In 2023, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, said, "The 'Fuyao' architecture redefines the standard of high-end smart electric vehicles";Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei Device BG, said, "The M9 will redefine the best luxury SUV within 10 million".Li Xinyang, head of MEGA product at Li Auto, said, "We have really redefined the MPV category," ......
In the past year, electric vehicles have been "defined" by Chinese car companies I don't know how many times, and the word "redefined" has even been "redefined".
2023 is coming to an end, and it may be the last "definer" of this year, Xiaomi, has appeared. In Lei Jun's words, "Xiaomi Auto will redefine the best technology stack".
On December 28, Lei Jun used his iconic Xiantao Mandarin to speak a full 3-hour press conference alone. Before the press conference, Lei Jun said that "only technology, not cars". But the "slap in the face" came so quickly, Xiaomi Su7 finally appeared at the press conference, the appearance, interior, chassis, etc. were introduced all over again, and the only suspense seemed to be left**.
Holding a special press conference for technology, which Xiaomi has not tried before, and a similar well-known example in the automotive industry, is a technology conference held by BYD a year ago for a million-level luxury brand. They do seem to have something in common, or they all want to do the same thing — looking up to selling the car for a million yuan, while Lei Jun said that Xiaomi cars are "indeed a bit expensive".
Like BYD, for a long time, Xiaomi had little to do with "high-end" and "luxury" brands. But now, Xiaomi is trying to use the "not so Xiaomi" way to equate Xiaomi cars with "expensive", and this different press conference is the epitome of Xiaomi's efforts.
Before the press conference, Xiaomi put forward the strategy of "people, cars and home ecology": Xiaomi Surging OS integrates more than 200 categories and can connect 8200 million devices. At the press conference, Lei Jun said that the car is the most important product in this ecosystem.
Similar ecological strategies are not new,Nearly ten years ago,Jia Yueting, founder of LETV Group, also proposed when he announced the construction of a car"Ecological anti-"strategy,At that time, LETV had both *** and LETV mobile phones、LETV super TV,Also in PPT"luxury car"Faraday Future,Also focus on multi-device、Multi-scene ecological interconnection。
The difference is that Xiaomi cars have really been built, and the latter is still stuck in the paragraph of "returning to China next week".
At the press conference, in addition to the ecological interconnection function, Lei Jun put more time on visible hardware configurations such as motors, batteries, intelligent driving, and intelligent cockpits.
Motor:The Xiaomi Super Motors V6 and V6S, with a speed of 21,000 rpm, are currently in mass production and will be installed on the first models of the Xiaomi Su7. The Xiaomi Super Motor V8S has a speed of 27,200 rpm, 578PS maximum horsepower, 425kW peak power, 635Nnm peak torque, and 98.11% maximum efficiency, motor power density up to 1014kW kg, which will be on the car in 2025. Xiaomi also said that the laboratory has pre-developed laser winding rotor technology, which can achieve 35,000 rpm.
Battery:Xiaomi SU7 is equipped with an 800V high-voltage battery, which is jointly developed by Xiaomi and CATL, and the battery cells come from CATL. The battery adopts Xiaomi's self-developed CTB battery body integration technology, and the official thickness of the battery pack + floor is 120mm. The battery has a maximum power of 150kWh and can achieve a range of more than 1200km under CLTC conditions (the upper limit of the platform). In addition, the battery is also known as the "industry's first" cell inversion technology, with 17 layers of high-voltage insulation protection, 78m largest cooling area in its class and insulated with 165 pieces of aerogel.
Die Casting Machine with Alloy Materials:Xiaomi's super large die-casting technology, 9,100 tons of integrated die-casting process, slightly higher than the 9,000 tons of Tesla's new factory in the United States. At the same time, Xiaomi's self-developed high-strength, high-toughness, heat-free and heat-free environmentally friendly die-casting material "Titan Alloy", Lei Jun said, Xiaomi is now "the only domestic automobile manufacturer with mass production of self-developed alloy materials". The alloy has been used in the Xiaomi Su7 model "72 in one" integrated die-casting rear floor, the model is equipped with a three-section rear floor, which is claimed to be compared with the traditional die-casting technology "840 fewer welding points, 2db more noise reduction capacity in the car, and 17% weight reduction", with a life of more than 2 million kilometers, and can achieve strong anti-collision ability.
Intelligent driving:The Xiaomi Mi SU7 uses zoom BEV technology, which is able to switch the recognition mode according to the vehicle's driving sceneIt also has super-resolution occupancy network technology, which can improve the accuracy of obstacle recognition and support intelligent noise reduction in rainy and snowy weather. It is possible to reverse into the left and right 0The mechanical parking space with a width of 05m supports reversing and giving way when unmanned valet parking, and automatically finding parking spaces. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi's urban pilot assistance NOA will achieve 100 city coverage support by the end of next year.
Smart Cockpit:The Xiaomi Su7 cockpit is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, based on the surging OS, and equipped with 161-inch central control ecological screen, with 3K resolution, 16:10 ratio, 917% screen-to-body ratio, 1024-level dynamic dimming. The central control of the car machine also supports the "Magic Desktop" function of the mobile phone and the car machine interconnection, which can realize the application flow between the mobile phone and the car machine. Plus, it supports Apple AirPlay and CarPlay.
Modena Architecture:The architecture includes underlying technology modules such as electronic and electrical, electric drive system, battery system, chassis, lower body system, and thermal management system. At the press conference, Lei Jun talked like a cross talk, listing the names of Bosch, Continental, ZF, Brembo and many other leading companies used in the Modena architecture.
Objectively speaking, Xiaomi has achieved the current first-class level in the industry in terms of the parameters of the motor and die-casting machine, and the intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit have also achieved similar capabilities to Xiaopeng, Huawei and other intelligent head car companies. But if you look closely, it's hard to find what is "unique" features or configurations. As for whether it can be called a "redefinition", I am afraid there is still a question mark.
For a long time in the past, Xiaomi had many labels - "cost-effective", "enthusiast", "young", "civilian" ......But none of them have anything to do with "technology". In the mainstream**, Xiaomi often means "equal rights in science and technology" - with a service that is far lower than that of its peers, providing services with similar functions or even more.
But in recent years, "impacting the high-end" has become a key word that Xiaomi can't avoid. At the annual Xiaomi digital flagship mobile phone conference, Lei Jun said that he must "benchmark the iPhone" and try his best to show the high cost of the product.
Although the Xiaomi car has not yet been announced, it also continues Xiaomi's past marketing methods. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi Su7 is in the trial production ramp-up stage, and it will take a few months for it to be officially launched, and there is no final decision on pricing, but it is indeed a bit expensive, but it is "expensive for a reason".
According to the data released at the press conference, the Xiaomi Su7 is like a sports car with strong performance: 2 acceleration per 100 kilometers78 seconds, the top speed is 265kmh;The Max dual-motor version has a maximum horsepower of 673 PS, a peak power of 495 kW and a maximum torque of 838 NmIt is equipped with Xiaomi's intelligent chassis, with a quadruple braking safety mechanism, a full-stack self-developed chassis control algorithm, and so on.
Therefore, Lei Jun said at the press conference: "Don't shout 90,009, it's impossible." But anyone with this kind of performance and configuration has to be more than 400,000, so 140,000 9 don't need to talk about it anymore."
At the Xiaomi 14 series launch conference two months ago, Lei Jun also said, "This time the pricing may be a little stressful for everyone......This price start may be the last." Finally, the starting price of Xiaomi 14 is set at 3999 yuan, which is 300 yuan lower than the previous generation Xiaomi 13 with the same configuration.
Lei Jun frequently gives Xiaomi cars "vaccinations", it is difficult to say whether Xiaomi cars will really be expensive at that time, or whether it is just a trick like Xiaomi 14, and finally turned into some kind of contrast marketing.
In the past, Xiaomi has been considered to lack technology, but in essence, it is actually talking about Xiaomi's lack of technology to build a moat. After all, without technology, it would be difficult for Xiaomi to become the third largest brand in the world in terms of smartphone shipments after Samsung and Apple.
The so-called "moat technology" is the fundamental difference between Xiaomi products and other products, such as Apple's iPhone A-series chips, Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin chips, the reason why the public admires them is not only because of the complexity of technology and high brand value, but also because they can provide functions completely different from other mobile phones for iPhones and Huawei mobile phones in terms of function, such as the unique advantages of A-series chips in terms of privacy and security.
In Xiaomi mobile phones, most of the core configurations are provided by ** manufacturers, such as CPU, screen, etc., which also means that other manufacturers can also adopt the same configuration, and Xiaomi is very easy to fall into a homogenization situation. In this case, it is particularly difficult for Xiaomi to hit the high-end market.
Xiaomi Auto is obviously aware of the lessons on the mobile phone, so the high-speed motor and intelligent driving are self-developed solutions. But Xiaomi is a newcomer to the automotive industry after all, and whether users are willing to pay for Xiaomi's attempts remains to be tested by the market.
For Xiaomi cars, the most important thing is attention. Since the first day of the announcement of the car, Xiaomi Auto has been the top of the industry, it was born with a halo, and it was also examined by everyone with a magnifying glass. If Xiaomi Auto succeeds, Xiaomi will gain brand power far beyond other car companies, and if it fails, Xiaomi will also be drowned out by more criticism.
And in this process, Xiaomi and Lei Jun can actually not do much, only to do a good job in the product, is one of the few hopes of Xiaomi Automobile.
In the past year, China's auto market has experienced an unprecedented war, and it is unprecedentedly difficult for Xiaomi cars to sell expensive. "Cost-effective" is no longer a derogatory term, but the object of car companies.
The day before this press conference, ZEEKR 007 was released, as Geely's pure electric luxury brand, ZEEKR 007 is equipped with 800V architecture as standard, Qualcomm 8295 chip, single motor power 310kW, optional 100 degree battery, etc., and its starting price has been lowered to 20990,000 yuan.
Earlier, the Zhijie S7, which is equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving and Huawei's self-developed chassis, claimed that every car is sold at a loss.
When car companies began to take the initiative to "milletize", Xiaomi wanted to "de-milletize", and the challenges it faced were not small.
Two years ago, Lei Jun once said, "For Xiaomi, building a car is the first battle that is, the decisive battle", and two years later, this sentence has become a reality.