Huawei-backed Aito teams up with UAE dealer to kick off exports

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Chinese automaker Seres said on Friday that its electric vehicle brand Aito had signed a deal with Abu Dhabi-based dealer group Performance Plus Motors to enter the Middle East.

Aito, the first and most successful brand under Huawei’s Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, has been looking beyond China’s hyper-competitive market. The UAE tie-up will provide its first export foothold.

Performance Plus Motors, a unit of Abu Dhabi Motors “will be responsible for the sales, delivery, and after-sales service of Aito’s luxury intelligent models in the UAE,” Seres said in a statement. No timeframe was disclosed.

The EV brand’s flagship SUV, the Aito 9, has begun test drives in the UAE and Aito vehicles have already arrived at Dubai port, the company added.

The collaboration is “an important milestone in Aito’s globalization strategy”, said Jason Wang, president of Seres’ overseas business unit. The statement outlined plans for a broader Middle Eastern presence to support expansion into nearby regions.

Aito, previously sold only in China, presented its global lineup at the Munich car show in September.

Chongqing-based Seres began exporting vehicles under its namesake brand in 2023. As of November, 1,615 Seres-branded vehicles had been exported in total, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Aito sales topped 420,000 vehicles in 2025, making it the main contributor to Seres, whose EV sales rose 10.6% to 472,269 vehicles.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Qiaoyi Li and Brenda Goh. Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Potter)