When being equipped with the field winding for adjusting the magnetic field, permanent magnet motor was changed into hybrid excitation motor (HEM), a novel motor. The HEM combined the advantage of permanent motor machine and electrically excited motor, enjoying a wide application prospect. The fluxadjusting principle of HEM was presented. In the perspective of the machine prototype, the developing strategy of HEM was analyzed. A method, focusing on the excitation structure, was proposed to understand the HEM. Basing on the electromagnetic characteristic of HEM, the control ideas and systems configurations were researched for HEM used in some areas such as automobile, wind power generation, aviation and aerospace. At the end, recommended a guiding ideology to study HEM and outlooked its developing trend.