Regarding Tesla CEO Musk, there are two videos that are particularly popular recently.
In 2011, during a media interview, Musk, who had just recovered from the financial crisis, loudly ridiculed BYD cars from China for having "no core technology" and "not worthy of being a competitor." Another paragraph is in 2014, in a forum event on CCTV, Musk, who has been "arrogant" before, was ridiculed on the spot by Lenovo chairman Yang Yuanqing: "My users are over 100 million, and his is only 30,000." ”
Now, years have passed, many things have changed, Musk has matured, BYD has grown up, and Lenovo has become more and more low-key. But one thing hasn't changed, and that's that in the world of capital, only market capitalization and sales volume represent everything.
First, Tesla's market value, BYD's sales
Since November this year, Tesla's stock price has fallen from a peak of $1243.49 to less than $950 today, a cumulative decline of 24.85%, and the market value has evaporated by $310.4 billion, which is $50 billion more than Toyota, which is currently the second largest market capitalization in the world. Interestingly, since November, Musk has accumulated 10.09 million shares of Tesla stock, cashing out nearly $10 billion. Many investors say Tesla's highlights have passed with the launch of Theivian, an electric pickup truck invested in by Amazon.
At the same time, in the domestic new energy passenger car sales ranking in November, BYD's sales reached 90,121 units, an increase of 247.8% year-on-year, once again winning the monthly champion of new energy vehicle sales, and this sales volume is almost 3 times that of Tesla. And not only in China, tesla around the world has also lost to BYD.
Tesla, which once sat firmly at the top of the global new energy vehicle list, why did it fold in front of BYD? How did BYD, which was once spat out by Musk as "not worthy of being a competitor", achieve a sales counterattack?
For a long time, many Chinese people's evaluation of Tesla and BYD has always slid to two extremes. Mention Tesla is a variety of "alien black technology", both sophisticated and cool; and when it comes to BYD, it is either "soil" or low price, in short, it is not compatible with the word "high-end". This is also reflected in the evaluation of the bosses of the two companies to each other.
Previously, Musk commented that BYD was "a bad car". In this regard, BYD founder Wang Chuanfu also sneered, commenting on Tesla as a "rich family's toy", and even shouted "We can make Tesla in minutes!" ”
Where did Wang Chuanfu's confidence come from?
Second, the "cottage" enterprises you think are authentic high-tech companies
Contrary to people's traditional impressions, BYD is also a purely technology-based company. BYD can sell out loud, by no means relying on the so-called "price advantage".
Taking BYD electric buses as an example, the K9 electric bus, which is priced at about 2 million yuan in China, directly doubled in price as soon as it entered the US market, reaching 800,000 US dollars, equivalent to 5 million yuan. But this does not affect its firm position as the sales champion of pure electric buses in North America, and ATD's electric buses have monopolized more than 80% of the market share of pure electric buses in the United States.
In Europe, South America, and even Japan, where auto giants are lined up, BYD K9 has successfully opened up its own sales position. Interestingly, when the BYD electric bus "landed" in Okinawa, Japan in 2015, it also caused dissatisfaction among Japanese netizens.
Many Japanese netizens maliciously commented: "BYD is running and running and falling apart", or reprimanded the Japanese transportation authorities: "Why don't you continue to use Japan's trams?" And so on, this kind of comment with a strong vinegar meaning filled the mainstream Japanese forums such as 2ch and Yahoo at that time. However, if these netizens learn that Toyota of Japan has begun to purchase BYD's battery technology, they do not know how to feel?
Third, the first half is electrified, and the second half is intelligent
As we all know, the core competitiveness of electric vehicles is nothing more than two aspects, first of all, electric energy drive, and then intelligent driving. What is the relationship between the two? Wang Chuanfu summed it up very well: "The first half is electrified, and the second half is intelligent. ”
From a technical point of view, Tesla and BYD currently occupy both ends of the core competitiveness of electric vehicles. Tesla's main focus is on intelligent autonomous driving services with "driverless" as an important selling point. Byd's strength is the technical advantages of many years of deep ploughing in the field of electric energy drive and the technical advantages of new energy power batteries.
Most new energy vehicle companies, such as Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal of the domestic car "Three Musketeers", will choose to lock the development route on Tesla's channel after crossing the entry threshold of "electrification". Dazzling high-tech such as lidar, high-computing chips, and assisted driving technology are important gimmicks in the marketing of many new energy vehicle companies.
It can be seen that many domestic car companies are eager to get rid of the "low-end" and "cheap" hats, try to get closer to Tesla from overseas in terms of product style, and will compare Tesla from time to time. For example, Li Bin, the founder of Weilai Automobile, often said: "Tesla cut prices because it is only worth that price." Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, once mocked Tesla for having no advantages in endurance and performance in the WeChat group. Even Wang Chuanfu has complained that the gap between BYD and Tesla is not in technology, but in the blind pursuit of imports by the Chinese people.
But why do most car companies learn from Tesla, and only BYD has succeeded?
BYD: Be yourself
There is a classic theory in marketing: what consumers say is often inconsistent with the actual needs of consumers. Most consumers say that imported brands are good, advanced technology, and high taste, but in fact, people are most concerned about the practicality of the hand.
Today, although public opinion praises Musk himself as a realistic version of "Iron Man", tesla is also praised as a leader in the field of autonomous intelligent driving. However, when it comes to the real car buying link, especially when buying electric vehicles, people pay more attention to some real hard indicators, such as: the endurance of electric vehicles, charging speed, brake safety, etc., and BYD's advantages lie in this.
We look at BYD's two major winning weapons, a blade battery technology, a DM-i hybrid technology, all aimed at the user experience.
First, blade battery technology:
In addition to the absolute advantage in the battery, in addition to the absolute advantage in terms of power, strength and endurance, by BYD's self-developed blade, it is also the world's first automotive battery product that has passed the needle prick test. This security guarantee is irreplaceable by any "high-tech" and "high intelligence".
Second, DM-i hybrid technology:
DM-i hybrid technology has completely changed the traditional hybrid drive mode, taking into account the two advantages of cost and efficiency, and taking a big step forward in energy saving and fuel saving. The advent of DM-i hybrid technology has overshadowed the traditional big names in the field of hybrid, Toyota THS and Honda i-MMD.
5. Conclusion
Nowadays, domestic new energy vehicle companies are emerging in an endless stream, and since this year, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun has decided to invest $10 billion to build a car, and Li Yinan, former vice president of Huawei, has also announced the entry of new energy vehicles. Everyone wants to be the "next Tesla" in the field of new energy vehicles, but only BYD only wants to be itself.
BYD's successful experience proves that no matter what stage of development, people should think clearly about what resources they have and what they can do. Instead of seeing what others have, you want it yourself.