Xiaomi Auto is a smart electric vehicle brand under Xiaomi Group, which officially announced its entry into the automotive industry in March 2023, and plans to invest $10 billion in the next 10 years to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, with Lei Jun himself as CEO. The first model of Xiaomi Auto is expected to be launched in 2024 and has already been confirmed as a coupe or SUV, with specific details yet to be announced. The pricing of Xiaomi cars is also the focus of attention from the outside world, according to domestic ** reports, Xiaomi cars will be launched in four versions, with a price range of 19-300,000 yuan, positioning in the high-end market. However, whether this ** is reasonable, whether it can attract consumers, and whether it can achieve sales targets are all major challenges faced by Xiaomi Auto.
Xiaomi Auto's ** is higher than expected.
Xiaomi's ** is higher than many people's expectations, and it has also caused a lot of controversy and questions. This is because Xiaomi, as an Internet company, has always taken "cost performance" as its core competitiveness, providing consumers with high-performance, low-quality smart products, such as mobile phones, TVs, notebooks, etc. Xiaomi's user base is also dominated by young people, who are more sensitive to the brand, do not have high brand loyalty, and are easily affected by market changes. Therefore, many people expect Xiaomi Auto to continue Xiaomi's tradition and launch an electric car that is close to the people and has excellent performance, becoming the first car for young people.
However, Xiaomi's ** is far higher than this expectation, and even exceeds some well-known new car-making forces, such as NIO, Xiaopeng, Ideal, etc. It is reported that the four versions of Xiaomi cars are the standard version, the Pro version, the MAX version and the track version, of which the standard version is priced at 19990,000 yuan, rear-drive single motor, 800 kilometers of endurance;The Pro version is priced at 22990,000 yuan, dual-motor four-wheel drive, range of 700 kilometers;The MAX version is priced at 25990,000 yuan, three-motor four-wheel drive, 600 kilometers;The track version is priced at 29990,000 yuan, four-motor four-wheel drive, 500 kilometers. This range is comparable to Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y, and even higher than BYD's Han and Tang models.
There are several reasons why Xiaomi Auto's ** is higher than expected. First of all, Xiaomi Auto is positioned in the mid-to-high-end market, not the low-end market. The first battle of Xiaomi Auto is a decisive battle, which should represent the cutting-edge technology and cutting-edge level at the time of launch, and create a high-quality, high-performance, and high-intelligence electric vehicle, rather than a low-cost, low-configuration, and low-quality electric vehicle. Xiaomi Auto has to compete with international brands such as Tesla, not with domestic low-end brands. Therefore, the ** of Xiaomi cars cannot be too low, otherwise it will affect the brand image and product quality.
Secondly, the cost of Xiaomi cars is not low, especially in core components such as power batteries and chips. It is reported that Xiaomi cars will use world-class manufacturers, such as CATL's power batteries, Nvidia's chips, Bosch's electronic control, etc., these parts are not cheap, and affected by market supply and demand, there may be price increases. If Xiaomi cars want to ensure the performance and safety of their products, they can't make too many compromises and sacrifices on these parts, so the cost of Xiaomi cars will increase accordingly.
Thirdly, Xiaomi Auto's R&D investment is not low, especially in terms of talents, technology, patents, etc. To create a smart electric vehicle with Xiaomi characteristics, Xiaomi Auto needs a large number of R&D personnel and technical experts, as well as a large number of technical patents and intellectual property rights. If Xiaomi cars want to make breakthroughs in intelligence, networking, and autonomous driving, they need a lot of technological innovation and test verification. If Xiaomi Auto wants to have highlights in model design, user experience, brand marketing, etc., it needs a lot of market research and user feedback. These require a large amount of capital investment, and they may not be able to achieve immediate results, and require long-term accumulation and precipitation.
Finally, the sales model of Xiaomi cars is also different from the traditional car sales model, but adopts a direct sales model, that is, sales are carried out through online and offline Xiaomi Home, without dealers, without intermediate links, and directly facing consumers. Although such a sales model can save some costs, it also needs to invest some expenses, such as the cost of building and maintaining Xiaomi Home, the cost of providing after-sales service and maintenance, and the cost of providing test drives and delivery. These fees will also affect the pricing of Xiaomi cars.
To sum up, the ** of Xiaomi car is higher than expected, which is reasonable and necessary, and it is also the embodiment of Xiaomi car's strategic choice and market positioning. However, whether this ** can be accepted by consumers and whether it can achieve the sales target still depends on the product strength and market feedback of Xiaomi Automobile.
Judging from the current situation, the product strength of Xiaomi Auto has yet to be verified, and the market feedback is still unclear, so the sales prospects of Xiaomi Auto are still uncertain, and there are certain risks and challenges.
From the perspective of product strength, if Xiaomi Auto wants to gain a firm foothold in the mid-to-high-end market, it needs to be outstanding in terms of performance, quality, intelligence, design, etc., which can bring consumers a different experience and value. Xiaomi Auto wants to stand out in the electric vehicle market