Sunnyvale, Calif. – March 9, 2023 – Sonatus, a leading automotive software company that is accelerating vehicle innovation, today announced expansion into China. The Shanghai office will be led by Steven Ren, Sr. Director of Business Development, and Mark Wang, Head of Field Application Engineering who bring to Sonatus decades of automotive industry experience and local market expertise. The company’s platforms and products serve as the key building blocks that allow automotive companies and their ecosystems to innovate faster and deliver continuous improvements in costs, capabilities, reliability, and user experience over the vehicle lifespan.
“China is the biggest automotive market in the world and evolving rapidly through strong innovation in electrification and software,” said Jeffrey Chou, co-founder, and CEO, Sonatus. “Our decision to open a new office in Shanghai reflects the uniqueness and importance of the China market and our commitment to becoming a player in the mobility ecosystem there. This marks an important step in our mission to significantly expand Sonatus’s growth by deploying software-defined vehicle technologies with innovative new customers in the leading global markets of the vehicle manufacturing industry.”
Sonatus has initially established a presence in China by opening an office in Shanghai with local sales and development experts, with staff numbers expected to grow. The company is backed by several prominent strategic investors in the automotive industry including China-based SAIC Capital and Wanxiang Group Company. Sonatus is focused on delivering foundational technologies and solution stacks that enable vehicle manufacturers to shift to software-defined vehicles faster and at lower costs. These building blocks allow OEMs to continually improve and enhance their vehicles at any time, even after they are sold. Sonatus offers a range of products and solutions to speed vehicle manufacturers’ journey towards SDV in areas including data collection, vehicle automation, vehicle networking, cybersecurity, and others.
“Our office in Shanghai will give us an important location advantage by allowing us to quickly build on our contacts with automakers and bring highly skilled workers on board over the coming years,” said Steven Ren, Sr. Director of Business Development. “I am honored to join the global team at Sonatus during this inflection point in the automotive industry as we enter a new era where accelerating software innovation can generate new opportunities in the sector.”
Experienced team with deep tech and automotive roots
Steven Ren, Sr. Director of Business Development is based in Shanghai, China. Steven brings over 20 years of experience in automotive sales and marketing management and the mobile Internet industry. His extensive relationships and experience include work with OEM companies of SVW, SGM, SAIC Motor, FAW-VW, VGC, Audi, Porsche, PSA, and Great Wall Motor. Prior to joining Sonatus, Steven had various positions with Tier1 and OEM companies in the China automotive industry including Yanfeng Visteon, NAV2 (JV of Navinfo and Nokia), Virtue Intelligent Network (JV of Deutsche Telecom and China Mobile), Harman Connected Service and Volkswagen Group China. During his last role as Senior Director at Volkswagen, Steven managed business development and a commercial team in charge of the Connected Car business and Ecosystem CP/SP cooperation in the China market. Steven holds an MBA from Fudan University.
Mark Wang, Head of Field Application Engineering, brings a mix of in-vehicle and cloud technologies experience to Sonatus. With nearly 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, Mark will support technical sales efforts in China. Prior to Sonatus, Mark worked for AWS Automotive China as an Automotive Industry Business Development Director where he had the responsibility of growing the AWS Automotive business in China. In this role, Mark worked with OEMs in connected vehicle solutions based on AWS’s IoT, edge computing, cloud–data lake/pipeline, autonomous driving, software-defined vehicle, and Alexa. Prior to AWS, Mark worked for Harmon and was the Head of Automotive Solutions. During his tenure at Harmon, Mark was responsible for technical sales of Harman software products such as cockpit software (Android, QNX, Linux), OTA, Vehicle Ethernet, Cyber security, V2X, ADAS, connected vehicle Cloud platform (Ignite), vehicle data analytics platform and remote diagnostic solution. Mark started as an R&D engineer with Delphi (now Aptiv), Bosch, and Yangfeng Visteon.
“Automakers are transitioning to software-defined vehicles because they need to be able to deploy innovations to market faster, at a lower cost, and with more reliability. With its impressive track record of delivering in-vehicle and cloud software solutions into mass production, Sonatus is well-positioned to help vehicle manufacturers accelerate the adoption of SDVs. We are excited to partner with them to establish their presence in the China market.” said Tina Zhou, Founder, CEO, and Chief Editor of Gasgoo, China’s leading automotive industry information service platform.
About Sonatus
Sonatus is accelerating vehicle software innovation and the transition towards software-defined vehicles. Our platforms and products serve as the key building blocks that allow automotive companies and their ecosystem to innovate faster and deliver continuous improvements in costs, capabilities, reliability, and user experience over the vehicle lifespan. Sonatus’ award-winning software platform is in production vehicles from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis, and will be on the road in millions more vehicles in 2023. The company has raised more than $110 million USD with world-class automotive, technology, and venture investors including Foxconn, Hyundai Motor Group’s Kia Corporation, LG Electronics, Marvell, SAIC Capital, Translink Capital, UMC Capital, and Wanxiang Group Company. Sonatus is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA (Silicon Valley), with offices in Paris, Shanghai, and Seoul. For more information visit www.sonatus.com.
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For more information contact:
Michael Cory
Director of Marketing & Communications
Sonatus
contact@sonatus.com
Original text in Simplified Chinese
Sonatus 在上海设立子公司
凭借其在汽车市场取得的非凡成就，这家总部位于硅谷的软件定义汽车创新
企业宣布进军中国市场
加利福尼亚州森尼韦尔市–2023 年 3 月 9 日– Sonatus 是一家领先的汽车软件公司，致力于加速汽车创新步伐，公司于今日宣布进军中国市场。中国区高级总监任松涛将担任上海子公司负责人，以及现场应用工程主管王石，他们为Sonatus带来了数十年的汽车行业经验和当地市场专业知识。公司的平台和产品是关键的组成部分，它们能够加快汽车公司及其生态系统的创新步伐，并在车辆寿命周期内持续降低成本、完善各项功能、提高可靠性及改善用户体验。
Sonatus 联合创始人兼首席执行官 Jeffrey Chou 表示：“中国是全球最大的汽车市场，而且在大力推进电气化和软件创新的过程中获得了强劲的发展动力。”“我们在上海设立新办事处充分反映了中国市场的独特性和重要性，以及我们致力于成为中国出行生态系统一份子的决心。这标志着我们向公司使命迈出了至关重要的一步，我们将在全球领先的汽车制造业市场寻找新的创新型客户，与他们共同努力部署软件定义汽车技术，从而助力 Sonatus 的业务实现显著增长。”
Sonatus 在上海设立子公司，聘请了当地的销售人员和开发专家，在中国初步形成了业务体系，而且预计员工人数会逐步增加。公司获得了汽车行业数家知名战略投资者的支持，其中包括总部位于中国的上汽投资和万向集团公司。Sonatus 专注于提供基础技术和解决方案堆栈，推动汽车制造商以更低的成本更快地向软件定义汽车转型。有了这些关键模块，即使车辆已经售出，汽车制造商也可以随时对车辆进行持续改进。Sonatus 提供一系列产品和解决方案，以加快汽车制造商在数据收集、车辆自动化、车载网络、网络安全等领域向软件定义汽车转变的进程。
中国区高级总监任松涛表示：“上海子公司将成为我们的一个重要区位优势，确保我们能够迅速与汽车制造商建立联系，并在未来几年吸引高技能人才。”“在这个新的时代，加速软件创新将为汽车行业带来新的机遇，我很荣幸能在汽车行业发展的这个拐点加入 Sonatus 全球团队。”
团队具有丰富的经验和深厚的技术和汽车行业根基
中国区高级总监任松涛常驻中国上海，他在汽车销售和营销管理以及移动互联行业拥有 20 多年的经验。他与上海大众、上海通用、上汽、一汽-大众、大众汽车、奥迪、保时捷、标致雪铁龙和长城汽车等汽车厂商建立了广泛的合作关系，积累了丰富的经验。在加入 Sonatus 之前，任松涛曾在中国汽车行业的多家一级供应商和汽车厂商公司任职，其中包括延锋伟世通、NAV2（四维图新和诺基亚的合资公司）、中移德电（德国电信和中国移动的合资公司）、哈曼智联科技和大众汽车集团（中国）。任松涛在加入 Sonatus 之前的最后一份工作是大众汽车集团的高级总监，主要负责业务开发，并领导着一支负责中国市场车联网业务和生态系统合作的商务团队。在大众汽车集团之前，他在哈曼担任销售总监。同时，任松涛拥有复旦大学工商管理硕士学位。
现场应用工程主管王石拥有车载技术和云技术方面的经验，他深耕汽车行业近 20 年，将为 Sonatus 在中国的销售工作提供技术支持。在加入 Sonatus 之前，王石曾在 亚马逊云（中国）担任汽车行业发展总监，负责亚马逊云在中国的业务发展。在此期间，王石主要负责与原始设备制造商合作开发基于亚马逊云科技物联网、边缘计算、云数据湖/管道、自动驾驶、软件定义汽车和 Alexa 的网联汽车解决方案。 在加入亚马逊云之前，王石曾就职于哈曼，担任中国区汽车解决方案主管。在哈曼任职期间，他主要为哈曼软件产品的销售提供技术支持，如座舱软件（Android、QNX、Linux）、OTA、车载以太网、网络安全、V2X、ADAS、网联汽车云平台 (Ignite)、车辆数据分析平台和远程诊断解决方案等。王石在职业生涯之初曾在德尔福（现更名为安波福）、博世和延锋伟世通担任研发工程师，研发主管和高级技术售前等职务。
“汽车制造商正向软件定义汽车转变，因为他们需要以更快地速度、更低的成本和更可靠的方式将创新部署到市场。Sonatus 在车端和云端软件解决方案的量产方面取得了傲人的成绩，因此Sonatus 将利用这一优势帮助汽车制造商加快向软件定义汽车的转变。我们很高兴能与Sonatus合作，助力其在中国市场建立业务。” 中国汽车行业领先信息服务平台盖世汽车创始人、首席执行官兼总编辑周晓莺说道。
关于 SONATUS
Sonatus 致力于加快汽车软件创新的步伐，并推动汽车行业向软件定义汽车的转变。我们的平台和产品是关键的组成部分，它们能够加快汽车公司及其生态系统的创新步伐，并在车辆寿命周期内持续降低成本、完善各项功能、提高可靠性及改善用户体验。Sonatus 备受赞誉的软件平台已应用于现代、起亚和捷恩斯的量产车型，而且将在 2023 年应用于数百万辆汽车。公司已从富士康、现代汽车集团旗下的起亚公司、LG电子、Marvell、上汽资本、Translink Capital、UMC Capital 和万向集团公司等多家世界级的汽车、技术和风险投资者手中融资超过 1.1 亿美元。Sonatus 总部位于加利福尼亚州森尼韦尔市，也就是著名的硅谷，同时在巴黎、上海和首尔都设有子公司。欲了解更多信息，请访问www.sonatus.com。
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欲了解更多信息，请咨询：
Michael Cory
营销与传播总监
Sonatus
press@sonatus.com