Written by |Zhou Changxian edited by Ma Qingzhu.
The three words "sense of relaxation" were hot words on the Internet a year and a half ago.
996" After being ridiculed by the group, people who are yang and yang, their attitude towards life goes to the other end, towards more chic and free.
Compare it with sages, such as Zhuangzi's "Life between heaven and earth, like a white horse passing through a gap, suddenly." The opposite side is the volume of King Confucius's "For example, for a mountain, not into a net, stop, I stop." "That is, there is no final step, only the last volume.
During the time when "relaxation" was most popular, He Xiaopeng was extremely anxious.
At that time, he confessed that he was experiencing a second "era of despair". Last time, it was because I couldn't raise money, and this time I couldn't sell it. So He Xiaopeng learned from the pain, no longer "bodhisattva heart", began to learn "thunder means", and successively dealt ruthlessly with the organizational structure and the first chain.
Half a year later, Xpeng Motors ushered in a turnaround.
SEPA 2. on April 16, 2023, on the eve of the Shanghai Auto ShowAt the 0 "Fuyao" technical architecture press conference, He Xiaopeng, who was wearing a green shirt and jeans, was full of spring breeze. A series of new technology releases make people feel that Xpeng Motors has begun. In He Xiaopeng's words, it is a faint positive cycle.
In the year of 2023, Xpeng Motors, which is driving at full speed, has indeed come one after another: Xpeng G6 is launched;Received an investment of 700 million US dollars from Volkswagen;Announced that it will join forces with Didi to build a car;Delivered the Xpeng G9 ...... overseas141601 new cars were delivered throughout the year, and in the last three months, the sales volume exceeded 20,000 in a row. He Xiaopeng called it, a fast positive cycle.
At the end of the year, He Xiaopeng summed up 18 words: partially change yourself, embrace change, go to the front line, and face users.
On New Year's Day 2024, Xpeng Motors released the Xpeng X9 in Guangzhou, firing the first shot of the new car launch in the New Year. This is a large seven-seater model that breaks the boundaries of MPVs, and is available in four configurations with a price range of 35980,000 yuan-41980,000 yuan.
At the press conference, He Xiaopeng smiled lovely, and his body was filled with a rare "sense of relaxation", and he also put forward three New Year's goals: sleep well, make up for his weaknesses, and make more friends.
New cars, new targets
Since 2019, Xpeng Motors has released one new car every year, which is G3, P7, P5, G9, and G6.
Two or three years ago, Xpeng decided to make a series of large cars, and the most heated discussion at that time was the definition of the first model. Most people want to make a 7-seater SUV, but they can't take care of the space. Under the impetus of He Xiaopeng, it was finally decided to make an MPV that achieves the ultimate in space and can take into account the function of an SUV.
chose to make an MPV, He Xiaopeng based on two considerations:
First, there were 7.5 million new births last year, and more than 50% of them were second or third children, and the market demand for family MPVs will further increase, which is a huge opportunity.
Second, there are pain points in the household MPV market, with limited parking space, large cars, and difficult to drive. To this end, Xpeng has adopted a lot of technical means, defining it as a model that is both a seven-seat MPV and a super-large 4-seat SUV, which truly solves the problem of "opening and stopping".
Under extreme conditions, the Xpeng X9 can provide a rear-wheel steering angle of 5°, and the vehicle's handling flexibility is very obvious. When changing lanes in dense traffic, the steering wheel turns a few degrees lightly, and the rear of the car changes lanes together, so there will be no embarrassing scene where the first row of passengers is in the passing lane and the third row of passengers is in the driving lane.
When turning around in a crowded urban area, the front and rear wheels turn in the opposite direction, and the turning diameter of the vehicle is shortened to 108 meters. This feature is very helpful for novice drivers, and it is also close to driving a small car on the congested one-way streets in Guangzhou.
Although He Xiaopeng claims to only set manufacturing targets internally, let alone sales targets, he has high hopes for Xiaopeng X9. But not everyone expects such a lot from this car.
Regarding the production capacity of Xiaopeng X9, He Xiaopeng admitted that he and Huang Honglin, general manager of product marketing, have been arguing. The latter goal is more conservative, but He Xiaopeng believes that this is a different MPV, and the primary goal is to achieve the No. of the category1. It has the potential to be a super explosive product.
Unlike the previous year's new car, in addition to the facelift, Xpeng will also release several new models this year, and two have already been spoiled.
First, it is a MONA brand model in cooperation with Didi, which is positioned at the 150,000 level and anchored in the travel market. He Xiaopeng once said that the 150,000 level cannot do autonomous driving. Now, he's recanting his argument that the car will be competitive and marginally profitable.
Previously, Didi had partnered with BYD to produce a D9 model in Changsha for the ride-hailing market, which can still be seen in many cities in the south. Now, Xpeng Motors, which is better in terms of intelligence, has cooperated with Didi, which has massive travel market data, and this new car is worth looking forward to.
Second, it is the SUV model that He Xiaopeng inadvertently revealed during the interview. Regarding this model, although He Xiaopeng was tight-lipped about it, judging from the speech PPT, it should be a full-size SUV on the same platform as Xiaopeng X9, with a straight waistline and a downward roof design.
In addition, when talking about the styling of Xpeng Motors, some characteristics of this model were also revealed.
He Xiaopeng does not agree with the family-style design style of many car companies, "The shape is too similar, and in fact, it will also restrict innovation." He told "Autocarmax" that intelligent driving is the longboard of Xpeng Motors, and the next step is to upgrade the modeling ability to a longboard.
Taking SUV models as an example, He Xiaopeng forced the interior, there are two or three models with a certain consistency in styling, but there can be different ideas in multiple series. "However, it must be really beautiful, in line with the needs of technology, and from the logic of the customer. ”
In addition to the requirement to differentiate the model, he also set a goal to significantly reduce the number of SKUs in the model. Needless to say, this is an important revelation to He Xiaopeng after the unreasonable G9 SKU setting strategy in 2022.
Of course, the follow-up reaction caused by the turmoil is also one of the reasons why he has not slept well in recent years.
New Year, New Hope
Get a good night's sleep, ranking first among He Xiaopeng's three New Year's goals.
It's a pity that in today's world of "no most volume, only more volume", this wish is more like a luxury. At the very least, on the first day of the New Year, He Xiaopeng did not get his wish, not only pulling ** to work overtime on New Year's Day, but also announcing that the company would not have a holiday during the Spring Festival.
In this market of life and death, it is not only Xiaopeng who is waiting for him, but there are even more people who are sharpening their knives.
On January 3, Chery Fengyun 8 was listed in Shenzhen, and the heart of BYD was clearly revealed. On January 5th, Geely Galaxy E8 was listed in Hangzhou, ignoring everything, claiming that it would not bid for competing products, and only had users in mind, because "competing products may be gone while doing it".
Looking at Xiaopeng's difficult brother - Weilai, at the end of last year, founder Li Bin took the lead in introspection, beware of the trap of long-termism, and pay attention to implementation efficiency.
In the future, don't say that NIO is a long-term company, which will paralyze our colleagues. Li Bin believes that "the first priority of enterprises is to win market competition, enterprises are not public welfare institutions, individuals can have idealism, enterprises can not have." ”
He Xiaopeng is also reflecting that "execution is more important than strategy".
At the Xpeng X9 listing ** communication meeting, when talking about the order exceeding expectations, but facing the pressure of capacity ramp-up, he believed, "One of the reasons is that I am not fierce enough."
He Xiaopeng revealed that the first ability that needs to be enhanced this year is marketing. He hopes that by the end of the year, people will not only say that Xiaopeng's technology and products are doing well, but also that marketing is also doing well.
In fact, after more than a year of tempering, Xpeng Motors' marketing skills have grown, and the pace of Xpeng X9's step-by-step listing, especially the successful resistance to competitors, is proof.
Speaking of which, He Xiaopeng praised his partner Wang Fengying, who didn't show up much, again, "Fengying has helped me do a good job of professionalism, height and distance for future expectations, as well as planning ability." ”
At the same time, the two are intensively planning the globalization of Xpeng Motors.
To He Xiaopeng's regret, he has never found the CEO of the cow. Therefore, he once only wanted to be the chairman, but he had to give up his illusions and serve as CEO and CTO.
In addition to getting a good night's sleep and making up for his weaknesses, He Xiaopeng also has a wish: to make more Peng friends. "We must have more friends to make the market better. There must be a win-win thinking logic, a win-win situation for the industry, a win-win situation for the industry, a win-win situation for the first chain, and a win-win situation for the region. ”
Although Xpeng still faces many challenges, He remains optimistic, "Starting from the third quarter of 2023, the company will enter a weak positive cycle;."By the third quarter of 2024, the positive cycle rate will accelerate;By the end of 2025, Xpeng will enter an ultra-high-speed positive cycle. ”
In the new year, Xpeng Motors continues to transform its organizational capabilities. He Xiaopeng firmly believes that "organizational ability is the core core of whether an enterprise can achieve the top three in China or the top ten in the world." ”
From this point of view, He Xiaopeng's "sense of relaxation" is just a surface, he is still rolling, but his mentality is different. Don't be fooled by his words.