1999, Make a Friend. ”
The author still remembers the impact on the entire mobile phone market when Xiaomi released its first mobile phone 12 years ago.
At that time, the author was still in high school, and in that era when almost everyone was still using the "Bangbang machine", Xiaomi Mi 1 directly arrived in one step, bringing our class into the "era of smart phones".
Just 12 years later, Xiaomi has actually started the road of car manufacturing.
Such a story sounds like a dream......Xiaomi's first new car, SU7, was unveiled on December 28. At the same time, in the 3-hour Xiaomi automotive technology conference, we also initially saw Xiaomi's strength after entering the field of car manufacturing.
In terms of technical strength, the performance of Xiaomi cars is geometric
At the press conference on the 28th, Xiaomi Auto brought five core technologies under the "Modena" architecture.
Among them, it includes Xiaomi Super Engine, Xiaomi self-developed CTB integrated battery technology, Xiaomi Super Die Casting (Xiaomi Hyper Casting), and Xiaomi full-stack self-developed intelligent driving technology and Xiaomi intelligent cockpit technology in terms of intelligence.
In the author's opinion, among these five technologies, the first three are the most worthy of our attention.
Because at this stage, intelligent driving technology and intelligent cockpit technology, whether it is a traditional car company, a new power car company or a related industry, have created a relatively complete and high-end system.
At this time, if Xiaomi Auto only takes intelligent technology as the foundation, it is actually difficult to form a differentiated advantage.
Of course, Xiaomi's self-developed intelligent system can also form the same advantages as Huawei, forming an ecological cluster, which is expected to bring a good competitive advantage in terms of ease of use.
The core technologies of Xiaomi cars, including motors, batteries and die-casting, also enable it to gain a real voice in the future market.
Objectively speaking, Xiaomi Auto is still a "new power car company". According to past experience, what new power enterprises lack most is core technology.
However, Xiaomi Auto has realized the self-development of the motor.
At present, the two motors of Xiaomi HyperEngine V6 V6S have been landed, and the pre-developed motor of Xiaomi HyperEngine V8S is also about to land in 2025.
Judging from the current V6 and V6S motors, Xiaomi still has a lot of "dry goods". For example, Xiaomi has developed a series of technologies for it, such as two-way full oil cooling and heat dissipation, S-shaped three-dimensional oil circuit design, and stepped dislocation design. Although these technologies are not radical innovations, they can at least reach the current first-line level in the industry.
Applied to the actual motor products, V6 and V6S motors, with a maximum speed of 21000rpm.
And in terms of performance, the V6 super motor has a maximum horsepower of 299PS and a maximum torque of 400Nm;The V6S super motor has a maximum horsepower of 374 PS and a maximum torque of 500 Nm. In terms of performance, Xiaomi's "single motor" performance is almost already the "dual motor" performance of other products.
Among the more core battery technologies, CTB technology and 800V high-voltage technology have been implemented.
There is a piece of information worth noting here, that is, after the Xiaomi Su7 is launched, the new car will be equipped with a 100-degree large-capacity battery, and under CLTC working conditions, the vehicle range will theoretically exceed 800km, which can effectively solve the problem of pure electric pain points.
Coming to the self-developed 9100T super large die-casting technology, in fact, this technology can better show Xiaomi's "housekeeping skills".
The release of this die-casting technology makes Xiaomi Auto the only automobile manufacturer in China that independently develops a large die-casting equipment cluster and die-casting materials at the same time. To put it simply, Xiaomi has almost done the work of steel manufacturers such as "Angang" and "Pangang".
And not only that, Xiaomi Auto has even independently developed the high-strength, high-toughness, heat-free and environmentally friendly die-casting material "Titanalloy" through AI technology. This alloy type is also nicknamed "vibranium (a product of the Avengers universe)" by many friends. Through self-developed alloys, Xiaomi has also completed the optimization of body materials, and further improved its strength on the road to lightweight and high strength.
After coming up with the technology, we want the Xiaomi car to return to its essence.
Whether it is a traditional fuel model or a new energy intelligent vehicle, building a car is actually an extremely complex process.
First of all, a qualified car company needs to have technology, which is also the basic premise of making a car.
And after harvesting technical support like Xiaomi, it is more important to integrate these crumbling technologies into actual products.
Of course, in this integration process, we also hope that actual products such as Xiaomi cars such as SU7 can have a higher degree of completion, and have good performance in driving experience, cockpit intelligent experience and safety.
First of all, in terms of intelligent experience, in fact, Xiaomi does not have much of a problem.
First, for so many years, Xiaomi has actually had a relatively strong foundation in terms of intelligent ecological chain. On the automotive side, Xiaomi Surging OS can be said to have become the key to the whole ecology of people, cars and homes. The intelligent ecosystem of Xiaomi cars can be said to not only exist in the functionality of the large screen in the car.
As a simple example, in the back of the Su7, there are two sets of screen mounts. When the Xiaomi Pad is suspended, the PAD system will be automatically connected with the car machine system to realize the free expansion of the screen in the car. And the rich experience brought by this "smart ecology" was relatively rare in the past.
Secondly, in terms of drivability, through the motor technology released by Xiaomi Auto on the 28th, we can see that the actual dynamic performance of Xiaomi SU7 will definitely not be bad. If you want to make the whole driving performance closed-loop, the ultimate key is the chassis structure and tuning.
We believe that Xiaomi can provide complex high-end suspension structures for new cars, but as a "new force" manufacturer, Xiaomi needs to rely on the strength of an external team if it wants to really tune the chassis suspension well. Such as the Williams engineering team and the Porsche chassis team are all high-quality choices for Xiaomi. It's still unclear who Xiaomi will eventually work with on the chassis tuning, or if it will be done by its own team, but we're looking forward to it.
In terms of vehicle safety and stability, judging from the intelligent driving technology and "Titan alloy" technology released by Xiaomi, the problem of Xiaomi cars should not be big, and it can reach the mainstream level of mid-to-high-end new energy models.
Of course, at the end of this part, we still expect Xiaomi Auto to have a fresh and unique product power in the products that have landed. After all, in 2023, the door to the new energy era has been opened, and many models also show the problem of "homogenization". We hope that Xiaomi can bring some new experiences through the control of the "essence of the car".
If you want to become one of the top five in the world, what more efforts does Xiaomi need to make?
At the press conference on the 28th, Lei Jun expressed his ambition: "Through 15 to 20 years of hard work, we will become the world's top five automobile manufacturers." ”
Looking back on the past ten years, Xiaomi has mainly highlighted a cost-effective ratio in the field of mobile phones.
The cost-effective advantages of "making a friend in 1999" and "buying a flagship in 3999" have brought market advantages, making Xiaomi mobile phones quickly occupy the market. If you want to achieve a breakthrough in the field of car manufacturing, the most critical factor is still sales. With sales, there is naturally a volume scale, and it can also have a high ranking.
The author **, Xiaomi in the automotive field, will also occupy the market with the advantage of cost performance.
After the press conference on the 28th, Lei Jun responded to Xiaomi's first new car SU7 He said that since the cost of 100kWh batteries is about 100,000 yuan, Xiaomi SU7 is priced at 990,000, 1490,000 is "impossible".
This also confirms the author's **: Xiaomi Su7 is a new car that does not fight a "** war" but a "value war". This product, which is positioned as a medium and large pure electric sedan, should be the flagship model of Xiaomi Auto in the future. Based on a series of high-end product strength, the price of the new car may most likely be in the range of 20-400,000 yuan. And even at this price, Xiaomi Su7 is very competitive in the market of the same value and level.
Of course, according to Xiaomi's tonality, Xiaomi Auto may also launch a series of entry-level models in the future.
For example, a pure electric car with a price of tens of thousands of yuan, and a pure electric medium-sized car with a price of more than 100,000 yuan ......These are all possible. And as long as Xiaomi cars can achieve a high level of cost performance, then there is no market.
At the same time, Lei Jun also set a more reasonable time for Xiaomi Auto to "enter the world's top five".
The time of 15-20 years is basically the time for BYD to develop from its start-up to its strength. During this time period, car companies have plenty of time to develop breakthrough technologies.
In addition, at such a time node, Xiaomi Auto also has enough opportunities to "trial and error".
Because making a car itself is a process of "trial and error", the brand business philosophy and model planning are ......This series of measures cannot be perfect and accurate at all times. The development of Xiaomi cars will inevitably have ups and downs, but if Xiaomi car companies can grow through trial and error and adhere to long-termism, this new car company will not have room for development comparable to traditional manufacturers.
Conclusion: In the author's opinion, Xiaomi's road to car manufacturing is actually a "go with the flow" process.
When a technology manufacturer develops to a certain size, new energy intelligent vehicles are not a new growth pole;And with the blessing of a lot of money and technology, it is not impossible to build a good car. Therefore, in the three years since the announcement of the car, Xiaomi cars have given people a relatively down-to-earth feeling. We have reason to believe that after the official release of Xiaomi's real car in the future, there will be many young people to try and choose.