Xiaomi car manufacturing does not seem to be a single line, but more likely to be a "two-pronged approach".
Recently, according to a number of insiders introduced by 36Kr, Zhimi Technology, an ecological chain company under Xiaomi Holdings, has joined the car-making track and will assemble a car-making team composed of former employees of GM and BAIC. Among them, Ma Yongdong, head of the GM Pan-Asia Electric Vehicle Project, has confirmed his joining and is responsible for the vehicle business of Zhimi Technology. Many of BAIC's electrical and electronic architects have also recently joined Zhimi to expand the company's automobile research and development scale and accelerate the process of car manufacturing.
At the same time, sources revealed that some car design companies are already in contact with Zhimi to dock the vehicle design work. At present, the direction of Zhimi car manufacturing is also aimed at the passenger car field, but unlike Xiaomi, the first model of Zhimi may be an SUV model.
According to the data, Zhimi Technology is a Xiaomi ecological chain company specializing in air conditioners, air purifiers and other products. Unlike other Xiaomi ecological chain companies, Zhimi Technology is a holding subsidiary led by Xiaomi, while other ecological chain companies such as Stone Technology and Chaomi Technology have only a small amount of equity investment from Xiaomi.
From the perspective of equity information, 95% of the equity of Beijing Zhimi Technology Co., Ltd. is held by Liu De, co-founder of Xiaomi, who has actual control over the company.
As the initiator of the Xiaomi ecological chain, Liu De's shareholding means the "absolute control" behind the Xiaomi Group. Similarly, in terms of organizational structure, xiaomi's internal proprietary OA system can also see the personnel system of Beijing Zhimi Technology Company.
Obviously, Zhimi and Xiaomi are almost two-line parallel car-making roads, or that Zhimi's car-making projects and the car-making projects led by Lei Jun are likely to belong to a "parallel relationship".
In March this year, Xiaomi Group announced that it plans to invest 10 billion US dollars in 10 years, and the first batch of 10 billion yuan. In September, Xiaomi Automobile Entity Company was formally established, and the team personnel also expanded rapidly, as of now, the Xiaomi Automobile team has exceeded 500 people, and the research and development centers are distributed in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.
Previously, Lei Jun, the founder and chairman of Xiaomi Technology, had aggressively proposed a car-making plan: the first car sold 100,000 units in the first year, and then maintained the rhythm of pushing a new car every year for the next three years, with total sales reaching one million units.
Although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has been rising in recent years, as a latecomer to the "cross-bank transformation", this plan has undoubtedly brought about a very urgent car-making progress. Taking the head enterprise "Wei Xiaoli" as an example, the time for the three new car-making forces to reach the delivery of 100,000 units is 40 months, 24 months and 23 months respectively. From the stage of listing and introduction, to the stage of growth and maturity, if it is only compressed to a one-year period, the pressure will not be underestimated.
Perhaps because of this, Xiaomi chose to lay out its Zhimi Technology this car-making route. "After Xiaomi announced the car, it attracted abundant resources, and the multi-line layout of the car may be able to balance the demands of all parties, and at the same time, it is also racing horses internally to accelerate the pace of car building." Some insiders said.
Previously, Lei Jun had made it clear that Xiaomi Auto was expected to be officially mass-produced in the first half of 2024, and with the arrival of Zhimi Car, Xiaomi's sales network construction work has become more and more tense, "Xiaomi Home is already studying how to sell cars, and will open more big stores in the future." Lu Weibing, vice president of Xiaomi Group and president of the international department, said.