"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" once said, "The general trend of the world, divided for a long time must be united, and a long time must be divided."
Recently, Huawei and Xiaomi announced that they have reached a global patent cross-licensing agreement, which has the trend of mobile phone communication patents "combining for a long time".
In addition to the "competition" and "communication" in the main mobile phone communication industry, Xiaomi has also begun to align with Huawei in its side business. But in today's Chinese auto market, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has exceeded 30%, in the cruel market competition, if you do not advance, you will retreat, and the new forces of car manufacturing have gradually become a climate.
Didi and Xiaomi disrupted the auto market
China's car market has been extremely lively recently. In addition to several conventional new car-making forces, the news of "cross-border" car manufacturing by technology giants such as Didi, Xiaomi, and Huawei is also constant.
On September 13, home appliance giant Haier was revealed to be planning to build cars, enter the vehicle field, and launch its own brand of automotive products;
On September 12, Huawei released the AITO new M7 model in cooperation with Cialis;
On August 28, Didi Chuxing and Xpeng Motors jointly announced that the two parties will reach a strategic cooperation;
On the evening of August 14, Baidu car project Jidu Auto officially "renamed" the Jiyue brand (Jiyue is a newly established automobile sub-brand under Geely Holding).
At the same time, Xiaomi cars have also frequently exposed new progress.
Since announcing the car in March 2021, Xiaomi Auto has been "low-key", but since August, it has frequently exposed the progress of car manufacturing.
On August 19, pictures of Lei Jun, Lu Weibing and others "visiting" Xinjiang to participate in Xiaomi car road tests spread to social media; On the 22nd, Interface News quoted Xiaomi's insider sources as saying that Xiaomi Automobile has finalized China Innovation Aviation (formerly known as "AVIC Lithium") and CATL as primary and secondary battery suppliers at this stage; On the 24th, according to foreign media reports, Xiaomi's car manufacturing qualification has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission; The supply chain also broke the news that Xiaomi Auto has been recruiting general workers in large quantities.
This may mean that Xiaomi's "car building" is near.
Big manufacturers "cut corners", Xiaomi close to hand-to-hand combat
According to the regulations issued in early 2022, both the entrusting party and the entrusted party under the new energy vehicle OEM model need to have production qualifications to produce OEM. In other words, technology giants entering the automotive field and looking for OEM manufacturers also need to have production qualifications.
Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why the big manufacturers give up their own car manufacturing and choose to cooperate deeply with new brands.
In 2021, Huawei established the car BU to become a Bosch in the era of smart electric vehicles. Nowadays, Huawei car BU is increasingly showing itself as a car brand. Over the past two years, Huawei has deeply cooperated with three new force brands, Wanjie, Changan Avita, and Beiqi Extreme Fox.
Didi and Baidu have also "turned", Baidu is closer to Geely, and Didi is holding hands with Xiaopeng.
On the evening of August 14, Baidu car manufacturing project Jidu Auto officially "renamed" the Jiyue brand. Some analysts analyzed that from Jidu to Jiyue means that the cooperative relationship between Geely and Baidu has changed, the leading right to build cars has been mastered by Geely, and Baidu has changed from a leading party to a technology provider, which also means that Baidu has given up "car building".
On August 28, Didi Chuxing and Xpeng Motors jointly announced that they will reach a strategic cooperation. Didi sells assets and R&D capabilities related to the smart electric vehicle project to Xpeng, and Xpeng will build an A-class smart electric vehicle, project code "MONA", as the first product of its new brand, which differentiates from Xpeng's existing brand, and is expected to be launched by Xpeng Motors in 2024.
Tencent and Alibaba are more "conservative", and Tencent chooses to provide car companies with "vehicle-cloud integrated overseas solutions" to escort car companies going abroad; Ali invested heavily in Xiaopeng and chose the simplest and most rude way to "throw money".
Unlike everyone's tactful entry, although Xiaomi is belated, it is really hand-to-hand combat, and has become the "last hope" of Internet manufacturers to build cars.
There is no novice protection period for car building
But can Xiaomi really succeed in entering the new car-making forces and gaining a foothold?
From the perspective of popularity, based on the products of smart phones and smart home ecology, Xiaomi has a strong enough brand influence and user reputation. Deeply cultivated in the consumer electronics market for many years, Xiaomi has a strong "rice noodles" gene, and these huge fan bases will bring greater traffic to Xiaomi cars.
In terms of funds, Lei Jun solemnly announced two years ago that all the money for Xiaomi's car manufacturing is paid by Xiaomi itself, and no external investment is accepted. According to financial report data, as of June 30, 2023, Xiaomi's total cash resources reached 113.2 billion yuan, while Wei Xiaoli's cash and cash equivalents were worth 455/328.5/58.5 billion yuan respectively at the end of 2022.
In the layout and integration of the industrial chain, Xiaomi has also made real efforts. Minsheng Securities Research Report pointed out that before the establishment of automobile projects and official announcement of cars, Xiaomi Group has carried out a large number of industrial investment layouts in the automotive field through the group itself and the "Shunwei Capital" established by founder Lei Jun, involving lidar, automatic driving, three electric systems, intelligent cockpit hardware, Internet of Vehicles and other fields.
In addition, analysts pointed out that Xiaomi Auto will also cooperate with Internet giants such as Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba to create rich services such as in-vehicle applications, payment systems, and e-commerce platforms to better create an intelligent ecosystem for vehicles.
It looks like everything is quiet.
However, from the perspective of the external environment, the price war of new energy vehicles has begun. Some analysts believe that the underlying support capacity of price competitiveness is large-scale production, and the fledgling Xiaomi automobile is in a great weakness compared with BYD and other enterprises, and there is no novice protection period in the face of fierce market competition.
Internally, since the proposal of the car building plan in March 2021, Xiaomi's stock price has fallen by more than 80% since its all-time high in 2021.
Yu Chengdong asserted at the 2023 China Automotive Chongqing Forum that it will be difficult for car companies that do not reach an annual output of 5 million vehicles in the future to gain a foothold.
According to Xiaomi Auto's insiders, Xiaomi Automobile can produce 50 prototype cars per week during the trial production stage.
Xiaomi may still have a long way to go from the goal of producing 5 million units a year.