In 2017, Musk was interviewed in the United States. The beauty host asked a tricky question: "What do you think of BYD's electric car?" ”
After listening to the question, Musk couldn't help but laugh. The host added: "Buffett is very bullish on BYD and has invested 10% of its shares. ”
Musk smiled and asked, "Have you seen their car?" The host shook his head, "I don't think BYD's cars are doing well, I don't think their cars are attractive, their technical content is not high, and surviving in the Chinese market is a problem." Before considering the threat THAT BYD poses to Tesla, they need to solve the problem of survival. ”
Four years later, BYD used sales data to prove its strength to Tesla.
According to the 2021 new energy vehicle sales list of the Association, BYD sold 584,000 vehicles, ranking first in the domestic market; Tesla sold 320,000 vehicles, ranking third in the domestic market. In absolute terms, BYD sold 264,000 more electric vehicles than Tesla, 1.8 times more than Tesla.
Musk mocked BYD as "no technical content", "unattractive" and "survival is a problem", and was "punched in the face" by BYD's strength. In fact, Tesla is the car company that has "no technical content".
Marketing genius Musk
Musk is Tesla's best salesman. Today, Tesla can be a leader in the global electric vehicle market, which is inseparable from Musk's efforts to shape his personal image.
Vance, the author of Musk's autobiography, refers to him as "Iron Man of Silicon Valley," which symbolizes high technology and Iron Man represents the future of technology. The nickname "Iron Man of Silicon Valley" has successfully shaped Musk into a spokesman for the future of high technology.
Musk said in an internal marketing conference that Tesla must be associated with the future and cool, "Tesla is not perfect, many consumers will give up the purchase plan for various reasons, so we want to let consumers feel that Tesla is not just a car, but an ID card to future life." ”
People who work in Silicon Valley, driving a Mercedes-Benz will be considered a local tycoon; driving a Tesla will be considered a high-tech elite. Musk is peddling this brand influence.
To this end, Musk wants to consolidate his Iron Man image by investing in various cutting-edge high-tech industries. Launch rockets, hyperloops, human-machine interconnection, solar energy, intelligent robots and so on.
In a sense, these investments are Tesla's "supporting" industries. Solidify a formula in the minds of consumers: Tesla = Musk = Iron Man = future high-tech.
In addition to Tesla, other industries are basically losing money. Sun City has been losing money for consecutive years, Musk used Tesla's 2.6 billion to buy Sun City, left glove right hand; Space X rocket launch to eat US financial subsidies, no NASA order, can not be maintained;
Human-computer interconnection, intelligent robots, and hyperloops are all in the experimental stage and have no commercial prospects. Moreover, many companies in Silicon Valley are engaged in cutting-edge technology research and development, but their fame is not as big as Musk, and the media does not report it.
Once a reporter from the New York Times wrote some "black history" of Musk's early entrepreneurship, using disgraceful means to force Tesla's founders to quit the company and monopolize the Tesla brand.
Musk was furious when he saw it, thinking that his image was ruined, and immediately called the reporter and told him to shut up, otherwise it would "make him uncomfortable."
Musk's painstaking management of the Iron Man image has paid off, and Tesla and high technology are firmly integrated. It has saved Tesla huge promotional and marketing expenses.
If Tesla's image is that of Silicon Valley's high-tech elite, then BYD's image is that of a science student working hard in a factory — untrimmed, oil-stained, and not good at words.
"Science student" BYD
BYD always gives people a sense of soil, especially the car logo, the simple and violent "B-Y-D" three English letters, can't help but suspect that Wang Chuanfu did not ask the design company at all, he drew a car logo.
Later"Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing" series, the car logo directly used Chinese characters, people like to say that this is cultural confidence, people who do not like to say that ugly out of the sky.
However, bydir really has the core technology of electric vehicles. Taking "three electricity" as an example, the battery is a self-developed "blade" lithium iron phosphate battery; the motor is a self-developed permanent magnet synchronous motor; and the electronic control is a self-developed SiC MOSFET.
Among them, electronic control technology involves chips, in this field that is "stuck neck" by Americans, BYD has built its own wafer factory, covering all manufacturing links such as materials, single crystals, epitaxial, chips, packaging, testing and so on.
Although BYD's various technologies are not the most advanced in the industry, such as batteries, Tesla can run 668 kilometers, BYD can only run 600 kilometers, but the technology is firmly in its own hands. In the future, if it is affected by the old Beauty "card neck", it will be very small.
Self-research and development, their own factories, BYD industrial chain is complete. When "Wei Xiaoli" and other assembly companies were waiting for chips, BYD's new cars stepped off the production line one by one, and the production capacity did not drop.
BYD's excess production capacity can also be used for OEM, Microsoft, Apple, Google, LG, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. are BYD's foundry customers, and the OEM business creates nearly 100 billion yuan of flow for BYD every year.
Tesla is the opposite, the hardware is basically dependent on the supply chain. Tesla's battery suppliers are LG, Panasonic, and CATL; the main supplier of motors is Tomita in Taiwan; and electronic control relies on STmicroelectronics. Tesla doesn't design parts manufacturing, it's just a porter of parts.
Of course, Musk has his own considerations for doing so. First of all, Tesla's supply chain comes from the world's top companies, and the quality of the assembled cars is better than that of bydir.
Secondly, the global supply chain model is more conducive to Tesla's global expansion and is more in line with the development trend of modern manufacturing. Modern manufacturing is a process of continuous refinement of the division of labor and continuous improvement of efficiency.
BYD engages in so much self-research, the cost of funds is very heavy, batteries, motors, electronic controls all need to pay money to build factories and train workers. The stalls are too large, and the efficiency is certainly not as good as that of the supply chain enterprises that perform their respective duties. Musk mocked BYD as "untechnical," possibly in part because of that.
Musk's concerns
In the end, BYD and Tesla are two new energy vehicle companies with different models.
BYD follows the concept of traditional manufacturing, big package, all the technology in its own hands, once the advantages form a closed loop, BYD will become an unbreakable fortress.
Tesla follows the concept of contemporary manufacturing, the division of labor to produce efficiency, focusing on vehicle design, software system development and brand operation, and doing what it is good at. What is not good at is left to the market to do, who said that a good cook must learn all eight cuisines?
Both models have their own advantages. Can not say that the contemporary model must be better than the traditional model, the world's first car company Toyota, but did not hand over the research and development of the internal combustion engine to other companies in the market to do, the core competitiveness must be in their own hands to be safe, only to have competitive capital.
As Musk asked the host: "Have you seen BYD's car?" The subtext is that Musk has seen it, and he has not only seen it but also taken it apart and studied it, and he dares to say that "BYD has no technical content." If Musk doesn't see BYD as an opponent, why would he take it apart and study it?
But on the surface, Musk wants to show disdain for BYD, setting off Tesla's strength. This is called tactically valuing the opponent and despising the opponent strategically.
No matter how well BYD does, Musk will certainly not praise it, the butt determines the head, both Chinese and foreign.
Author: Jiang Zuo You'an