Recently, the well-known blogger "Video Game Technology" broke the news on social platforms that Xiaomi's first car, Xiaomi Su7, will be officially released on December 28.
As a domestic technology giant, Xiaomi has made remarkable achievements in mobile phones, home appliances and other fields in recent years, and its market share has been expanding. This entry into the automotive industry is undoubtedly an important step for Xiaomi on the road of diversified development. It is reported that Xiaomi SU7 will be a flagship product positioned as a smart electric vehicle, which is expected to be equipped with a series of advanced intelligent driving technology and Internet functions to bring users a new travel experience. Xiaomi's founder, Lei Jun, has said that Xiaomi will invest $10 billion in car research and development.
At the 2023 Xiaomi IoT Ecological Partner Conference held on the morning of the 16th of this month, Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi, revealed that Xiaomi Auto has progressed beyond expectations and will be officially released in the first half of next year.
Xiaomi's first car entered the fifth phase of production line verification (pt5) at the Yizhuang factory last week, and the factory needs to complete the target of loading 300 vehicles this month, which is several times more than in November, according to AutoPix.
The specific launch time of Xiaomi Auto has not been officially announced, and it is rumored on the Internet that it will be in December, and at the latest in January 2024. Whether it's December or January next year, Xiaomi cars are finally here.
After 31 months, Lei Jun personally put on the battle, and the Xiaomi car, which he called "the last major entrepreneurial project", finally appeared.
The announcement of the proposed content of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on the "Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products" (the 377th batch) and the "Catalogue of Energy-saving New Energy Vehicle Models Enjoying Vehicle and Vessel Tax Exemption and Exemption" (the 56th batch) shows that two Xiaomi brand pure electric cars are listed, which also shows that Xiaomi Automobile has obtained the "birth permit" of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the mass production and listing are also close to the end of the time.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the information on the declared models of Xiaomi automobiles, with a total of SU7 and SU7 MAX two models and SU7, SU7 Pro, SU7 MAX three tail labels, which are pure electric cars, the product trademark is Xiaomi, and the tail logo of the car is "Beijing Xiaomi", and the manufacturer is Beijing Automotive Group off-road vehicle
Xiaomi car SU7 is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery of Xiangyang Fodi Battery, with a motor power of 220kW and a maximum speed of 210 km/hThe SU7 MAX is powered by CATL's ternary lithium-ion battery and is equipped with dual front and rear motors with a power of 220 kW and 275 kW respectively, and a top speed of 265 km h.
Foreign brands such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and BMW have all said that it is difficult to make profits from making electric vehicles compared to traditional fuel vehicles. This is mainly because the core component of the battery is controlled by a few companies, which makes it difficult for car manufacturers to reduce costs. In addition, since the sales volume cannot be compared with that of conventional fuel vehicles, and the scale effect cannot bring about a cost reduction, the business of building electric vehicles is basically loss-making.
Traditional car factories have their own manufacturing plants and the accumulation of various types of parts, hole cards, suspension and other technologies, which allows them to save a lot of costs in the first chain and production links. If Xiaomi makes cars through the OEM model, it means that it is difficult to control the cost of the production process, which increases the difficulty of making profits for Xiaomi cars. It is reported that Xiaomi uses BAIC qualifications and the factory is self-built.
Building a car itself is a money-burning competition. Not long ago, Xpeng received an investment from Volkswagen, and NIO just received another $2.2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi. On the one hand, you have to burn money like crazy, and on the other hand, you have to build your own manufacturing plant. Tesla lost money for 6 years and sold more than 500,000 units a year before it became profitable. Moreover, Tesla's car-building factory goes first, and all the cars are made by themselves.
The reason why Ideal can make a profit also has a lot to do with its own manufacturing plant. The home appliance manufacturing industry is also through the construction of its own manufacturing plants, more first-class chain self-control, in order to save costs in the manufacturing process, improve quality, and at the same time obtain profits. The net profit of household appliances is only 5%, and it is also an extremely competitive industry.
If Xiaomi wants to really embark on the road of car manufacturing, it still needs to have a factory. Recently, NIO is also giving up OEM and applying for a vehicle production license. Building your own factory is another huge capital investment.
Therefore, what awaits Lei Jun is not 10 billion yuan, but I don't know how many 10 billion yuan. Moreover, in addition to traditional car manufacturers Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BYD, Great Wall, Geely, Chery, Changan and other companies that are crazy involved in the electric car market, Huawei has also entered the electric car market through the smart selection model. These companies include veterans of car manufacturing, as well as technical schools like Huawei, in short, the competitive pressure is much greater than that of the mobile phone industry.
According to the specific information disclosed, Xiaomi's first car BJ7000MBEVR2 has a length, width and height of 4997mm, 1963mm, and 1455m, with a wheelbase of 3000mm and a total mass of 2430kg. The length, width and height of BJ7000MBEVA1 are 4997mm, 1963mm, 1440mm, and the total mass is 2655kg. Unlike most new car-making forces, whose first car is an SUV, Xiaomi plans to launch two "C-class sedans".
It is understood that some people say that Xiaomi's first car is benchmarked against Zhijie S7, and the positioning of Zhijie S7 is a C-class car.
As a domestic technology giant, Xiaomi's entry into the automotive industry is undoubtedly a bold attempt. The choice of the C-class sedan as the first product also shows Xiaomi's thoughtfulness about the market. As a new entrant, it will not be easy for Xiaomi to gain a foothold in the C-segment sedan market.