Introduction | Lead

With CATL acquiring a stake, ByteDance extending its support, and a brand upgrade in the works, these strategic moves not only shape Saido's future but also reflect Seres' new strategic direction. Will Saido be able to harness the resource strengths of Seres, CATL, and ByteDance to break through in the competitive 100,000-200,000 yuan new energy vehicle market?

This article is produced by Heyan Yueche Studio

Written by Zhang Dachuan

Edited by He Zi

Full text: 3,028 characters

Reading time: 5 minutes

On the evening of June 9, Saido Technology unveiled its new brand, AIVA, and announced a collaboration with Volcano Engine to co-define, design, and create an AI-driven automotive experience. At the launch event, the AIVA Origin Concept car made its debut. The brand's first mass-produced model, the AIVA ME7, is set to be unveiled in 2026.

△ The Landian brand will relaunch as AIVA

Saido, previously known as the Landian brand under Seres, has recently undergone significant changes. Landian Technology has been renamed "Chongqing Saido Technology Co., Ltd.," and Volcano Engine, a ByteDance subsidiary, will collaborate deeply with Saido Automobile. Additionally, Landian secured a substantial capital increase of approximately 6.67 billion yuan, with CATL's Wending Investment taking a significant stake. Compared to the highly popular Aito brand in recent years, Landian has enjoyed relatively limited brand recognition. Its current lineup includes the Landian E5 PLUS, Landian E5, and Landian E3, priced between 99,800 and 168,800 yuan, targeting the large-space family SUV market. With the brand rename, capital infusion, and new industry partnerships, Landian is relaunching as "Saido."

△ Compared to the highly popular Aito, the Landian brand has relatively limited recognition

Recently, rumors have circulated about Doubao or ByteDance collaborating with Seres to build cars. ByteDance has clarified that these claims are inaccurate, stating that Saido is not a car brand launched by ByteDance or Doubao, and there is no equity cooperation between ByteDance and Saido. However, it was mentioned that Doubao and Volcano Engine's cooperation with automotive industry partners primarily involves providing technical services, such as the Doubao large model and smart cockpit solutions, to enhance in-car intelligent interaction experiences.

△ ByteDance denies plans to build cars

In this collaboration, CATL, Seres, and ByteDance each have their own strategic plans, all aiming to maximize mutual benefits.

CATL's Industrial Chain Control Logic

As of May 2026, CATL has taken stakes in multiple automakers through its investment platforms, including Avatr, Zeekr, Chery, Landian Technology (a Seres subsidiary), Qijing Automobile, IM Motors, Arcfox, Neta Automobile, and Aiways. It has also indirectly invested in the intelligent heavy-duty truck company Zero One Motors. In contrast, its early investment in Byton has exited the market.

△ CATL has taken stakes in multiple domestic automakers

By forming capital ties with automakers, CATL not only secures battery orders but also stands to benefit from the appreciation of equity value after related automakers go public. However, in the increasingly competitive domestic auto market, where industry consolidation is accelerating, investing in automakers is not a guaranteed profit. In fact, the investment prospects for projects like Neta, Byton, and Aiways are already looking bleak, with related investments likely failing to deliver expected returns or even resulting in total losses.

From an industrial perspective, as more automakers advance battery self-research, multi-supplier system construction, and the price war in the new energy vehicle industry deepens, relying solely on technological leadership and production capacity advantages is no longer sufficient to ensure CATL's sustained market share. Against this backdrop, the significance of equity investments extends beyond securing orders; it is about early involvement in the vehicle development process. Through capital cooperation, CATL can deeply participate in product planning from the early stages of model development, gaining greater influence in key areas such as battery selection, cost structure design, and vehicle platform development. This allows CATL to lock in demand during the product definition phase rather than engaging in mere price competition with competitors during the later procurement phase. This role upgrade from a "supplier" to an "industrial partner" is becoming a crucial means for CATL to maintain its industry-leading position.

△ CATL's transition from "supplier" to "industrial partner"

Of course, this strategy also carries certain risks. When CATL forms deep capital ties with some automakers, its market neutrality may be compromised. Some automakers that have not received investments may actively reduce their reliance on CATL, thereby weakening the market advantage CATL once built through its neutral stance.

△ Entering the vehicle industrial chain through equity investments also creates favorable conditions for CATL to promote its battery swapping model and skateboard chassis technology

In addition to its core battery business, CATL's recent focus on battery swapping and skateboard chassis technologies is also highly synergistic with automakers. Both the construction of battery swapping networks and the promotion of skateboard chassis platforms inherently rely heavily on scale effects and automaker support. Therefore, entering the vehicle industrial chain through equity investments also creates favorable conditions for CATL to promote its battery swapping model and skateboard chassis technology. From this perspective, CATL's investments in automakers are not just about competing for battery orders but also about strategic positioning for the future energy supply system and automotive underlying architecture standards.

How Will ByteDance Collaborate with Saido?

In addition to CATL's equity investment, the renaming of Landian Technology to Saido Technology is also noteworthy.

The renamed Saido Technology will engage in deep cooperation with ByteDance. For Saido Automobile, this may signify a true transformation and upgrade. As one of the most influential tech companies in China, ByteDance's Volcano Engine is expected to support Saido in areas such as large-model cockpits, intelligent interaction, AI applications, and user operations, helping it create differentiated intelligent experiences. More importantly, this collaboration will also help Saido establish a clear brand distinction from Aito. While Aito relies on Huawei's ecosystem, Saido aims to leverage ByteDance's AI capabilities to build its unique characteristics, thereby reducing user overlap and internal competition between the two brands and achieving differentiated development. However, with many domestic models already incorporating Volcano Engine and the Doubao large model, what unique features Saido Technology can offer remains to be seen.

△ The renamed Saido Technology will engage in deep cooperation with ByteDance

As competition in the new energy vehicle market enters the "second half," the importance of user experience, software capabilities, and ecosystem services is rapidly increasing. For Seres, rather than investing significant resources to catch up with tech giants in areas like smart cockpits and AI ecosystems, leveraging the strengths of external partners to quickly address shortcomings makes more sense. Whether it's Aito partnering with Huawei or Saido teaming up with ByteDance, the essence is to enhance product competitiveness through the capabilities of tech companies. In the future, competition in the automotive industry may no longer be just about hardware and manufacturing capabilities but also about AI capabilities and ecological integration.

△ Collaborating with high-tech companies is the only way for brands like Saido to survive

Seres' Strategic Restructuring After Focusing on Aito

This series of adjustments by Landian Technology essentially marks its transformation from a brand under Seres to an independent brand, "Saido."

Compared to Aito, which has received deep empowerment from Huawei and seen its brand influence continue to rise, Landian Automobile lags significantly behind in terms of market recognition and brand momentum. Given limited resources, pursuing differentiated development for the two brands clearly aligns more with Seres' current strategic interests. From Seres' perspective, Aito has long been the group's core growth engine. In 2025, Aito accounted for over 82% of the group's total sales volume and contributed more than 93% of its revenue. Meanwhile, with an average selling price of 391,000 yuan and a gross margin of 28.8%, Aito has also become the absolute pillar of Seres' performance growth and profit release. Therefore, for Seres, Aito's development remains the top priority in resource allocation.

△ Seres needs to concentrate its resources on the Aito brand

After Landian Automobile operates independently, Seres' direct investment and resource allocation to it will significantly decrease, allowing more funds, technology, and management resources to be directed toward the Aito brand, further strengthening its competitive edge in the high-end new energy market.

However, independence does not mean a complete severance. Although Seres' stake in Saido has dropped to 32.96%, making it no longer the controlling shareholder, the two sides will maintain close ties in terms of industrial chain, technical systems, and resource synergy. The technological capabilities, sales channels, and global layout experience accumulated by Aito can still provide crucial support for Saido's development. Meanwhile, as Saido's cooperation with ByteDance deepens, its smart cockpit ecosystem and user experience are expected to form differentiated competitive advantages distinct from Aito. In the future, Saido will continue to focus on the mainstream new energy vehicle market priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan, forming a high-low product matrix with Aito to carve out its own market space.

△ Saido focuses on the new energy vehicle market priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan

Furthermore, if Saido can establish itself in the niche market and achieve sustained growth in the future, Seres will not only share in its development dividends through contract manufacturing and technology R&D services but also gain investment income and dividend returns through its equity stake. More importantly, once Saido meets the conditions for an independent IPO, the value of Seres' equity stake is also expected to rise.

Overall, Landian's upgrade to Saido and its move toward independence is not merely a brand rename but a strategic restructuring by Seres in terms of resource focus, brand tiering, and capital operations. For Seres, this is a "subtraction"-focused concentration; for Saido, it is a fresh start.

Commentary

From Landian to Saido, this is not just a brand rename but also an important step in Seres' strategy of resource focus and brand tiering. Aito continues to target the high-end market, while Saido takes on the task of exploring the mass market. Meanwhile, CATL's capital support and ByteDance's technical empowerment also provide more room for imagination regarding Saido's future development.

(This article is original to Heyan Yueche and may not be reproduced without authorization.)