On September 17th， Luxeed S9T， the first shooting brake from the Luxeed brand under Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA)， was launched and achieved significant early success， with over 5，000 pre-orders within the first hour.
During the launch event， Richard Yu， Huawei Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Consumer Business Group， addressed the strategic decision to produce a shooting brake， a segment that remains niche and has a market share typically hovering around 1% in China.
Yu candidly shared that there was considerable internal opposition to developing a shooting brake， stating， “Many colleagues were against it， saying we should continue focusing on selling large SUVs， but I insisted we had to do it.”
Yu elaborated on his rationale， drawing inspiration from his observations a decade prior while working in Europe. He noted that European employees predominantly drove shooting brakes from premium brands like BMW， Mercedes-Benz， and Audi， a sight that left a lasting impression on him.
The shooting brake design effectively combines the advantages of both sedans and SUVs. It offers the substantial cargo space of an SUV in its rear， while maintaining the sedan’s low-slung profile for convenient ingress and egress. This design also contributes to superior handling， excellent performance， and improved fuel efficiency due to lower energy consumption and reduced aerodynamic drag.
As consumer demand for versatile automotive functionalities grows， shooting brakes are poised to cater to family users for various scenarios like commuting， camping， and travel， thanks to their spacious rear interiors and cargo areas. This presents a “promising blue ocean market” with significant potential.
The electrification and intelligentization advancements have driven industrial upgrades. The Luxeed S9T comes standard with air suspension and CDC (Continuous Damping Control) shock absorbers， allowing for adjustable ride height.
The chassis height can be adjusted from 113mm to 163mm， enabling the shooting brake to offer ground clearance and off-road capabilities comparable to SUVs， thereby addressing a key limitation of traditional shooting brakes.
Furthermore， while Yu did not explicitly state it， the decision to introduce the S9T shooting brake variant after the pure electric and range-extended S9 models suggests the benefits of platform development. This allows for the reuse of numerous technologies， enabling a faster market entry and greater competitive advantage.
