Cross-border car manufacturing has become as usual for large factories as if they were punching in every day, and everyone wants to quickly brush it, as if the next second is going to be late.
Whether it is selling mobile phones or selling electricity; whether it is dry network ride-hailing, or building the Internet of Everything. Too many people have a dream of building a car.
But they have different "personalities". Some have a lot of fanfare to take advantage of the full reputation of life; some Versailles to "I can do anything, I just don't want to do", but do not delay him to become a decision-maker; some shout difficulties, but have already secretly "contacted"; some are eager to attack the heart, a year to want a new car off the line; some, failed, gave up, but the meat of the car may be too fat, going around, every family is difficult to give up.
Today, the car will take a look at the "personality" of these cross-border car builders, who can survive on the road of car building.
Xiaomi: With great fanfare
As the founder and CEO of Xiaomi Group, Lei Jun's position can be described as getting bigger and bigger. It can be said: "always questioned, never low-key".
On March 30, 2021, Xiaomi Group issued an announcement that the board of directors officially approved the establishment of the smart electric vehicle business. Xiaomi Group intends to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to be responsible for the smart electric vehicle business. The initial investment is RMB 10 billion, and the investment is expected to be US$10 billion over the next 10 years. Mr. Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi Group, will also serve as CEO of the Smart Electric Vehicle Business.
When Lei Jun announced the car building scene, "I know very well what this decision means, I am willing to bet on all the reputation of my life, and once again put on the battle to fight for Xiaomi cars!" Then, Lei Jun's Internet thinking possessed, launched a vote, said that "fans want us to do high-end cars, so the price range of the first millet car is 100,000-300,000 yuan." ”
On March 22, Xiaomi Group-W (01810) announced its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2021. The financial report shows that the revenue of Xiaomi Group continues to grow, and the profit level of the period has declined. However, the quagmire of declining performance was soon "filled" by the hustle and bustle of the car-making business.
Also on March 22, Wang Xiang, president of Xiaomi Group, introduced that the company's intelligent electric vehicle business has progressed beyond expectations. Up to now, the scale of the automotive business R & D team exceeds 1,000 people, and in the future, the company will continue to increase research and development in core areas such as automatic driving and intelligent cockpit, and it is expected that mass production will be officially produced in the first half of 2024.
According to reports, Xiaomi Automobile has settled in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone in November 2021. However, from the current xiaomi fanfare battle, as well as the expected speed of mass production, there have been voices began to question: so the car, millet's cash flow is bound to continue to net outflow, then before mass production, millet is not only facing the stabilization of the original millet, but also how to cross the threshold of car building.
The anecdotes even "juxtaposed" Lei Jun and Jia Yueting, the founder of the original LeTV network. Indeed, their enthusiasm, their pursuit, their resolute gestures all bear a great deal of similarity. However, ten years of car building, 2022, mention Jia Yueting, people can only think: he stayed in the United States for a long time.
Has Xiaomi's tough time begun? Will Lei Jun, who has built such a big car, become the next Jia Yueting?
Huawei: I want to say goodbye
No one can understand how Huawei wants to build a car. Even if it says it doesn't make it, everyone knows that it doesn't make it.
On March 16, Huawei held the 2022 Huawei Whole House Intelligent and All-Scenario New Product Spring Conference, in addition to bringing smart door locks, intelligent outdoor audio, Huawei P50 new models and other products, but also spent a lot of "pen and ink" on the spot to announce that the AITO Q&A M5 four-wheel drive flagship model was officially launched.
In fact, people have become accustomed to Huawei's confusing behavior, as early as the unveiling conference of Huawei's smart car brand AITO, Yu Chengdong, president of Huawei's intelligent car solution, spent 70 minutes to preach the smart car model that has not yet been published. But at the end of the 70 minutes, Yu Chengdong covered the veil of car building, saying that he "only helped car companies build good cars", but this help was too "big" - the Q&I M5 was jointly built with the industrial design team, software team, and user experience team of Huawei's consumer business.
In fact, the idea of not building a car seems contradictory to Huawei, and on the M5's body, almost all the parts are flowing with Huawei's blood. As the media said: "The M5 has become Huawei's own son." "It is even regarded by the market as the first model made by Huawei: the core electric drive part of this car is provided by Huawei, the design and function are deeply involved by Huawei, equipped with the Hongmeng intelligent cockpit, the software experience and late OTA upgrade of the vehicle are responsible for Huawei, and the post-publicity and sales channels are also fully controlled by Huawei." Some insiders joked: "Don't build cars on the lips, build cars in fact." ”
It is understood that the hidden Huawei automotive BU aims to have a research and development team of more than 5,000 people in 2021, of which more than 2,000 are autonomous driving teams and more than $1 billion are invested. Some articles have analyzed Huawei's "want to say and rest" on the issue of car manufacturing, it is said that Huawei has great strategic differences on the issue of car manufacturing, first of all, from entry to research and development, publicity, sales and market operations and other costs are too high; secondly, profitability is not achievable in the short term, on the basis of the rise in the cost of various raw materials, it is difficult to generate short-term profits of the whole vehicle.
Obviously, in this case, Huawei, who is lacking in skills, will be more "rational" than vehicle manufacturing as a technology and parts supplier. But Huawei is probably still unwilling, after all, it has always insisted that it "has the full ability to build a car" and "hopes to become the decision-maker of the model".
From the current situation of Huawei, in the caliber of the car-making matter, perhaps the current expression is to leave the greatest room for their future, and whether there will be Huawei cars in the future market.
OPPO: The mouth is straight
Perhaps the topic of cross-border car manufacturing is too "greasy", many companies ostensibly reflect a third-party state of car building, but the actual action is indeed step by step closer.
Recently, OPPO founder Chen Mingyong also responded to the news about OPPO car manufacturing. It said that "smart cars and electric vehicles must be a direction of transformation in the future, but the value of OPPO in it is limited at present, at least at this stage, the necessity of building cars has not been found." ”
But on the other hand, as early as Last April, there was news on the Internet that OPPO had the idea of building cars long ago, and would be led by Chen Mingyong personally, and Chen Mingyong had already explored and researched the relevant industrial chain resources and talents to prepare for car manufacturing. Further back, in 2019, Chen Mingyong also mentioned at the OPPO Future Technology Conference that OPPO's future positioning will be a technology company, not just a mobile phone company, and he has been thinking about doing cars.
In terms of specific actions, OPPO is testing the car circle. In December 2020, OPPO announced that it would work with Ideal ONE to create a seamless experience of "smart car-machine interconnection"; in January 2021, OPPO and Zhejiang University jointly established an innovation center to mainly develop display-related technologies, and the sub-technology can be used for smart cockpit displays. In addition, patents on the methods, devices, on-board equipment and storage media of anti-collision reminders, as well as ranging devices, ranging methods, cameras and electronic equipment were announced.
Chen Mingyong may be more concerned about the happiness brought about by the content of his work. He said that being a business is a very interesting thing, and the real meaning is not in the sales ranking. It's like a person, what your happiness is, that's actually the most important thing. But in reality, people are often measured by what kind of work they do and how much money they earn in a year. This is misplaced, not a logic.
Happiness cannot get rid of the fierce feeling of market competition. In recent years, the competition in the mobile phone market is also extremely fierce, and the cross-border between smart phones and smart cars seems to be from small to large pieces, but in fact, the relevance of the system is also very high, but it is indeed necessary to have a full understanding of their own strength. If you are interested in dabbling and have the ability, you may not need to spend more time tangling.
If you want to enter the track of car building, although reckless is not good, it is not good to twist and pinch, after all, it is not too late.
Didi: Rapid fire attacks the heart
The dry network car is not willing to only dry the network car, and in the past Three months, Didi has also come to the news of car manufacturing.
It is reported that Didi may announce plans to build new energy vehicles in June this year, and this plan will also be named after Leonardo da Vinci, a representative of the Renaissance. Didi's cross-border can be said to be an extension of its industrial chain to some extent, but from various appearances, Didi extends a little urgently.
According to media reports, Didi is already recruiting soldiers everywhere - "the post salary is about 500,000-800,000, if the interview results are good, you can give a higher level of grading, higher salary, and options", working in Beijing or Shenzhen. Didi said it had set up a car-building team of 1,600 people in Beijing.
As for the timetable, there is also news flowing out: Didi's first new energy vehicle will enter the market in a year' time, that is, in June next year, to meet with consumers. It is said that Didi will obtain production qualifications and factories through the acquisition of Guoji Zhijun, a subsidiary of China National Machinery Automobile.
In fact, Didi has always been covetous of car building, but probably the timing has not been right. In April 2018, Cheng Wei at that time spoke at the "Torrent Alliance": "Didi resolutely does not build cars, and Didi's three visions for the next ten years are to become the world's largest one-stop travel platform, jointly build a platform for automobile operators, and become a leader in global intelligent transportation technology." However, by 2020, the posture has gradually changed, and Didi has cooperated with BYD to launch the D1 model. Now, perhaps it is the time for the official announcement, and I finally plan to go down alone.
In a year's time, I have to say that it is a bit hasty, after all, the previous "work" is far from the whole vehicle manufacturing. For Didi, whether it is made or not, we do not comment. But there is no need to rush it.
Beautiful: It's hard to give up
Midea's car is a long, long story, but it's only time.
It's a story of failure. As a veteran home appliance company, Midea has been seeking to break the game outside the home appliance business. Perhaps frightened by the Gree cross-border encounter in the same industry, it may also be that the past failed car-making experience has a lingering palpitation, in the face of car-making, Midea Group clearly stated that the new energy automobile industry is a very important strategic direction in the future, but Midea does not build cars, but only empowers cars.
The story of failure dates back to 2004, when Midea spent a lot of money to acquire three bus companies, Yunnan Aerospace Shenzhou Automobile Co., Ltd., and Hunan Sanxiang Bus, and built production bases in Changsha and Kunming. It is threatened to become a leading bus manufacturer in China in 3 to 5 years.
However, due to poor management, Midea announced the suspension of car construction projects in 2008. In 2009, Midea's bus assets in Hunan were sold to BYD for 60 million yuan, and its first round of car building failed.
However, Midea is still difficult to give up on the automotive industry, and one of the focuses of the company's new strategy is to take parts as the starting point, lock in new energy vehicles, and provide services in research and development production, automated manufacturing and service applications. At present, Midea's auto parts business mainly focuses on three aspects: electric drive system, thermal management, and intelligent driving execution and control system. Automotive heat pump products have been used in the whole line of Xiaopeng Automobile, WEIO ES6 and ES8.
Maybe it's to retreat into the future, or maybe it's a lesson from the past. But in the end, we can see that The United States does not build a car, and the United States does not want to leave the car. And the heart of the United States may not be able to give up the answer of "not building a car".
Cross-border is like this, everything seems to be familiar, everything is very strange. It seems to give people the illusion that the threshold is very low, when you really step in, but let you find that not everyone is Musk, even Li Bin and He Xiaopeng. As far as cross-border car building is concerned, impatience, hesitation, repetition, entanglement, and even twisting can be understood. Because this is indeed a grand strategy that deserves repeated consideration.
However, as far as the current performance of these companies is concerned, which personality is more suitable for survival in the cross-border car park?