(Yicai) June 13 -- GAC Toyota Motor, the carmaking joint venture of China's Guangzhou Automobile Group and Japan's Toyota Motor, said it has teamed up with Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi on its new electric sedan, making it the first such JV to be allied with both tech giants at the same time.

GAC Toyota has integrated into Xiaomi's "Human x Car x Home" smart ecosystem, with its bZ7 sedan to be the first to feature the interface, the company announced yesterday. Vehicles will integrate with more Xiaomi devices, including smart speakers, tablets, and phone holders, it added.

The bZ7, the third pure electric vehicle under GAC Toyota's "Beyond Zero" brand, debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show in April and is expected to launch in the first quarter of next year.

Regarding Huawei, GAC Toyota's new autos will fully adopt the Shenzhen-based firm's HarmonyOS 5.0 smart cockpit solution and use its DriveONE integrated drive system. The bZ7 will also be the first model to feature these technologies under the tie-up.

However, GAC Toyota has not adopted Huawei's intelligent assistance driving technology. Instead, it will continue to use the system by Chinese self-driving tech startup Momenta.

To achieve its goal of 80 percent new energy vehicle sales by 2030, GAC Toyota will expand across three powertrain versions: pure electric, plug-in hybrid, and range-extended, it noted. The all-new Highlander and Sienna models will adopt range-extended powertrain systems, with development led by Chinese engineers.

In addition, GAC Toyota will transfer development decision-making authority to the Chinese side to achieve greater localization in production, implementing its regional chief engineer system for China, it said. Local engineers will lead, define, and develop cars targeting the Chinese market, it added.

Japanese JV brands have been advancing in the Chinese EV market, with GAC Toyota, GAC Honda Automobile, Dongfeng Honda Automobile, Dongfeng Nissan, and others launching new pure electric models in the first half of this year. In addition, GAC Toyota lowered the starting prices of its bZ3X to about CNY100,000 (USD13,940), landing nearly 30,000 orders.

GAC Toyota invested CNY6.3 billion (USD878.2 million) to build a dedicated fifth production line for NEVs, with an annual capacity of 200,000 units. GAC Honda and Dongfeng Honda also began operating such dedicated factories.

Editor: Martin Kadiev