"In this world, there has never been greatness that can be achieved overnight."
It is undeniable that when the total amount of the entire new energy market expands rapidly in 2021 and the penetration rate surges, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, BYD, including Tesla, have become the winners who have harvested the most flowers and applause and eaten the biggest market dividends.
But what can never be ignored is who has not been mired in a quagmire, unable to extricate themselves, in the endless darkness, only a line away from death. Fortunately, strong enough willpower, gradually clear goals, and even rare luck together supported them to survive.
And more participants in this cruel fight are moving towards a road of no return that is gradually drifting away.
Looking back at the past 2020, Sailin, Bo County, Byton, Singularity, The Future... Brands that once had short highlight moments, for various reasons, natural disasters or man-made disasters, eventually collapsed, leaving a chicken feather.
Obviously, building a car is cruel, and behind the opportunity is always a little careless, it will fall into the abyss.
Because of this, whenever I hear that there is a new brand, I choose to start "building a car", as a bystander, the standard of examination and judgment slowly becomes more and more stringent. After all, what we are about to face is a vast ocean that has long since turned from blue to red.
As everyone knows, just last week, I suddenly received an invitation from NIUTRON officials to go to Changzhou to attend its first media meeting. To be sure, I was not surprised to see such news. Because, as early as March this year, the Automobile Commune had exclusively learned that the project was being promoted and was preparing for the acquisition of related factories.
In contrast, Li Yinan, as the founder of the company, has a more dazzling aura.
From debuting as a "genius" at the age of 15 to becoming a vice president of Huawei at the age of 27, once being internally designated as "Ren Zhengfei's successor", he finally left twice, not hesitate to stand against Huawei, to found the Maverick electric car and serve as the CEO, and was arrested two days after the release of the new product, stepped down as the CEO of the Maverick, and then officially pushed NIUTRON to the front of the stage.
Not willing to be mediocre, good at tossing, has become the most prominent "label" on Li Yinan. The above-mentioned professional resume, which can be described by ups and downs, has given him a rare toughness, and even a touch of magic.
"This is the last time I've started a business."
In 2015, the Maverick Electric Vehicle was officially released, and Li Yinan, standing in the spotlight, made a commitment to everyone. But with the arrival of NIUTRON, in the face of a more tempting new "cake", it finally chose to renege on its promise.
The biggest remaining problem has become: can Li Yinan succeed in building a car?
An uphill battle that cannot be avoided
At the beginning of this paragraph, the first thing that needs to be explained is that this event officially announced the brand's Chinese name - "Self-Traveler", which means the tone of exploration, refinement and pleasure. So please forget about "NIUTRON", and ziyoujia and maverick electric are completely two independent companies, unrelated.
The only point of convergence is that the founders are Li Yinan.
Compared with the breakthrough from the "army" of two-wheeled electric vehicles, the difficulty of building a four-wheeled electric passenger car has shown a geometric multiple increase. In other words, for a new car company's capital, factory, products, technical routes, including the team, there are strict requirements.
"To build a car, you need a threshold."
So, using this as a criterion, is the self-traveler really ready? After just a few hours of contact, from my personal point of view, I would like to give a positive answer, but the flaws cannot be avoided.
As an argument, as of now, Youjia has completed a round of financing totaling 500 million US dollars, and has received investment from WELL-known institutions such as IDG Capital and COATUE. At present, it has nearly 1,000 core R&D personnel, the brand headquarters is located in Beijing, and Shanghai has set up a R&D center.
It also has a manufacturing base covering an area of 770,000 square meters in Changzhou, with an overall design capacity of 180,000 vehicles per year, and is currently undergoing pre-mass production transformation and calibration, and will be put into use in March 2022.
After learning about it, it was learned that the predecessor of the factory was a "Mahayana car". Since the formal acquisition of Youjia, it has been upgraded according to actual needs. As for the $500 million A round of financing, although the threshold is far from the so-called "no 20 billion yuan, don't want to build a car", from the perspective of the development of the former, it is still used on the blade as much as possible.
At the same time, through three years of preparation, the first mass-produced model "Self-Touring Home NV" was also officially unveiled at the event. Positioned as a medium-sized and large-scale new energy SUV, born on the Gemini twin platform, it will launch two versions of the extended range and pure electric models after listing, and focus on urban off-road style.
Somewhat regrettably, according to its official communication cycle requirements, it is currently impossible to disclose any pictures to the outside world, so it can only be described verbally.
Since the front face of the NV, the biggest feature is the use of double-sided circular LED headlights, the middle of which is connected by through-the-day running lights. The side shape is more rigid, there is no excessive waist line, the C-pillar position is equipped with a charging indicator strip, and the rear of the vehicle also uses a penetrating taillight that echoes the front of the car.
The interior is composed of a 15.6-inch central control large screen and an LCD instrument whose size is not disclosed, and adopts a large 5-seat layout, and will not be launched in the form of a 6/7-seat layout in the future. For reference, the overall visual effect presented by the Tourer NV is similar to the Ford Bronco Sport and Rivian R1S, which are also American models.
According to field engineers, the design language of the product has been fully determined, and the mass production version will only be fine-tuned in details, and will be put into production in March next year and officially delivered to users in September.
Because the factory is located in Changzhou, it is inevitable to compare the above new car with the ideal ONE that was also born in Changzhou at a distance of tens of kilometers. The convergence of body sizes, the drive of the extended range, and the just-concluded November, the latter has already exceeded the performance of 13,000 units per month, proving the payment and recognition of end users.
In contrast, at the product level, there are many difficulties that self-traveling NV needs to overcome.
Judging from the planning of several new forces known at present, Weilai ES7, Xiaopeng G9, Ideal X01, etc., will flock to 2022, and the fight in the new energy medium and large SUV market is becoming more and more fierce, and it is irreversible. In addition, Volkswagen, Toyota, GM, these traditional car giants elephants turn around the complete ALL IN, will also squeeze its breathing space.
There is no doubt that an uphill battle of life and death has quickly begun.
"Fail, at least pay off the supplier's money."
The most impressive thing about the whole event, in addition to the debut of the self-touring NV, was The interview with Li Yinan himself, which was slightly "alternative".
The reason for this is that I don't know whether I am at a loss in the face of the repeated bombardment of the car circle media, or whether my own style of handling is like this, informal. Many times, the former always responds with very direct statements such as "no" and "cannot be told".
To be sure, such a style has never been seen in any of the founders of a new power.
When asked how to deal with the risk of unsuccessful entrepreneurship, Li Yinan said without the slightest hesitation: "Failure, at least pay off the supplier's money." With a straight mouth, never hidden, without twists and turns, "truth" became the most appropriate adjective given to him.
Regarding the opportunity to build a car, in his eyes, China's new energy market is broad enough to tolerate, giving birth to the birth of self-travelers. "There are too many supply chain companies in China, Japan, Germany, Europe, the United States, South Korea, domestic, northern, southern, state-owned, private, workshop joint ventures, the number can not be counted, only under such a rich supply chain system, so that enterprises like ours can be established." On the contrary, it is impossible to copy it anywhere in the world. ”
Because of this, all the new forces in China that have been established or are on the road to creation are undoubtedly quite lucky to build cars. New questions arise: Who will stay in the end?
"Whether it is a self-traveler, I have no point of view, because first of all, my car has not come out, I have not yet come on stage, I am not qualified to say what this is the first, whether I can live, I can't answer this kind of words, I am not qualified." 」
In the past year, the same proposition has been thrown to many industry executives, and the basic unified answer is that the car companies behind them will become the ultimate breakouts. In contrast, Li Yinan's answer is the most realistic.
At the same time, after being questioned for 3 years, before the car, whether the strategic rhythm is slightly delayed, it directly said; "It is true that we began to do it in November 2018, and in the whole process, not a day was lazy, and I did not lack money for a day." People think we're doing it slowly, and I don't think it's fast enough. ”
"But I think the good products are polished out of any product, the car I think it is simple, its process is very clear, you have to follow these processes to do, but it has a lot of details, so it has both a large balance, and there are countless details, both involving a lot of designer work, but also involving a lot of engineering work, but also involving a lot, so I feel that time is quite tight, this is what I want to say, maybe others are much better than us."
In the past few years, some new forces have always liked to put "slow is fast" on their lips. But in fact, if the corresponding time is spent to actually polish the product, then it is the truth. On the contrary, if the corresponding time is constantly wasted, then it is a lie.
From the current appearance of the self-touring NV, you can still feel the sincerity of Li Yinan. However, he also admits that there are many things that he does not know and do not understand about his current role, and can only be solved through rapid learning.
"Of course, my own work experience, I think whether it is the development of complex systems, hardware and software, or the establishment of brands, the understanding of the logic of sales channels, I have dabbled in and seen." There is also the financing capital market, I am not proficient in it, but I know a little more or less. ”
To be sure, being modest enough and having a low enough posture can often help better development at the enterprise level. In the face of the huge and complicated automotive industry, in Li Yinan's resume, although there are many highlights of the experience, how much can be learned is still debatable. This time, when the aura faded, his identity seemed to be that of a "student" in the growth stage.
At the end of the interview, he also talked about the self-touring NV as the first product, which will never compromise, will focus on high-end, for the user group, there is no deliberate stereotype, including product price, is still under discussion. Before coming here, I want to know more about whether there are inextricable connections and small stories between Li Yinan and Li Xiang, between the self-traveling home and the car and home.
"Before I officially built the car, of course, Li wanted to give me a lot of sharing, I asked him questions, Li wanted to be a good person, he also knew everything. Of course, I officially decided to do this thing, we did not communicate, this matter I think is also a minimum of respect for others. Lee wants to do well, and we put our hands together to express our heartfelt congratulations. ”
Obviously, in his cognition, being on the same track, since he has become an opponent, it is better not to disturb each other and develop separately. Perhaps, it is also the obsession of his personality.
At the end of the article, I return to the question raised at the beginning: Can Li Yinan succeed in building a car? The same choice is true: now, I can't give a definite answer.
Put aside those hypocrisy, as Li Yinan said: "Try it." "China's new energy market needs such interesting people to do such courageous things."