Author | Li Yan Source | Brand Front Page
Some time ago, Lei Jun’s annual speech was screened on the Internet.
Some netizens found that in the three-hour discussion about brand growth and cognitive breakthrough, Lei Jun didn’t say anything about building a car, which suddenly triggered various speculations.
Just a few days ago, it was revealed that Xiaomi had been successfully approved by the planning department and had the qualification to produce electric vehicles.
What followed was the photo that Lei Jun recently posted on the social platform. The banner read "Fight for Xiaomi Car!"
Laman expectation
On August 23, some media reported that Xiaomi had been successfully approved by the planning department and had the qualification to produce electric vehicles.
This indicates that,Xiaomi Auto is one step closer to the goal of mass production early next year.
Xiaomi has also become the fourth company approved to build a car since the end of 2017.
It is reported that if a company wants to enter the field of new energy vehicles, it needs to obtain "double qualifications" to meet production and sales. The acquisition of double qualifications is extremely difficult.
This is one of the reasons why Weilai, Tucki and other new car-making forces choose OEM.
As can be seen from other media reports, Xiaomi has investment layouts in five major areas: intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent network connection, intelligent electric power and car cloud service.
As the industrial chain matures, Xiaomi Automobile will be officially on the road soon.
In fact, Lei Jun basked out."Fight for Xiaomi Automobile"At the time of the banner, some netizens posted spy photos of Xiaomi cars galloping on the highway in Xinjiang.
At the same time, Hu Zhengnan, a partner of Shunwei Capital Investment, also exposed the energy consumption performance of Xiaomi Automobile during Lei Jun’s release of a series of Weibo trends located in Xinjiang.
Under normal circumstances, a medium and large car, such as Tucki P7, Tesla Model S and other single-motor models, whose energy consumption per 100 kilometers is less than 15kWh is an excellent level.
The Xiaomi car under test has an energy consumption data of 8.8kWh, which is far lower than the current average of 15.8, and it can be regarded as excellent performance.
As soon as this data came out, it directly filled the expectations of rice noodles.
It is reported that,Xiaomi plans to produce about 100 thousand electric vehicles next year. At the same time, it is confirmed that the battery suppliers at this stage are Zhongchuang Singapore Airlines and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited.
As the attention continues to rise, the design of Xiaomi car’s configuration, laser radar, frameless door and closed grille exposed by bloggers in May this year is even more eye-catching …
Mass production is imminent
As early as Xiaomi Investor Day in October 2021, Lei Jun said that Xiaomi Automobile is expected to be officially mass-produced in the first half of 2024.
In the past three years, news about Xiaomi automobile has emerged from time to time. News such as the completion of the first phase of the factory and the purchase of spare parts confirmed the steady progress of Xiaomi’s car.
At present, there seems to be more and more "breaking news" about Xiaomi Automobile.
According to media reports, the photos of Xiaomi’s new car road test show that the first model will be a coupe with a slip-back design.
The seemingly long front of the car is slightly different from the inherent impression of netizens on pure electric vehicles. At the same time, the new car is expected to have a closed front end design to further optimize aerodynamic performance.
▲ Source: Weibo
In addition, although the car body is covered with "camouflage", it can still be seen that lidar equipment is mounted on the top of the car.
Some netizens boldly gave an "irresponsible" guess through the details of the pictures-at least there are two versions with and without lidar.
The first one is that the roof is equipped with a laser radar, and the wheel hub adopts a hollow Y-shaped hollow shape, as well as a "high-equipped" version of the yellow brake caliper.
The other is that there is no lidar on the roof, and the hub shape is more focused on reducing air resistance than the previous hollow design.
Of course, in addition to configuration, netizens are more concerned about the pricing of Xiaomi Automobile.
After all, Xiaomi can quickly occupy the minds of young consumers by maximizing the cost-effectiveness advantage.
▲ Source: Weibo
In June of this year, Xiaomi’s intelligent AI assistant "Little Love Classmate" made an own goal of "Xiaomi Car Pricing" when answering questions from users.
The head of public relations of Xiaomi Group denied rumors in Weibo: "Xiaomi Auto will be released next year, so how can there be a price now? Xiao Ai’s reply was to grab a report on speculation in 2022. "
However,According to the price of "online transmission", the high-end version may cost 299,000 yuan, and the low-end version is 199,000 yuan..
Xiaomi insiders said that the price will be adjusted according to the market situation next year, and this price may not be the final pricing.
If this price is true, it seems to be a little far from "the first electric car for young people".
▲ Source: Playing electricity 8 Weibo
What we prefer to believe is that Mr. Lei has "persuaded the board of directors overnight".The overall profit margin of Xiaomi’s hardware will not exceed 1%.. As for the profit point, it depends on software services and ecosystem.
In those days, Lei Jun beat down the price of mobile phones by "overnight persuasion", and consumers used high-priced products with real prices.
Therefore, the profit rate of "persuading executives overnight" will not exceed 1%, which makes netizens have the expectation that "good things are about to happen".
Intellectual priority
In fact, in the new energy track, the profit margin of no more than 1% is basically a beautiful imagination.
For any car company, it needs to rely on huge scale effect to achieve it.
The "small profits but quick turnover" often mentioned in the consumer market, if you want to maintain the daily expenses of car companies, I am afraid it is a bit difficult to even "plug your teeth".
Take BYD, the industry’s "profit extreme", as an example.
Some investment banks have done rough calculations. The cost price of BYD’s 2023 Qin Plus DM-i is 99,000 yuan, while the starting price of this model is 99,800 yuan.
This also means that selling a BYD may only earn a few hundred yuan, and the profit rate is even less than 1%.
▲ Source: BYD Weibo
From the data point of view, its net interest rate in the first quarter of 2023 was only 3.64%, even lower than the 7.15% of Toyota, a traditional fuel vehicle company.
As a new energy head brand, this is still the case. It just means,At present, the "model" of hardware comprehensive profit rate in the automobile market is less than 1%, which is really a beautiful imagination..
However, BYD has perfect upstream and downstream industries, and many factors are affecting the profit margin of the brand.
For BYD, the premise of "small profits but quick turnover" is the efforts of cost control such as upstream and downstream connection and mass production, as well as the revenue support of multiple explosions at the same time.
For Xiaomi Automobile, the advantage lies in the sound volume of Xiaomi brand and the cognitive label of "cost performance".
The existence of these stickers made Xiaomi, which sold 33.2 million mobile phones in the second quarter of 2023, still attractive in the eyes of consumers.
▲ Source: New Energy Station Weibo
Nowadays, the automobile market has reached its peak. Whether Xiaomi Automobile can once again come up with a cost-effective "killer" to conquer consumers is another matter.
Some netizens believe that the new energy track may only be low enough to subvert the industry.
In my opinion,Sufficient low price is based on cost control, showing the leading edge of intelligent driving, chips, power batteries and other fields..
Since the new energy track was opened, the price is not the only consideration for consumers to buy, but the better product "intelligence" and user experience are.
In March, 2021, when Lei Jun officially announced that Xiaomi was building a car, he said: "I am willing to put all my reputation in life and personally lead the team to fight for Xiaomi Automobile."
When the mass production of Xiaomi car is just around the corner, will this dream of building a car with Lei Jun’s reputation in life conquer more young people?
We will wait and see.
* Arrangement | Another Ear Review | Gu Xiaohui
This article first appeared on the front page of the brand (ID: ceozhiku)
