At the beginning of the new year, the car circle began to be active again, as a brand with a very high "keyboard value" in the Internet field, Xiaomi, its own Xiaomi cars have attracted much attention. Xiaomi, which has established a car production line in "retreat" alone, can create "the first car for young people", and whether the hardware and appearance can meet everyone's "appetite" are all hot topics recently.
The day of Xiaomi car release is getting closer and closer, and related revelations are beginning to be intensive.
Xiaomi cars, really coming
Recently, a set of so-called Xiaomi car design renderings have been leaked on the Internet, the model is MS11. Although there are only two pictures, it is enough to "strip" the appearance of Xiaomi's first car. It can be seen that the design renderings of MS11 are very consistent with the previously exposed engineering drawings and road test camouflage vehicles. The shape of the whole vehicle is relatively rounded, the sense of streamlining is very strong, the design of the large back is adopted, highlighting the tonality of the coupe, and the roof has an integrated panoramic roof, which is very in line with the design characteristics of new forces and new energy vehicles.
(Image from @DehaoAiDrive)
As soon as the renderings came out, I believe that the first thing many people discuss is how the appearance of Xiaomi cars is. To be honest, Xiaolei believes that the current appearance and characteristics of MS11 are not very prominent, but it is very expensive in the sense of streamlining, the body is not too strong and overly modified, and it does not rely on the exaggerated appearance to stimulate the eyes of consumers, which is rare.
It is said that the current appearance design of Xiaomi automotive MS11 is very close to the mass production form, but there is still a lot of time before the official mass production is off the line, there is still room for adjustment, and the adjustment should not be very large.
(Image from @DehaoAiDrive)
In response, Wang Hua, general manager of Xiaomi's public relations department, responded that the final design draft of Xiaomi cars is not like this, and the pictures leaked on the Internet are the design drafts of the very early bidding process, not the final design. As for what the Xiaomi car looks like in the end, it depends on the official answer. In terms of positioning, Xiaomi cars are likely to also benchmark Tesla Model 3.
During the Xiaomi car road test, even Xiaomi Technology founder Lei Jun personally participated in the winter test driving, which shows the seriousness of the car inside, after all, the car is the last time Boss Lei started a business, and it is also the current outlet of the technology industry, it must be a pity to miss it.
Luxury stacking is still a feature of Xiaomi cars
Xiaomi's "fierceness" in the stacking of materials on smartphones, I believe everyone has heard of it, and the cost-effective cost performance that can buy more configurations than other brands at the same price is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Despite breaking into the high-end market, Xiaomi has never been soft on stacking.
This "traditional virtue" has also continued in the automotive field, the latest news revealed that Xiaomi MS11 will be equipped with solid-state Lidar technology, the roof is equipped with a long-distance high-harness main Lidar, left and right wings and the rear side slope distributed 4 short-distance solid-state Lidar, adding up to a set of 5 Lidar strong combination.
(Image from Tesla)
LiDAR is the most expensive perception element in the car, and the cost price of a single lidar on the market generally reaches 10,000 yuan. Considering the cost control problem, many new energy models are using a combination of single/dual lidar + multiple auxiliary radars, more than 2 lidar on a car can already be called "luxury", compared to the 5 lidar array on MS11, Xiaomi is obviously bloody.
Behind the fierce pile, I am afraid that there is also Xiaomi's unspeakable secret. No matter how much lidar there is, it will eventually be processed by algorithms in the car, and the software side must keep up. First of all, Xiaomi currently has no models that have been mass-produced and listed, and the accumulation of road data and other aspects is like a blank piece of paper, and the results obtained by training on road tests alone are certainly not comparable to the new forces that have been building cars for many years. It is a simple and crude way to shorten the distance between Xiaomi and other new forces as much as possible and make up for it with a more luxurious hardware lineup.
(Image from NIO)
In fact, there is no shortage of models equipped with 3-4 lidar or other auxiliary radar combinations, but in the end, they have lost to new forces in the fields of software tuning and AI algorithms, which is also a major killer feature for the rapid growth of new forces in the short term. Xiaomi also started as a smart phone, and there is never a shortage of software algorithms.
In the core elements of pure electric models such as motors and batteries, there is not much detailed information at present, and Xiaolei believes that Xiaomi's stacking materials will not disappoint everyone.
(Image from Xiaomi)
In the eyes of most domestic consumers, the big car has more rows, has ample driving space, suitable for multiple people, larger fuel tank/battery, stronger load capacity and other elements, SUV / MPV models are cared for, so the first model of the major new forces will be selected in SUV, catering to mainstream consumer groups, NIO, ideal, Evergrande and other brands of the first products, basically SUV. Although Tesla broke the circle with the Model 3, the later Model Y was significantly more popular.
(Image from NIO)
There are also swords on the market, the first brand to promote the car, among which the more well-known should be Changan navy SL03. In addition, Xpeng P7, Tesla Model 3, NIO ET5/7, BYD Seal, etc., are all explosive-level cars.
Sedan is not a contrary to the direction of market development, domestic consumer groups are diverse, "young people's first car" should be from the perspective of personal use, rich in personality coupe can also reap high sales. MG also has a big walking back coupe MG7 that has been "hidden in the snow" for half a year, which is currently quite popular, but it is not mass-produced and listed.
Xiaolei expects that Xiaomi should have an SUV project plan, and it is estimated that it will gradually advance after the production line matures, and it is estimated that the rice noodles who want SUVs will have to wait a few years.
Xiaomi, which was pushed away by the era of car building
It is not a new thing for manufacturers to cross over each other, the former has Xiaomi cross-border car, and then there are NIO and Geely cross-border mobile phones, the former is a new player in the automotive field, and the latter two are "new" in the mobile phone field. As the saying goes, "interlacing is like a mountain", manufacturers in order to develop, out of their comfort zone for many years, venture to seek other areas, especially the smartphone market, sales in the past two years fell very seriously, almost the lowest in ten years. Even so, car manufacturers still choose to "go retrograde".
Lei Jun also said that if Xiaomi wants to become a great company, it must follow the direction of the wind, and the car manufacturing business is forced out.
(Image from Xiaomi)
It is normal to think about it, the electronic information industry continues to develop, the market direction of the new consumer field is also changing rapidly, if Xiaomi does not step out of the comfort zone, it will eventually become a "traditional company", unable to keep up with the development of the times, and will be eliminated by the new forces later. Cross-border is not an easy thing for any company, and car building may not be in Xiaomi's plan, but it has to follow up for the development of the times.
The reason is that low-carbon and intelligent automobiles are the necessary development direction in the future, and at the same time, automobiles are also integrating with smart phones and becoming part of the intelligent ecosystem. NIO makes mobile phones, on the surface, to complain that Apple's closed business does not open interfaces to affect user experience, but in fact, it is also using this to develop its own ecological closed loop.
(Image from NIO)
At present, iPhone users account for more than 60%, and car companies are worried that once the Apple car layout is successful, these people are likely to be potential consumer groups. In the environment of emphasizing the intelligent ecology, the competitiveness of new forces in car manufacturing without supporting products, or intelligent terminal manufacturers without automobiles, will naturally decline. In the future, the connection between mobile phones and cars will become closer and closer, and consumers' purchase decisions will be bound together by ecological linkage.
Xiaomi, which is good at device collaboration, should also have a lot to look forward to in the car machine, and may also launch a "MIUI For Car" system platform to strengthen the connection between Xiaomi mobile phones and cars, and the core competitiveness is still available.
summary
Whether Xiaomi cars can become "the first car for young people" is still the price. Unlike smart phones, cars start at tens of thousands, ordinary young workers are thousands of yuan a month salary, and it is very difficult to complete a car alone, so they are extremely sensitive to the price of the car. At present, the exposed Xiaomi car is priced at about 300,000 yuan, which is not something that ordinary young people can bear.
But in any case, the development process of Xiaomi cars is smoother than we thought, and the chances of coming out next year are great, and there should be many people who are willing to pay for it.
(Cover image from Ray Technology)