(Yicai) Feb. 21 -- Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and carmaker JAC Motors will start delivering the first model under their co-developed luxury new energy vehicle brand Maextro in May.

The Maextro S800, which began presales last November, will officially hit the market at the end of May, with a price range of CNY1 million to CNY1.5 million (USD137,820 to USD206,730), Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei's Intelligent Automotive Solution Business Unit, said at a press conference yesterday.

Maextro is expected to release a unique model, combining technological advancement and luxury attributes, according to a research report by Huachuang Securities.

The Huawei-JAC partnership is forecast to sell 6,000 S800 this year and 18,000 ones next year, generating revenues of CNY6 billion and CNY18 billion (USD2.5 billion), respectively. Maextro will likely achieve profitability quickly.

Luxury brands usually have strong profitability, as their net profit margin is around 10 percent, Huachuang Securities noted, adding that if Maextro achieves a certain level of sales and pricing power, it could benefit from advantages in costs, tariffs, and consumption taxes, potentially exceeding Porsche's profits.

Whether Maextro can help improve JAC's financial performance has become a focal point of attention.

JAC expects to have racked up a net loss of around CNY1.8 billion (USD244 million) last year, compared with net profits in the two previous years. On Feb. 11, the Hefei-based automaker said its sales fell 9.4 percent to 35,600 units in January from a year earlier, but NEV sales rose 9 percent to 1,113 units in the period.

JAC's shares [SHA: 600418] closed 6.4 percent down at CNY35.90 (USD4.95) in Shanghai today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione