Car Review Observation, Car Review Agency, No. 512
Building a car is a big wind outlet.
Especially in the past year, many emerging technology companies have continued to dig out their minds, with new development stories and imagination space, and invariably build cars.
Baidu, Apple, skyworth have just spoken out, and Xiaomi, DJI, 360, etc. have also been officially announced. For a time, car building became a new track for emerging technology companies to run.
Interestingly, if you classify the current emerging car companies, you will find that you can already distinguish between different factions such as "Internet", "real estate industry", "mobile phone", "home appliances" and so on.
However, in the author's opinion, Xiaomi car manufacturing is definitely one of the most concerned new forces.
Some people have said that Xiaomi, which started by selling mobile phones, is also a 0-based car, why is it highly respected?
Needless to say, it's really different.
01 Spend 10 billion knives a decade, have money in your pocket
If you want to ask, what are the new force car companies most afraid of? Definitely not going to raise money.
Because it is a recognized fact that making cars and burning money, talent, technology, production, and all aspects cost money. In this regard, Boss Ray chose to directly "All-in".
Unlike other novices, Xiaomi has said since March 2021 that it has decided to develop smart electric vehicle projects in the form of wholly-owned vehicles. Over the next decade, prepare yourself for $10 billion.
To prove himself, CEO Rebus revealed Xiaomi's cash balance by the end of 2020: 108 billion yuan. Millet, which is not bad money, can win beautifully, and there is room for maneuver when losing, and it is natural to be full of confidence when it is angry.
Of course, Xiaomi made cars, which is what it says and does.
In September of the same year, Xiaomi Auto set up two entities, Xiaomi Auto and Xiaomi Auto Technology, with its headquarters in Beijing. Lei Jun's initial 10 billion yuan has also been injected, and he has invested all his energy in building cars.
With this alone, Xiaomi surpasses most of the "crossover" players.
In fact, Xiaomi not only has money, but also has a technical reserve in all aspects.
02 Invest in more than 50 suppliers, the industry is comprehensive
Compared with Evergrande's previous "buying, buying and buying", Xiaomi, which started with mobile phones, has considerable experience in the layout of the industrial chain and is orderly.
At present, Xiaomi Cars after the factory has two unique favorable conditions. First, Yizhuang is not only the base camp of Xiaomi Smart Factory, but also an important base for Beijing's automotive industry; Second, Yizhuang is also the main autonomous driving demonstration area in Beijing, which will also have a certain role in promoting the research and development of Xiaomi cars in automatic driving.
According to incomplete statistics, in addition to Lei Jun's investment in nearly 10 related companies in the field of intelligent electric vehicles since 2013, Xiaomi has invested in more than 20 companies in the field of intelligent electric vehicles.
Up to now, including Xiaomi Group, Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund, Shunwei Capital and Lei Jun's personal angel investment institution Shunwei Entrepreneurship, a total of more than 50 automotive industry chain enterprises have invested, covering many core technology areas of the industrial chain such as intelligent driving, on-board chips, power batteries, and vehicles.
In the field of intelligent driving technology, Xiaomi has completed investments in LiDAR provider Hesai Technology, smart parking solution provider Ai parking, ADAS technology supplier Zhongmu Technology, smart car supply chain company Shanghai Geometry Partners, and self-driving technology company DeepMotion.
In the chip field, Xiaomi invested in black sesame, and also invested in Yuntu Semiconductor, a domestic vehicle-grade MCU company. At the beginning of this year, Yuntu Semiconductor launched its first automotive grade MCU chip YTM32B1L series, and its products are expected to cover the entire body control application field in the next two years.
In addition, as early as 2021, Xiaomi also invested in semiconductor fields such as BYD Semiconductor, Stepway and Lingming Photonics.
In the field of power batteries, Xiaomi has successively invested in Ganfeng lithium batteries, hive energy, AVIC lithium batteries, Weilan new energy and other battery companies.
So far, Xiaomi has integrated the entire automotive industry chain through strong capital means, and investment or acquisition has made Xiaomi's layout in the automotive field more comprehensive.
In addition to strong capital and supply chain, on R & D investment and cost control, there are really few emerging car companies that can compare with the tens of thousands of hardware and software engineers that Xiaomi sits on. Of course, Xiaomi also has a natural advantage in terms of channels.
03 The intelligent ecological chain is all opened
As we all know, Xiaomi's ecological chain and huge user base are xiaomi's core competitiveness.
Let's look at the soft power online. Lei Jun previously elaborated on the advantages of Xiaomi car manufacturing, mentioned that xiaomi model, xiaomi brand and user, and full intelligent ecology are the three major advantages of xiaomi car manufacturing. With the mobile phone as the core, it is connected with smart devices such as multi-function gateways, human body sensors, door and window sensors, and wireless switches. The emergence of the car can extend this intelligent ecological chain from the home scene to the intelligent car, realizing the closed loop of the intelligent ecological chain.
When it comes to car building, we have to mention selling cars, and Xiaomi's offline channels are its hard power.
According to the data, as of November last year, the number of Xiaomi Home stores has exceeded 10,000, covering more than 2,200 counties and towns, with a coverage rate of more than 80%, which is a milestone new breakthrough in the history of Xiaomi's new retail development.
In addition, in the formation of the ecological chain, talent is also an important part.
In September last year, when Xiaomi Auto was founded, the team was only 17 people. Soon after, with a salary of 20%-30% higher than the market, a car-building team of 300 people was formed. Judging from Xiaomi's third-quarter financial report, xiaomi car team members have exceeded 500 people.
In addition, Ma Yongdong, former head of GM's pan-Asian electric vehicle project, joined to be responsible for Zhimi's vehicle business, and many of BAIC's electrical and electronic architecture personnel have also joined Zhimi in the near future.
Recently, Xiaomi Group appointed Yu Liguo as vice president of Xiaomi Automobile and political commissar of Xiaomi Automobile Beijing Headquarters, responsible for coordinating the comprehensive management of Xiaomi Automobile, the promotion of special business, and the organization and talent construction of Xiaomi Automobile Beijing Headquarters.
According to public information, Yu Liguo has successively served as the director of the strategic planning department of BAIC Group, the executive deputy general manager of BAIC BJEV, and the chairman of Blue Valley Smart Energy Company and the president of ARCFOX Business Unit.
In addition, Yu Liguo became the second traditional car company executive to join Xiaomi, the first being Li Tianyuan, a designer who had worked for BMW.
It should be known that less than a year after the storm of improper speech by Yu Founding, Lei Jun chose to ignore these negative news, which shows his eclectic employment style.
Some people may ask, why does Xiaomi build a car?
Perhaps all this had a foreshadowing when Lei Jun and Musk communicated in 2013.
Lin Shiwei, vice president of Xiaomi Group, CFO and CEO of Tianxing Digital, recalled: "At the beginning, Lei always held the mentality of 'Xiaomi does not do cars' to do research, and the results of the survey found that if you do not do cars, Xiaomi will be greatly affected, it is likely that in the future, Xiaomi mobile phones will not sell, we are a traditional enterprise." ”
Since then, Lei Jun has successively visited Changan, SAIC, Dongfeng, GAC, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Great Wall and other car companies, and also visited the headquarters of Bosch and Ningde Times. For Lei Jun, car building and mobile phones are different, it is a completely different new runway. Since you choose to build a car, you must put all your energy and belongings on it.
04 Three years to break 900,000 hidden flags
As of now, Xiaomi car manufacturing is still in an orderly manner.
It is understood that Lei Jun, the helmsman of Xiaomi Group, said at an internal meeting that the first model of Xiaomi Automobile will be released in the first half of 2024. For the next three years, a new car was launched every year, and the total sales volume in three years reached 900,000 units.
In response to this news, Xiaomi Group said it would not comment.
But one thing is for sure, it is only a matter of time before xiaomi cars are on the road.
I believe that many rice noodles are also looking forward to it...