(Yicai Global) July 5 -- Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies and its electric vehicle-making partner Sokon Automobile have launched their second Aito-branded EV model to take on Li Auto’s Li One.

Aito M7, a six-seat sport utility vehicle priced from CNY319,800 (USD47,800), was launched at Huawei’s summer release event yesterday. Over 10,000 orders were placed in the first two hours of sales after 6 p.m. yesterday, a sales staffer at an Aito store in Shanghai told Yicai Global.

This is after the successful launch of the first Aito model M5. Sales of M5 started in March and reached a monthly high of 7,021 cars in June, bringing the total sales volume to 18,317 units, according to data Aito released on July 1. The pair had earlier released another model under the Seres brand, the SF5, but sales were poor.

The Aito model, aka “Adding intelligence to Auto” is the working result of Huawei and Sokon Auto’s new energy vehicle arm Seres, with Sokon in charge of production and Huawei providing technology and services related to autonomous driving and the Internet of Vehicles.

The Aito M7 aims to rival Li Auto’s Li One, which has sold 184,000 units since it hit the market three years ago. The sales staff at the Aito store told Yicai Global that he believes the Aito M7 is better than the Li One by specifications and comfort level.

However, the product manager of a Li Auto store in Shanghai said to Yicai Global that the Aito M7 does not concern the company, as the Li One has been tested by the market over various aspects.

Huawei and Sokon Auto also aim to increase the annual production of vehicles under the Aito brand to 300,000 units. The two existing plants already have such production capacity, Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's smart vehicle business unit, said at the release event.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione