Winning the knockout round is the real challenge for Xiaomi Auto
Written byChen Dengxin.
EditMeng Huiyuan.
Lei Jun, I can't bear it.
Since Xiaomi's official announcement of the car, it has been the focus of heated discussions on the Internet for more than 1000 days, and there are related rumors from time to time, especially after last month's technology conference, rumors such as **, material, self-development, and **chain have emerged in an endless stream around Xiaomi cars.
In this regard, Lei Jun said on Weibo: "Regarding Xiaomi Auto, there are a lot of rumors and black drafts, and we will clarify them in time." ”
In this context, Lei Jun asked netizens to help Xiaomi Auto refute rumors, which was on the hot search, and Xiaomi Auto also launched 100 questions to answer netizens, focusing on responding to the concerns of the outside world.
Xiaomi car, why are there rumors? What kind of market mentality is reflected behind the rumors? How does Lei Jun think about stirring up the new energy vehicle market?
is either refuting rumors, or on the way to refute rumors
Most of the rumors mainly revolve around the pricing derivation of Xiaomi cars, the most well-known of which is "Xiaomi car sells 9."90,000 yuan", so much so that at the Xiaomi automotive technology conference on December 28, 2023, the audience chanted "90,009".
At the scene, Lei Jun responded directly: "Don't shout '90,000', it's impossible!" But anyone with this kind of performance and configuration will have to pay more than 400,000 yuan, so '140,000 9' doesn't need to talk about it anymore, we still have to respect technology! ”
However, the rumors don't end there.
On January 3, 2024, the ** containing the pre-sale price of Xiaomi Su7 appeared on the Internet, of which the pre-sale price of the four-wheel drive MAX version was 599w's ** has been widely circulated, and it has once again made fans blow up.After all, the outside world speculates that the upper limit of Xiaomi SU7 will not exceed 500,000 yuan.
The reason why this is so is because on January 2, 2024, Lei Jun replied to netizen Xiaomi Su7 pricing: "Within 500,000 yuan, is there an opponent?" ”
As a result, refuting rumors has become a "must-choose" for Wang Hua, general manager of the public relations department of Xiaomi Group.
I just saw a few pictures, what a fake! This can't be a picture made by our rice noodles.,Not only is the font wrong.,There's no rice mark.,It's still the screenshot of the official website that goes directly to the P word and does it more sloppily.。 ”
Everyone's anticipation has been received, and the rhythm of a daily picture is not necessary, and everyone will be clear at a glance when it is officially released. ”
Until the end of the official Xiaomi car product launch, all information and posters with the Xiaomi car version and price are fake. ”
**In addition, self-research is another "hard-hit area" for rumors.
For example, the self-developed "Xiaomi Titan Alloy" was once considered "plagiarism" by Yang Lei of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and later admitted that it was "the wrong ingredient, Xiaomi did develop it itself".
For another example, Xiaomi has always emphasized that the V8S super motor is self-developed, and a voice is conclusive that it comes from Inovance Technology, forcing Inovance Technology to come forward to clarify in person, even so, it is still nitpicky, "The normal reply should be that our company has not participated in the research and development of V8S motors, not to help Xiaomi answer all self-developed, there is a problem in the middle."
As a result, a strange scene appeared, and the absurd drama of "the rabbit cannot prove that he is not a camel, and the camel is not a rabbit" continues to be staged.
Selling expensive is not the goal, selling well is
There are three reasons behind the saturation rumor attack on Xiaomi cars.
First of all, don't understand the pricing logic.
Xiaomi Auto has adopted a strategy of holding high and fighting high from the start.
The goal of Xiaomi Auto is to be comparable to Porsche and Tesla, to create a dream car in the new era, and to do a good job of looking, easy to drive, comfortable and safe mobile intelligent space. Lei Jun is looking for a balance between the public and the high-end, "Xiaomi Su7 pricing is indeed a bit expensive, but it will definitely make everyone feel that it is reasonable, and it will definitely exceed everyone's expectations in terms of experience." ”
After all, expensive is not the problem, expensive but not worth it is.
A private equity source told Zinc Scale: "Any brand is often easy to hit from high to low, and difficult to hit from low to high, the most obvious being Tesla and BYD." Tesla's first mass-produced car is Model S, and then continues to sink to Model 3, all the way can be described as smooth, and BYD started in F3, although this is a generation of god cars, but it has also made it at the bottom of the car contempt chain for a long time, the wind evaluation has not been high, until it entered the hybrid era, it gradually occupied the minds of high-end consumers, how much suffering and how many grievances were suffered, not for outsiders. ”
The above-mentioned private equity person further said that the pricing logic of Xiaomi cars is to take into account high-end, high-quality and cost-effective, "selling expensive is not the goal, selling well is", and then sink to the B-class and A-class markets after gaining a firm foothold, "YesSu7 does not sell 9."90,000 yuan 1490,000 yuan 1990,000 yuan, not Xiaomi cars".
Second, there is a bias against the term "self-developed".
Some people on the Internet think that Xiaomi Auto is just an "assembly factory", and they "don't believe" in the self-developed main product of Xiaomi Auto, which has caused controversy.
An industry insider told Zinc Scale: "This is the same as satirizing the large aircraft C919 is" assembly goods ", either ignorant or ulterior motives, the key is how much core technology has been mastered, not how many parts have been mastered, for example, large die-casting equipment from a third-party business, but the large die-casting equipment cluster system is self-developed by Xiaomi Automobile, and integration is also a creative ability." ”
The above-mentioned industry insiders further said that an important indicator to measure the scientific and technological content of an enterprise is R&D investment, and under normal circumstances, R&D investment and technical output are directly proportional.
According to the financial report of Xiaomi Group, the R&D expenses in the third quarter of 2023 will be 5 billion yuan, an increase of 22 percent year-on-year0%, mainly due to higher R&D expenses related to the smart electric vehicle business and other innovative businesses.
According to public information, in order to develop Xiaomi SU7, Xiaomi Auto has invested 3,400 engineers, and the entire R&D investment has exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the R&D investment is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in the next five years.Again, the information is not equal.
For commercial reasons, some key information of Xiaomi Auto has not been disclosed, but the capital market is eager to speculate on the concept and has excavated listed companies related to Xiaomi's automobile industry chain.
If the information is not equal, errors will inevitably occur.
Xiaomi's spokesperson "official Weibo said: "Recently, I paid attention to a ** about Xiaomi's automobile industry chain, and after verification, at least 50% of the content is completely wrong. ”
It is very important to compete on the same stage, and it is even more important to compete for the turf of fuel vehicles
Compared with rumors, winning the knockout round is the real challenge for Xiaomi Auto.
As the last heavyweight player to enter the game, the landing of Xiaomi cars means that the "door" to car manufacturing is basically closed, and the industry may stage a "battle royale" in 2024.
Although, the knockout round of new energy has been going on.
According to incomplete statistics from the "Auto Service World", more than 400 new energy vehicle companies have closed down in the past five years, including many "Internet celebrity" car companies such as Weimar, Aiways, Zhidou, and Ziyoujia.
With the entry of Xiaomi Automobile, it is bound to become a "catfish" that stirs up the industry, and the industry will be eliminated or accelerated.
In this regard, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, said: "In the next ten years, the market will have a '32 into 8' knockout game, only a few mainstream brands can survive, and the annual sales scale of 3 million vehicles will only be the ticket for car companies."
In fact, Xiaomi Su7 faces strong opponents such as Tesla Model 3, Zhijie S7, AVATR 12, Zeekr 007, Xpeng P7, and NIO ET5, and the competitiveness of each product should not be underestimated.
This means that Xiaomi cars need to fight their way out.
Fortunately, new energy vehicles are a vibrant incremental market, not a life-and-death stock market, not a disheartened shrinkage market, as long as the cannibalization of fuel vehicles is not over, the industry has the opportunity to overtake in corners.
According to public data, the sales of fuel vehicles in 2023 will be 14.38 million units, while the sales volume of new energy vehicles will be 7.32 million units.Xiang Ligang, a well-known communications expert, said: "I have experienced the transition from feature phones to smartphones, and in the middle of this process, I have also maintained Motorola and Nokia, and it turns out that I am wrong. Although people still have a little affection and attachment to the old brand, they don't believe that the once powerful empire will suddenly collapse, in fact, this thing is faster than we think. Driving a BBA oil truck is very dirty, and this feeling will not be very far. ”
All in allThe starting point of Xiaomi cars is high, and the expectations of the outside world are also high, although there is no lack of interference from rumors, but it does not affect the overall layout, how to survive in the knockout round and live well, testing the wisdom of Lei Jun.
Then, Xiaomi cars have to work harder.