Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Liu Xiaolin, textLei Jun handed in the answer.
I don't know if he has the bottom in his heart, what the outside world sees is that on December 28, the day before the Xiaomi car press conference, Lei Jun bought advertising spaces for five landmark buildings in the city, and played slogans to pay tribute to BYD, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal and Huawei.
At the beginning of the press conference the next day, Lei Jun first clarified that although he did not pay tribute to FAW Dongfeng Changan, SAIC BAIC GAC, and Great Wall Chery Geely, he had already visited these companies one by one. It is not difficult to understand why the above five companies are particularly publicly tributed. Before "Wei Xiaoli (Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal)", the automobile industry was a "forbidden area" with a very high threshold, and Xiaomi had reason to thank the three "pioneers", which opened up a new entrepreneurial space for latecomers that they did not dare to imagine before;Huawei's intrusion has broken the mantra of "interlacing like mountains" in cross-border car manufacturing, created a miracle of speed and market with its technological advantages and business model, opened up a new type of relationship with car companies that is both friend and foe, and also brought a more desirable halo to Xiaomi's cross-border car manufacturingBYD is the existence of the "helper" in the electric vehicle industry, and it has just entered the car circle, so why should Xiaomi not worship it.
After that, Lei Jun began to get to the point, "Next, I began to talk about the first technology, motor", this sentence, so that the audience for the first time poured into the Xiaomi press conference more than 300 cars** for the first time, and a little apprehensive in anticipation: the pipa has covered its face for three years, and it is time to score Xiaomi cars.
During the three-hour introduction, Lei Jun's emotions were always high, and the excitement of a novice car builder unlocking a variety of automotive expertise and technology was palpable. After 1,003 days and 10 billion R&D investment, Lei Jun gained not only another upgrade of his personal knowledge system, but also a sense of achievement in pushing some key technical indicators of China's automobile industry to new highs. He made a bold statement that the design goal of Xiaomi cars is to create 100 "firsts."
1. Only. First, the most". Through 15 to 20 years of hard work, we will become one of the top five automobile manufacturers in the world.
After introducing the five major technical advantages, Lei Jun pre-released the first Xiaomi car SU7. The SU7 is positioned as a "C-class high-performance eco-tech sedan", and Lei Jun claims that the SU7 comprehensively crushes the Porsche Taycan and Tesla's Model S in all performance parameters. than parameters, which are Xiaomi's forte, are also expected operations.
But throughout the press conference, a basic question has not been answered, who does Lei Jun build a car for?Who to build a car for – in the automotive sector, this is one of the mandatory questions at the launch of a new car, as a sign of respect for business rules. Because the car is a large personal consumer product rather than a work of art, user demand is the primary rationality of its existence. Positioning, target user groups, these factors are clear, and it is a car, especially an electric vehicle, that has the confidence to go to the market.
Lei Jun said that he didn't care about the popular type spectrum in the automotive industry, and just wanted to build a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla, for people who like advanced technology, taste, and love life. Before the end of the press conference, he spent ten minutes paying tribute to the people on the road, to convey the idea that reality and poetry and distance can exist in harmony. Finally, he said that this dream car is made for drivers on the road to their dreams, for strivers and elites of the times.
Lei Jun may not know that this elite view of the user base, as well as the retreat of the dream car, was criticized once in the automotive circle ten years ago. In the field of electric vehicles, the dividends of the first batch of technology adopters are also considered to have been basically exhausted.
Of course, Xiaomi has a huge group of "rice fans", and this part of the population has entered the period of car purchase demand. But is this dream car, whose cost price continues to break through the psychological price range, for rice noodles?The answer will have to wait a few months for the SU7 to be officially launched. Which part of the people is the SU7 really suitable for, whether it is a good car or not, it is more difficult to have results in the short term. Because, the evaluation of a car can only be born in the user's use process, and this kind of judgment and definition cycle is very long, and it may take several years of word-of-mouth accumulation.
Through this press conference, Lei Jun's desire to start from the high-end has been well known. After all, 20 years have passed, and it is time for Chinese auto companies to knock on the threshold of high-end cars. For Xiaomi, it may face the problem of difficulty in getting started, and it is difficult to become a high-end by using Xiaomi's ecological resources to cater to the existing user class and maintain the overall brand positioning.
Therefore, in terms of product attributes, Xiaomi Su7 has a certain degree of technological advancement, but in terms of commodity attributes, the identity of Su7 is still vague.
Expensive in **?
The data shows that there are 5 million people at the Xiaomi car press conference*** This data reminds us all the time that this is not an ordinary cross-border car maker, nor is it an ordinary catfish that has broken into the automotive industry. The cheers of "rice noodles" at the scene are also announcing that Xiaomi, like Huawei, is entering the circle with a "halo".
According to information from the automotive industry, from the last week of the end of 2023 to the first week of 2024, there will be at least six new car launches, and all car companies are rushing to release their blockbuster works during this period of time. But there is no doubt that the technology conference of Xiaomi Auto is one of the most talked-about ones.
In the three-hour press conference, Lei Jun spent the first half of his time talking about technology, and the second half of his time talking about Xiaomi's first car Su 7, interspersed with his feelings about the 1003-day car manufacturing experience, and the determination to achieve "there must be a Xiaomi car when there is a road" in the world. Overall, it was a successful launch. At least from the first half, the Xiaomi car did not roll over, and in terms of technical parameters and theoretical level, it stood on the basics.
The five self-developed core technologies are the greatest pride that Lei Jun has spent three years earning. As one of the underlying architectures of Xiaomi's "people, car and home ecology", the five core technologies of the "Moderna" architecture include Xiaomi super motor, Xiaomi self-developed CTB integrated battery technology, Xiaomi super large die-casting, Xiaomi full-stack self-developed intelligent driving technology and Xiaomi intelligent cockpit, covering five sectors: electric drive, battery, die-casting process, intelligent driving, and intelligent cockpit.
The "world's first" appears at high frequency.
First, the first and most" has become the biggest language feature of Lei Jun's press conference. "Xiaomi's self-developed technology has achieved many global firsts.
1. No. 1 in China, it can be called the culmination of Xiaomi's 13 years of technology accumulation. This is stated in the press release of Xiaomi Auto. From this point of view, Lei Jun and Yu Chengdong, the leader of Huawei's automotive business, have completed the first distant echo in the temperament of car manufacturing, and the mantra of the latter's press conference is "far ahead".
Lei Jun started with the core three-electric (motor, battery, and electronic control) system of electric vehicles, showing the three-year work of Xiaomi Automobile. Lei Jun said that in terms of key technologies for motors and batteries, Xiaomi uses self-research and self-production, and the idea is to find the world's top partners and form a big team. In addition to the release of the first two generations of motors that have been installed on the SU7, Lei Jun also learned from the practice of releasing "technology **" in the automotive industry, and released the third-generation V8S super motor that "refreshes the global motor speed ceiling", with a speed of up to 27200rpm, which is expected to be on the car in 2025, and announced that the pre-developed next-generation Xiaomi super motor has successfully exceeded 35000rpm in the laboratory.
At the battery level, in order to install more batteries and simplify the car manufacturing process, Xiaomi has adopted the same CBT integrated battery technology as BYD, and developed the battery cell inversion technology with CATL, claiming to have achieved the world's highest CTB battery 778% battery integration efficiency. However, this link, which occupies the largest share of the cost of electric vehicles, has made Lei Jun feel the pain of "burning money" in making cars.
The investment in battery research and development is particularly high!He used two "special" in a row to emphasize the enormity of the investment. When referring to the 165 pieces of aerogel used to ensure the safety of the battery, it was also emphasized that "the cost is very high". "Cars that can afford to use batteries like CATL are more than 150,000, so don't call it 1490,000". Lei Jun shouted "rice noodles", su7 is not only impossible to sell 990,000, even 1490,000 is also impossible.
Judging from the press conference, what excites Lei Jun the most is the third technology - "Xiaomi Super Die Casting". This technology, which was brought to fire by Tesla, is also one of Tesla's cost secrets, which is said to reduce costs by 40%, and many domestic and foreign automakers, including "Wei Xiaoli", have used this technology. It is reported that the entire rear of the body of the newly launched AITO M9 is composed of three one-piece die-cast aluminum alloy parts.
You can't bet on the wrong treasure in the industry trend," Lei Jun said. Seeing that the whole industry is rolling up the die-casting technology, Xiaomi decisively chose to "build its own factory and do it by itself" again. Lei Jun proudly said that in terms of tonnage, the "9100T Super Large Die Casting Cluster" developed by Xiaomi is larger than Tesla's 6000T in Shanghai and larger than the 9000T that Tesla's US factory has just put into use. And, by the way, Xiaomi invented a new material "Titan".
The large die-casting technology made Lei Jun feel the greatness of modern manufacturing, and also made him shout expensive again, "much more expensive than traditional solutions". However, it is not only the upfront investment that is expensive, it is reported that how to repair the way to avoid the expensive maintenance costs that may be brought about by the one-piece die-casting technology is a problem that Tesla is currently rushing to solve.
Intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit are Xiaomi's strengths as a technology company, and they are also the technology that best confirms that Xiaomi can overtake in corners. Lei Jun revealed that Xiaomi's total investment in the first phase of full-stack self-developed intelligent driving technology has increased from 3.3 billion to 4.7 billion. With three self-developed perception technologies, 3,000 engineers, 7 years of AI empowerment experience, and NVIDIA's Orin high-computing power chip, Lei Jun reiterated the goal set in August 2022: to enter the first camp of the intelligent driving industry in 2024. In addition, Xiaomi has not hesitated to join the involution competition of smart car sensors, and the perception hardware includes 1 lidar, 11 high-definition cameras, 3 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars (MAX version of the model). There is no doubt that these will push up the cost of Xiaomi cars again.
In the most volatile smart cockpit of smart cars, Xiaomi's ecological advantages have emerged. As the most important card in Lei Jun's hand, the Xiaomi surging OS operating system just released in October this year has become the intelligent hub of Xiaomi Auto, creating a unified visual interaction system for Mi Auto, and realizing a comprehensive sharing ecology from hardware to software.
Although Xiaomi cars came late, the iteration of intelligent driving is fast, and we use all the latest technology." It can be seen from the five self-developed core technologies that Lei Jun's logic is not only suitable for intelligent driving, but also for his entire car-making ideas.
It is not difficult to see that the presentation of all these technological innovations is a footnote to the Xiaomi Su7 "expensive for a reason". In addition to these five technological innovations, Xiaomi also used former designers from BMW and Mercedes-Benz to outline a noble origin for the SU7. The reason why Lei Jun previously announced the first car conference "only release technology, not products" is to correct the outside world's expectations for Xiaomi Su7**Too low**, and set a buffer period for the final release of the real **. However, in the choice of new technologies, whether it is an all-in-one battery or an all-in-one large die-casting technology, cost saving is still Xiaomi's top priority.
Defined by whose rules?
It is undeniable that as long as ** does not exceed expectations, Xiaomi cars are likely to be popular after they are launched, and like AITO, there are many admirers of smart technology and Xiaomi fans who will pay for it. But the premise is that the targeting and the user targeting match. From the reason why the product is expensive, to the reason why consumers buy it, this is a two-level conversion, and it may also be the most critical conversion that Xiaomi Su7 will face.
In 2021, when Lei Jun decided to build a car, the launch of high-end electric vehicle brands has become a collective compulsory course for domestic mainstream car companies, and independent brands will take it as their mission to smash the ceiling of 400,000 yuan. Xiaomi's impulse to build a car was born in such an atmosphere, and it was destined to be impossible to put 9 from the beginning90,000 or 1490,000 as the ** goal. Judging from this press conference, there is a gap between the expectations of the outside world and Lei Jun's dream.
In addition, Xiaomi Su7 has been pre-released, and brand positioning and target groups should also be the basic information that needs to be transmitted, but Lei Jun's overly general positioning of C-class high-performance eco-technology sedan and Dream Car obviously cannot give Xiaomi cars and SU7 a clear outline. Comparing the new car brands horizontally, the ideal is to target family users, NIO is targeting the first batch of technology middle-class, and Xpeng's first smart car for young people has all found their own place and crowd.
Who is the su7 made for?In order for the outside world, especially the "rice fans" who already have the ability to buy cars, to calmly accept the answers to these questions after a few months, the key lies in what kind of "algorithm" and rules Xiaomi Auto will follow to shape its own car brand and pricing system, and then lock in its new user base in the automotive industry.
After the press conference, the outside world's comments on Xiaomi cars were "mixed" as expected. This is not surprising, because at a time when car companies have "flattened" the technology for at least the next five years, no one can visualize what Xiaomi cars should look like. Therefore, no matter what kind of car Lei Jun comes up with, there will always be disappoints.
There is also a part of the opinion that Xiaomi's "pioneering" is not enough, and they look forward to seeing Xiaomi use its own good way to "rectify" the car circle, just like Xiaomi's experience in the field of mobile phones, using its own scientific and technological innovation and cost control capabilities to break the rules and patterns. Of course, they also hope that Lei Jun will directly address the weakness of the automobile industry, directly state the pain points of consumption, and formulate new standards, especially breakthroughs in cost performance. Although these are all effects that need to be demonstrated after the official launch of the Xiaomi car, many people hope to see at least some signs and signals at this launch.
However, Xiaomi's "disruptive output" to the automotive sector is not unexpected. On the one hand, Lei Jun is trying to approach, adapt to, and follow the business rules of the automotive field, such as the way products are named, such as the law of technological competition - "your circle often releases technology, and it is only after three or five years that it is applied".On the other hand, he couldn't help but question and define it with his own rules, for example, his peers in car companies suggested that the product type should be given first to build a car, and it was necessary to "have more children to fight", but he said that he didn't want to make a bunch of products, but only wanted to build a dream car. At the same time, Lei Jun was worried about whether he could not keep up with the rules of the automotive field. When he said that the size of the SU7 was comparable to the BMW 5, there was laughter in the audience, and he asked in confusion, "Did I say something wrong?"
From Xiaomi's point of view, one of the advantages of Xiaomi Auto is that it has realized a complete closed loop of Xiaomi's "people, cars and home ecology" with the mode of technology + ecology. The biggest impact of Xiaomi on the automotive industry is that it confirms a hypothesis: in just 1003 days, a company that has never set foot in the automotive industry can complete the construction of its own automobile industry system from 0 and create a "most globally advanced" car. In contrast, Volkswagen's software team has worked hard for four years, but has not yet developed sufficient self-development capabilities. At present, it takes at least three years for car companies to develop a new car, and this is still the cycle after the acceleration.
All of these will determine whether Xiaomi Auto can successfully be labeled as a high-end brand, and will also determine whether Xiaomi Auto can shape a new pricing system and reach a new target user group with its own rules. It is likely that at a time when the user base is constantly refined by smart electric vehicle brands, it is a group of new users who are different from Xiaomi mobile phones that pay for Xiaomi.
From a business point of view, the idea of only building one car, and the disagreement with car companies to share costs with a platform, all mean that after the SU7 is listed, once it is involved in the torrent of general losses of electric vehicles, the operating pressure of Xiaomi Auto will far exceed that of competitors. As the first technology conference of Xiaomi Auto, Lei Jun did not elaborate on the commercial operation and marketing plan of the Su7. Who to build a car for and how to run it well are the core questions that Lei Jun will accurately answer in the future.