Text | Autocarweekly
In April 2021, As an independently operated subsidiary of Geely Holding Group, Extreme Kr Intelligent Technology was officially unveiled with its first product, ZEEKR 001.
Under the background of the intelligent electrification transformation of China's automotive industry, Extreme Kr has chosen the "third track" that is different from the new forces and traditional car companies, and it bears the mission of Geely Holding Group from products to enterprise systems and new capitalization thinking.
As soon as ZEEKR 001 was released, it showed its huge eye-catching ability, and within two months, it was announced that the 2021 deliverable order was sold out, so Extreme Kr closed the Xiaoding channel in the middle of the year and only accepted the Large Order.
Everything seems to be going well, and the first product of SEA's vast architecture seems to be a hit. But at that time, I was optimistic about this project for a long time, but I did not think that the development of extreme Kr would be as perfect and smooth as the number of orders received.
This is a new brand with a very good foundation, and the SEA Haohan architecture is one of the most advanced and tense architectures, even when placed in the existing electrification architectures in the world, and has many unique technical advantages.
Therefore, as a new company, Extreme Kr did not start from zero to one, but from 0.5 to 1, or even from 0.8 to 1. In this regard, extreme krypton certainly has a better foundation than new car manufacturers.
But why did Krypton choose the so-called "third track" instead of incubating new intelligent electrification product lines within the brand, as many big international brands do? This obviously looks safer.
If Geely had not chosen to separate Extreme Kr and directly placed it under Lynk & Co, whose operation and user base were already relatively mature, it may have started much more steadily.
However, the Geely people, represented by Li Shufu and An Conghui, have never considered the problem in this way. What they want is that Krypton not only wants to achieve product success, but also to build an independent and complete corporate model that is fully in line with the new era and the future of the mobility industry. This is an impossible task to shelter under a powerful matrix.
Therefore, at the time of the release of Extreme Kr, I wrote an article about why Extreme Krypton wants Li Shufu to be the commander and An Conghui to be the highest match. Because in the case of Extreme Kr, Li Shufu and An Conghui did not consider retreat, compromise and safety, but a pure secondary entrepreneurship.
Li Shufu and An Conghui should tell all the Extreme Kr people from the very beginning that Extreme Kr is not a pawn that Jili has tried and made mistakes, but an entrepreneurial project led by them personally, not avoiding dangers and obstacles, and not giving up on the other shore.
Only in this way, such a layout has the ability to open up the third track of the intelligent electric industry, and it is the most worth looking forward to. The capital market expressed optimism about this project at the first time, and after the first round of financing was completed very cautiously, the market valuation has reached nearly 60 billion yuan.
However, entrepreneurship will encounter the law of entrepreneurship, and there are the characteristics of entrepreneurship, whether it is from 0 to 1, or from 0.5 to 1, nothing can be excluded. This is the fundamental reason why Volkswagen and Toyota do not go this way. The unknown part will definitely bring pain to the entrepreneur, but some can be seen, some are not seen. Deny this
A little entrepreneur is actually denying Murphy's Law, which is much more dangerous than the courage to be ready to step on the pit.
Therefore, when the time came to the last day of 2021, when Extreme Kr was slightly in a hurry, and heard that nearly 6,000 units had been delivered, showing some imperfect characteristics of typical start-ups, I would like to come to cheer up the imperfect Extreme Kr. More precisely, I believe that the start of Extreme Kr is very good for the sustainable development of this company.
First of all, zeeKR 001 is now delivered and is considered to be 99 points for hardware and 59 points for software. This aspect proves the power and certainty of THE SEA's vast architecture. In terms of vehicle engineering and hard technology, this architecture gives the kryptonian 0.5 reliability.
When I visited Toyota, I saw such a story inside the Toyota Museum. In the beginning, Toyota-made trucks often nestled on the road. Toyota's after-sales service personnel had to prepare several Ford trucks, ready to receive the fault information, and drove Ford's truck to replace the faulty Toyota car.
Toyota, the world's number one automobile company, started in such a humiliating environment.
In contrast, extreme kryptonians should be more confident that in terms of both capabilities and resources, no automotive start-up company has such a hard waist plate as extreme krypton.
The bug of software is a problem that needs to be faced by the whole life cycle of Internet and technology enterprises. Don't say that the vast majority of the company's first-generation software has been spat on by users like spring mud, that is, in the process of overall improvement of the software, upgrades and bug fixes, most upgrades, the same from time to time will step on the pit.
The delay caused by a certain link of the supplier in the software system, some use, and even emotional details are problematic, all of which are stepped on by pure technology companies and are still in the pit of continuing to travel. Because the software design for the face of a large crowd must be constantly updated with changes in social emotions and crowd orientation. Many software noises are not caused by the laziness and inaction of the enterprise, but on the contrary, many are very hard-working but due to excessive misconduct.
Extreme Kr positioning and technology-based new car companies, I think the first lesson took the software class, is very lucky. For the entire Krypton company, the understanding of the extension and connotation of the software-based car concept can form a stronger consensus. Any company that is a software attribute will empathize with this seemingly empty sentence.
Compared with the hardware, there are more elements on the closed loop of the software, code - product - emotion - upgrade, more emotion - upgrade link, not a simple superposition of things, not a simple satisfaction of a specific need, but the blessing of "people", is the logic of life. So we would say that code without values is lifeless. The basic feature of the logic of life is the spiral evolution. So in the initial stage, software companies are most afraid of not stepping on some software pits, but doing software as hardware.
For example, the software system of ZEEKR 001, dubbed 59 points, is not difficult to quickly upgrade to a higher level in the industry according to the improved genes and speed of Chinese companies, as well as Geely's ability to show on the Lynk & Co and Geely brands. And the owner of the car who has already picked up the car, completing the update through the OTA, is not an irreparable thing. In fact, after the ZEEKR 001 began to be delivered, Extreme Kr has made several OTA updates and upgrades to improve the software system of ZEEKR 001.
What is more worth looking forward to is that through the software pit that goes out, extreme krypton can be formed by personal experience, rather than by observing others and getting software insights. The technology products that are closely related to emotions are all superficial on paper, and they absolutely know that this matter must be done. Understanding software will become more and more important as driverless technology improves.
Software has never been perfect, because it is originally growth, learning, we now identify with the perfect technology enterprise, is to say that the enterprise found a perfect integration model of enterprise personality and technology software personality, not that his product is perfect, what the company can do is to continuously improve the product and the dynamic needs of users fit.
Looking back, reflection and innovation are the driving forces behind the development of software companies, and the two are almost equally important. Future Kryptonians will be grateful for this reflection lesson they took at the beginning.
I think the main reason I need to cheer up the extreme kryptonians is that everyone in this new brand is estimated to be under the internal and external pressure of the public opinion field. This kind of public opinion field is not faced by good manufacturing companies. But it is standard for good tech companies.
What I want to say is that in terms of bottom-line thinking, within the scope of my vision, there has never been a really good enterprise that has been crushed by the field of public opinion, never. It is inevitable that the enterprises that are overwhelmed by public opinion are the enterprises that have problems that they cannot solve.
What is a good enterprise, in this dimension, is actually three points, one of which is the founder or leader's strong personality; the second is that the internal management is positive, the thinking is unified, and it is constantly improving rapidly in the direction of meeting the dream of enterprise development; its three products are strong, sustainable and innovative.
In my opinion, Krypton stands on all three.
First look at the product, if you think back, between the ZEEKR 001 released 8 months ago and the ZEEKR 001 delivered now, the most able to reflect the exclusivity advantages of extreme krypton products, the most rational consumer expectations, have been successfully landed. It goes without saying that hardware perfection is the foundation of software-defined products such as cars and mobile phones.
And some consumers can see that the experience has a point of dissatisfaction, and it is not difficult to improve in a computable time. For software-based enterprises, the effective information in criticism and complaint is one of the most important links in product definition. No successful software-based technology company is an exception. The same is true of the most beloved apples.
Looking at the internal management, the people of Extreme Kr themselves will not forget the experience of 2021 in this life, from the technology companies, new car companies, traditional car companies and Geely internal, based on the recognition of the concept of extreme Kr, people who come to Hangzhou, each show their strengths, do their best to work hard, make mistakes, take detours, and be kind to do missed things, but your dreams and goals, as well as the enthusiasm for working for them, have not changed. In the process of exploration, synergy, integration, improvement, the track line of the third track is gradually becoming clear.
Finally, the front runners. In the extreme kryptonian who chases dreams, your captain is the dreamer Li Shufu, and your helmsman is the long-distance runner An Conghui.
I don't want to dwell on the past performance of these two, but you should remember their entrepreneurial philosophy and tenacity. These are the contents of the accumulation of time and trust in the Chinese automotive industry. These two names originally represent the gene of extreme Kryptonian long-termism. In the extreme krypton, there will only be individuals who cannot adhere to long-term doctrine and waste time and eventually fade out, and there will be no abandonment or compromise on the core pursuit of the enterprise. If, like all large enterprises, Extreme Krypton has the law of employee survival, establishing long-term values must be the first.
Musk once talked about the hardships of starting a business in an interview, and he couldn't help but burst into tears, but in the end he still firmly said: Because I don't know what it means to give up, unless I am trapped or die.
Whether it is Geely or Extreme Krypton, it is a company that was founded in love and dreams, and the enthusiasm and courage contained in Musk's touching expression have long been fully interpreted by Li Shufu and An Conghui with practice.
Whether it is from the initial design of the enterprise and the brand, or the sustainable idea of the product, there is no problem, reach this consensus, then all the problems are the problems of the beginning and development, the exploration of crossing the river by feeling the stones, and the exploration of the establishment of new things and new tracks, are the valuable wealth of a brand that aims to create a new model of the enterprise.
A few months ago, when a friend asked me if I could buy a krypton car, I could only be cautious and say that if the product was really as krypton said, it could be bought. Up to now, when many friends come to ask me if I can buy Krypton, or even whether I want to withdraw, I can say with great confidence that I can buy! No need to return!
This landing product shows the most core technical capabilities of Extreme Krypton, a large number of technologies exceed the existing products in the current market, and the ability and tension in subsequent technology development and iteration are visible to the naked eye. These are not something that many companies can cover up with likable scenario-based communication.
Similarly, I have confidence in the entire user service system of the Krypton brand. With the genes of the entire Geely Automobile, the user thinking is not only after the hot search in the past two years, and the user thinking of this company is originally deep into the bone marrow and the system is complete. They have the most smooth information feedback channel from the user end to the production end, the highest level of product improvement decision-making meetings, and the fastest research and development, landing user demand product development process.
On this basis, based on the development of information technology, Extreme Krypton upgrades the whole scenario of user repetition. As far as I know, Z customers who have been delivered so far are very satisfied in terms of overall customer service. And some of the exploration of the boundaries of the new user service system, brought some user complaints, benign and enlightening voice is the mainstream of the entire user group voice.
Of course, although they are all start-up companies, It is impossible for Extreme Krypton to hope that the public will have a higher tolerance for them like many new car companies, and this is not An Conghui's personality style, who has been dead with products for twenty years, and there is never a bug in his eyes. I heard that An Conghui now spends most of his time in research institutes and factories in Hangzhou Bay. The consistency of the entire brand from product to user service will be clearly established in 2022.
Looking at all the enterprises struggling for the new automotive industry with a clear outlook and a vague path, in the midst of great uncertainty, Extreme Kr is one of the most certainty companies within my sight, whether in terms of products, capital, technical sustainability and system strength, and even more so in terms of the strategic ability of enterprise development.
This view has not changed from the hot booking in April to the start in the small twists and turns. As a technology-based enterprise, Krypton does not have to care about the imperfection of the status quo at any time, in fact, if the technology enterprise feels perfect, it basically loses its forward momentum, as long as it maintains the gene of pursuing perfection.