Text|Zinc scale Zou Shan."The goal of Xiaomi Auto is to be comparable to Porsche and Tesla, to create the best dream car in the new era, and to do a good job of looking, good-looking, comfortable and safe mobile intelligent space. "On December 28, the long-awaited Xiaomi automotive technology conference was held as scheduled. Lei Jun, who was wearing a dark gray suit, specifically released Xiaomi Steam's technology in several aspects: motor, battery, large die-casting, intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit.Edit|Intelligence.
Although as early as December 25, Lei Jun said, "This time only technology, not products." "But it's clear that the enthusiasm for the launch is growing.
From the official launch of each matrix account of Xiaomi Auto on December 24th, to the official announcement of the press conference time on Weibo at the same time by @Xiaomi Company and @Xiaomi Auto a day later, and then to Lei Jun's successive Weibo answers from netizens to warm up for the press conference, and finally to the arrival of the 28th, for Xiaomi, this week is in full swing.
Prior to this, both NIO released the most expensive production car ET9, and Huawei officially released the Wenjie M9 and ZEEKR released the 007, after which it will usher in Xpeng's first MPV Xpeng X9. Xiaomi Auto is belatedly coming after two generations of star players of new car-making forces, and it is obvious that it is going to kick off a "fierce battle".
Lei Jun gambled on the dignity of the last venture, the chance of success or failure, or in one fell swoop. However, Lei Jun somewhat retreated as an advance, and paid a high-profile "tribute" to Wei Xiaoli, BYD and Huawei on the eve of the press conference. This reveals a subtle signal, perhaps, in this limited game, Lei Jun wants to play an infinite game.
Only technology, not products" "We will spend 15-20 years to become one of the top five car factories in China and strive for the rise of China's leading car. Before the official start of the press conference, Lei Jun made such a bold statement.
James Cass's book The Finite and the Infinite Game shows two types of "games" in the world: finite games and infinite games. Finite games refer to playing within boundaries, and infinite games are about boundaries, the former focuses on winning or losing the game, and the latter focuses on bringing more people into the game itself, so that the game can continue.
Before Xiaomi's technology conference, there was a lot of speculation about this belated player on the car track, some people bet that it could become a "catfish" that stirred up the market, and some people bet that it would be a waste of effort to catch up with the market.
However, from the warm-up stage of the launch, Lei Jun and Xiaomi Auto seem to be hinting at another possibility, and although the track is highly competitive and the "cake" is limited, they want to find unlimited games in it.
27200rpm Xiaomi super motor, Xiaomi CTB integrated battery, 9100T Xiaomi super large die-casting, Xiaomi Titan alloy, end-to-end perception decision-making model, Snapdragon 8295 cockpit chip, surging OS ......Technical data is the key to this conference, and every data is followed by the word "industry". Lei Jun said frankly, "This is what we do in 1,000 days."
Xiaomi super motor at 27200rpm.
As you can imagine, these technologies require both time and money. According to the financial report, in the third quarter of 2023, Xiaomi's smart electric vehicles and other innovative business expenses will be 1.7 billion yuan. At the press conference, Lei Jun said that in the intelligent driving business, Xiaomi's total investment in the first phase was 3.3 billion yuan, which has been increased to 4.2 billion yuan.
Xiaomi Auto will comprehensively redefine the technology stack, which will be a major leap in the field of technology. In fact, as early as two days ago, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, posted a Weibo to warm up for Xiaomi's technology conference, and said that this technology conference will be a demonstration of Xiaomi's technology accumulation since its establishment 13 years ago.
At present, each has its own opponents to release new products, but Xiaomi Auto has broken the convention, "only technology, not products". Whether it is the warm-up or the content of the press conference, Xiaomi Auto has made "technology" and "* ecology" the key words, and Lei Jun is a high-profile "tribute" to other players on the field, and there is an infinite game mentality of "the game process is more important than winning or losing".
However, it is difficult to say whether this mentality was voluntarily or forced. After all, no matter what kind of game you want to play, you must first be "present" and let the people on the field see you. The Xiaomi car came out too late, and there were not many options left for it on the field. Nowadays, it is also an ingenious skill to retreat and try to find the path of infinite game in a limited game.
However, after the release of the core technology, Lei Jun changed into a light gray suit, or brought the product Xiaomi Su7 to the front of the stage, and said that "as a pre-conference of Xiaomi car products". It seems that Lei Jun's game mentality is still a little wavering.
In fact, when most of the other new forces opened up the market in the OEM model or acquisition model, Lei Jun and Xiaomi chose a difficult bone from the beginning of the decision to "build their own car" and build a C-class car.
Previously, Lei Jun posted on his Weibo, "It's not difficult to save a car today. It is to find a benchmark car, do reverse engineering, change the appearance, and it will be completed soon. But with 200 new cars released on the market every year today, do you need Xiaomi to save another one?So, when the Xiaomi car team was first formed, we had a meeting for three days and three nights together, and only discussed a simple question: what kind of car do you want to build when you join Xiaomi?”
Xiaomi Auto Weibo.
In an interview with **, Lei Jun also revealed that 3,400 engineers were invested in the first car, and the entire R&D investment exceeded 10 billion, using more than 10 times the investment. ”
Lei Jun's confidence is inevitably related to his car-making team.
In Lei Jun's Weibo, he wrote that in the face of a long journey, the first thing is to find a group of like-minded people, and "in a very short period of time, we received tens of thousands of resumes." In a short period of time, a group of outstanding talents from all over the industry gathered under the banner of Xiaomi Automobile. ”
From the perspective of the internal team, the internal senior management team of Xiaomi Auto includes Yu Liguo, who has served as the director of the strategic planning department of BAIC Group, a member of the Party Committee of BAIC New Energy, and the executive deputy general manager of BAIC New Energy, as well as Yu Liguo, who has also served as the chairman of Blue Valley Smart Energy Company and the president of the ARCFOX business department, as well as Xiaomi veterans such as Hong Feng and Lu Weibing.
In addition, according to "Fun Solution Business", in September this year, Huang Zhenyu, vice president of Magna China, a global leading businessman, joined Xiaomi to replace Li Xiaoshuang as the general manager of the ** chain departmentLi Xiaoshuang was reappointed as the general manager of Xiaomi's automotive marketing departmentHu Zhengnan, former president of Geely Research Institute, was appointed as a senior advisor to Xiaomi AutomobileThe exterior of the Xiaomi car was designed by Li Tianyuan, the former exterior designer of the BMW ix model.
As for the top merchants of Xiaomi automobiles, they are also "familiar faces" on the track of new energy vehicles. According to the filing information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Xiaomi SU7 and SU7 MAX are equipped with CATL ternary lithium-ion batteries, BYD Fodi lithium iron phosphate batteries, and motors from Suzhou Inovance United Power System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Inovance Power") and United Automotive Electronics.
The unavoidable pricing technology is of course important, but the Weibo comment area of Lei Jun and Xiaomi Auto has always been indispensable for speculation about pricing. From Xiaomi's official announcement of its entry into smart electric vehicles three years ago to the warm-up of Xiaomi Auto's press conference, the pricing of Xiaomi Auto has always been one of the hottest topics in the industry.
Even Hu Zhengnan, the "key gentleman" of Xiaomi Automobile, posted on Weibo on December 22: "On the winter solstice, dumplings are eaten in the north, and dumplings are eaten in the south. Let's just go on the two together, so I won't guess. It can trigger many interpretations from netizens, such as "This means that there are two cars at the Xiaomi car press conference, 17 dumplings hint at 170,000 yuan to start, and 30 dumplings hint at 300,000 yuan." ”
And many since ** has also repeatedly released "**From "the price starts at 190,000 yuan" to "it will exceed 300,000 yuan, and the high-end version is close to 400,000 yuan", and then to "it will definitely not be less than 200,000 yuan", it can be said that there are different opinions.
In the warm-up stage of the press conference, Lei Jun said in "answering questions from netizens", "Regarding the pricing, we have not yet made a final decision. However, the Xiaomi Mi Su7 is indeed a bit expensive, but please believe that what we do is 'expensive for a reason'. ”
Lei Jun Weibo.
In an interview with **, Lei Jun also revealed that 3,400 engineers were invested in the first car, and the entire R&D investment exceeded 10 billion, using more than 10 times the investment. ”
Lei Jun's confidence is inevitably related to his car-making team.
In Lei Jun's Weibo, he wrote that in the face of a long journey, the first thing is to find a group of like-minded people, and "in a very short period of time, we received tens of thousands of resumes." In a short period of time, a group of outstanding talents from all over the industry gathered under the banner of Xiaomi Automobile. ”
From the perspective of the internal team, the internal senior management team of Xiaomi Auto includes Yu Liguo, who has served as the director of the strategic planning department of BAIC Group, a member of the Party Committee of BAIC New Energy, and the executive deputy general manager of BAIC New Energy, as well as Yu Liguo, who has also served as the chairman of Blue Valley Smart Energy Company and the president of the ARCFOX business department, as well as Xiaomi veterans such as Hong Feng and Lu Weibing.
In addition, according to "Fun Solution Business", in September this year, Huang Zhenyu, vice president of Magna China, a global leading businessman, joined Xiaomi to replace Li Xiaoshuang as the general manager of the ** chain departmentLi Xiaoshuang was reappointed as the general manager of Xiaomi's automotive marketing departmentHu Zhengnan, former president of Geely Research Institute, was appointed as a senior advisor to Xiaomi AutomobileThe exterior of the Xiaomi car was designed by Li Tianyuan, the former exterior designer of the BMW ix model.
As for the top merchants of Xiaomi automobiles, they are also "familiar faces" on the track of new energy vehicles. According to the filing information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Xiaomi SU7 and SU7 MAX are equipped with CATL ternary lithium-ion batteries, BYD Fodi lithium iron phosphate batteries, and motors from Suzhou Inovance United Power System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Inovance Power") and United Automotive Electronics.
Finding your own game is never easy "Xiaomi Auto's goal is to enter the first camp of the autonomous driving industry in 2024", this is the harsh words released by Lei Jun in his annual speech in August 2022. At that time, Lei Jun's mentality and goals were more like playing a limited game - to separate the winners and losers of the game.
After more than a year, Lei Jun's goal seems to be more long-term and bigger, and the game mentality seems to have quietly changed. Whether this goal can be achieved or not, Xiaomi Auto may become the "catfish" of the automotive industry in 2024.
Let's take a look at the current situation in the new energy vehicle field. In the upcoming 2023, the first generation of new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli" has come to a new intersection. NIO, which was originally the first of the three new car-making forces to enter the new energy vehicle track and has the highest sales volume, has begun to decline since 2022, and will be repeatedly surpassed by the ideal in sales and market value in 2023. NIO, which has been building cars for ten years, seems to have ushered in a mid-life crisis.
NIO's financial report.
As for Xpeng, there have been many changes since the beginning of the year, such as officially announcing in January that Wang Fengying, the former general manager of Great Wall Motors, will be the president and will be fully responsible for the company's product planning, product matrix and sales system. As of the end of November, the cumulative delivery volume of Xpeng Motors in 2023 reached 121486, although it did not reach the target of 200,000 units at the beginning of the year, but the cumulative delivery volume in the first 11 months has exceeded that of the whole year of 2022. However, like NIO, losses are still a big problem for the two brothers.
And on behalf of the car 3Among the players in the 0 era, Huawei will be in the limelight in 2023, repeatedly grabbing the attention of the outside world, and Meizu has also begun to emerge.
The data is more intuitive, according to the data released by Yu Chengdong at the press conference, since its listing on September 12, the new M7 Dading of Wenjie cooperated by Huawei and Cialis has exceeded 100,000 orders;Chery's Zhijie series has also delivered good results, among which the Zhijie S7 has exceeded 20,000 reservations at the end of November. After the merger of Meizu and Xingji Times, the Flyme Auto was launched specifically adapted to the car machine system, and it was installed on the Lynk & Co 08 - the sales volume exceeded 1 in 54 days on the market20,000 units.
Recently, Huawei has made a series of moves, not long ago signed a contract with Changan Automobile to establish a joint venture, and Huawei holds 60% of the shares. This means that even if Lei Jun wants to find his own game on the field, it is difficult to ignore that the rules of the game have been set, and this is a game that is destined to be "limited".
Therefore, when Xiaomi Auto is officially unveiled, it will inevitably stir up the market pattern. After all, the elimination continues. According to ** report, in 2018, there were more than 487 electric vehicle manufacturers in China, but by 2023, according to He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, there are only about 50 new power car companies left in normal operation. In the past year, there have been new car-making forces such as WM Motor, Tianji, Ziyoujia Niutron, Hengchi, Aiways, and Reading, which have been exposed to poor management.
In fact, before Xiaomi's automotive technology conference, NIO launched the first executive flagship luxury car ET9 at the annual NIO Day, Huawei officially released the Wenjie M9, and ZEEKR released 007, after which, it will usher in Xiaopeng's first MPV Xpeng X9, which is actually the "epitome" of a fierce battle. Not to mention, from the end of 2023 to the first half of 2024, it happens to be a cycle when a large number of new pure electric cars are intensively launched, and simple statistics show that from the end of 2023 to 2024, there will be eight new sedans of the same level entering the WTO.
Therefore, Lei Jun's first step to break the boundaries and rules on the field may be to let Xiaomi cars "be present" for a longer time. And whether Xiaomi Auto will suffer from the enemy on its back, or whether the latecomer will prevail, there will probably be a conclusion in the new year.