inch 4K ceiling screen. Six-seat cars can carry three zero-gravity seats, and the cooler box now chills to minus 18 C. Huawei supplies a 25-speaker, 2,080 W sound system, and AITO lists 160 separate noise-insulation changes, including 10 double-glazed windows. The BEV's front trunk grows from 149 liters to 210 liters.

Six-seat layout with second-row captain chairs in one of the two new two-tone cabin schemes; official promotional image (AITO)

Underneath, the M8 gets a dual-chamber closed air suspension, dual-valve continuously variable dampers and new plus or minus 8 degree active rear-wheel steering, which is standard on the Ultra and a 20,000 CNY (c. $2,978) option elsewhere. The launch presentation quoted a 4.98 m turning radius with the system fitted. Huawei's Qiankun ADS 5 driver assistance is standard, using 38 sensors including four lidars, on an architecture AITO says is designed for future Level 3 driving, with eight layers of redundancy across the full control chain. The headline lidar is an 896-line unit.

The outgoing M8, launched in April 2025, passed 190,000 deliveries in 19 months. Demand had faded well before the refresh: retail sales fell to 720 in October from 1,216 in September, a 40.8% drop in the first full month after pre-sales for the new car opened. Across the brand, a Seres filing put October sales of its AITO vehicles at 22,105, down 54.69% from a year earlier, while HIMA's five brands together delivered 33,537 cars, down 50.84%.

To shorten the wait, AITO issued a quick-delivery notice on November 3 covering nine pre-built configurations, mostly Ultra and Max+. Buyers who lock one of those cars can collect it within a week, while other orders are built in booking order. Pre-sale customers could also put down a 5,000 CNY deposit worth 10,000 CNY (c. $745 and $1,489) off the final bill. AITO said it aims to deliver every pre-order converted to a firm order within 2026.

The M8 is also one of four AITO models the brand showed at the Paris Motor Show in October, when it confirmed plans to enter Europe in autumn 2027, targeting EU whole-vehicle type approval and a Euro NCAP five-star rating. At home, AITO says it already has more than 1.2 million users. Whether the refreshed M8 can climb back from 720 retail sales a month before that European debut is the first real test of the new Huawei and Seres split.

Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7152 CNY as of November 13, 2026.