The countdown to the mass production of Xiaomi cars, Lei Jun knows cars better than Xu Jiayin?
What are Lei Jun's "comrades-in-arms"?
Author | Zhao Pu
Edit | Fun about business
Recently, the hottest topic in the car circle is "Xiaomi car is really coming?", with Xiaomi's first car SU7 impressively listed in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's latest purchase tax-exempt new energy vehicle model catalog (hereinafter referred to as the "catalog"), there are more and more discussions about Xiaomi cars.
On Xiaohongshu, there have been more than 20,000 notes about Xiaomi Auto, and Xiaomi Auto ranks among the top four on Weibo, and on December 12, the day the "catalog" was announced, Xiaomi Auto's Weibo index exceeded 41.3 million.
A number of bloggers on Weibo posted that the Xiaomi car press conference is scheduled for December 28, and the automotive media have been invited to take photos on December 15, and there are a number of photos suspected of "Xiaomi SU7" posted on Weibo.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
In this regard, a relevant person from Xiaomi Group said that there is no comment at present, please wait for official news. On October 25 this year, Lei Jun replied to relevant questions on his personal Weibo, saying, "Xiaomi Auto is currently progressing very smoothly, and it will be officially launched in the first half of next year. ”
The car circle is waiting for Lei Jun's Xiaomi car press conference, so that Xiaomi car from a dream into a reality. After all, there were many "lessons from the past" such as Xu Jiayin, Jia Yueting, Yao Zhenhua, etc., so the market has expectations and doubts about "Xiaomi car";
01. Who are the "car makers" of Xiaomi Auto?
While the power indicators such as the maximum 800 km range of the Xiaomi SU7 attract onlookers, who is the "car maker" of Xiaomi Auto has also attracted much attention - from the internal team to the manufacturer to the component suppliers, they have all been hotly discussed by the car circle.
According to all sources, the internal executive team of Xiaomi Auto is very strong, Lei Jun is the CEO of Xiaomi Auto, and it is equipped with four "strong assistants" (vice presidents), namely Hong Feng, Lu Weibing, Yu Liguo, and Li Xiaoshuang.
Yu Liguo, who used to work for BAIC Group, officially announced that he would join Xiaomi in January 2022 and served as the political commissar of Xiaomi Auto's Beijing headquarters, responsible for coordinating the comprehensive management of Xiaomi Auto, the promotion of special businesses, and the organization and talent construction of Xiaomi Auto's Beijing headquarters, reporting to Lei Jun.
According to public information, Yu Liguo has a wide range of contacts in the circle, and has served as the director of the strategic planning department of BAIC Group, a member of the Party Committee of BAIC New Energy, and the executive deputy general manager of BAIC New Energy, and has also served as the chairman of Blue Valley Smart Energy Company and the president of the ARCFOX business department.
According to industry insiders, what Xiaomi Auto values most is Yu Liguo's all-round performance in the process of creating the Polar Fox brand, and it is Yu Liguo's addition that gives Lei Jun, a "layman who makes cars", the confidence to insist on making cars.
Interestingly, in the filing information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the enterprise name of the two models of Xiaomi SU7 is Beijing Automotive Group Off-road Vehicle Co., Ltd., and the registered address is No. 1, Tongxin Road, Zhaoquanying Town, Shunyi District, Beijing, but the production address is No. 21 Huanjing Road, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the production address is actually Xiaomi Yizhuang Automobile Factory.
Image source: Screenshot of the announcement document of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
The industry believes that Xiaomi Automobile is borrowing the production qualification of BAIC Off-Road, which is conducive to accelerating the production progress of Xiaomi Automobile. Whether Yu Liguo, the "old BAIC man", played a role in it remains to be solved by Lei Jun in the future.
In addition to Yu Liguo, the other three vice presidents, Hong Feng, Lu Weibing, and Li Xiaoshuang, are all Xiaomi veterans.
Among them, Hong Feng is the "co-founder" of Xiaomi, and since 2010, he has co-founded Xiaomi with Lei Jun, mainly focusing on the development and promotion of Xiaomi's financial business.
Lu Weibing officially joined Xiaomi in 2019 and was initially mainly responsible for the Redmi Redmi brand. In August 2020, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi had started a journey of "re-entrepreneurship", and Lu Weibing became a partner of Xiaomi, that is, the "co-founder" of Xiaomi in the next decade.
In addition to entering the list of the core team of Xiaomi Automobile, since the beginning of this year, Lu Weibing has successively served as the executive director of Beijing Xiaomi Software Technology Co., Ltd., the deputy director of the operation and management committee of Xiaomi Group, the deputy director of the Human Resources Committee of the group, and the chairman of the brand committee of Xiaomi Group.
And Li Xiaoshuang is "curve into rice", Li Xiaoshuang, who graduated with a master's degree in 2007, is a young man among the executives, and earlier worked in the personal company of Wang Chuan, the co-founder of Xiaomi Group, and then Xiaomi acquired the company, and Li Xiaoshuang became a member of Xiaomi.
In February 2020, Li Xiaoshuang became the general manager of Xiaomi's major appliance department, and one year later, he joined the core team of Xiaomi Automobile, initially responsible for supply chain management.
Image source: Canned Gallery
In addition to the "Four King Kongs" of the vice president, Lei Jun also poached a number of executives from the outside.
Among them, Huang Zhenyu, vice president of global supplier Magna China, joined Xiaomi in September this year, replacing Li Xiaoshuang as general manager of the supply chain department, Li Xiaoshuang was reappointed as the general manager of Xiaomi's automotive marketing department, Hu Zhengnan, former president of Geely Research Institute, was appointed as senior consultant of Xiaomi Auto, and the exterior of Xiaomi cars was designed by Li Tianyuan, the former exterior designer of BMW IX models.
According to industry media reports, Huang Zhenyu participated in a number of cooperation between Magna and BAIC New Energy during his tenure at Magna, including the establishment of the "Blue Valley Magna" joint venture factory - "BAIC Blue Valley Intelligent Manufacturing Base", and the mass production of the first model of ARCFOX αT.
From the perspective of work experience, Yu Liguo and Huang Zhenyu, who have served as the chairman of Blue Valley Smart Energy Company and the president of the ARCFOX business department of BAIC Group, may have business intersections.
02. "Huawei", Ideal, Ningde,
BYD
...... "flashing" Xiaomi Auto Circle of Friends
In addition to the glossy resumes of internal executives, the supplier of Xiaomi cars is also strong enough.
According to the filing information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Xiaomi SU7 two cars are equipped with CATL ternary lithium-ion batteries, BYD Fodi lithium iron phosphate batteries, and motors from Suzhou Inovance United Power Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Inovance Power") and United Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd.
Image source: Screenshot of the announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
CATL and BYD needless to say. "Ningwang" has the largest market share in the world, and many car companies such as Tesla, Ideal, Weilai, Nezha, and Zeekr are using Ningde batteries, while BYD's own cars alone are enough to support the development of its battery business.
"Fun solution business" combed and found that the two companies that provide motors for Xiaomi SU7 are not small. Among them, "Inovance Power" is the listed company Shenzhen Inovance Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Inovance Technology", 300124. SZ), and "Inovance Technology" was actually built by the early "old Huawei people" team.
According to public information, many directors and executives of Inovance Technology have worked in Huawei Electric Technology Co., Ltd. and Emerson Network Power Co., Ltd., including the actual controller "post-60s" Zhu Xingming, vice president Li Ruilin, deputy general manager Yang Chunlu, vice president Yi Gaoxiang, vice president and director Zhou Bin, deputy general manager and director Song Junen, director Li Juntian, director Liu Yuchuan, and the age is generally around 40~50 years old.
These early "Huawei people", after Huawei sold Huawei Electric Technology Co., Ltd. to Emerson of the United States, formed Inovance Technology together, and in the field of motor control of new energy vehicles, it has become second only to BYD and Tesla.
According to the statistics of the new media "NE Times", the share of Inovance's new energy passenger vehicle motor controller products in the domestic market is 9.2%, ranking first among third-party suppliers, and the share of new energy passenger vehicle motor products in the domestic market is 3.7%, ranking seventh among the top 10 suppliers.
Inovance, a subsidiary of Inovance, is currently in the IPO counseling period, with Inovance New Energy Automotive Technology (Changzhou) Co., Ltd., Inovance New Energy Automobile Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., and a stake in Changzhou Huixiang New Energy Auto Parts Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Changzhou Huixiang").
Among them, Changzhou Huixiang New Energy Auto Parts Co., Ltd. is actually a joint venture between Li Auto and Inovance Power, and the equity relationship shows that Li Xiang's Beijing Chehejia Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. holds 87.34% of the shares of Changzhou Huixiang.
Image source: Screenshot of Qichacha
According to the content of "Know Chedi", the car companies currently using Inovance technology include Tesla, BYD, Huawei, Wuling, Ideal, Changan Automobile and so on.
Image source: Screenshot of Che Di
In addition to Inovance Power, another United Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd., which provides motor equipment for Xiaomi SU7, stands behind large groups such as SAIC Motor and Bosch of Germany, as well as Longsheng Technology (300680.SZ), an A-share listed company, to provide motor core products for it.
In addition, the ABS (ESP10) of Xiaomi SU7 also comes from Bosch Automotive Products (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., Bosch, as the world's No. 1 brand in market share, naturally helps to enhance the brand power of Xiaomi Auto.
However, there is a problem that in February 2022, Bosch affected the supply of Great Wall Motors, Changan Automobile and other car companies due to the "core shortage" problem, resulting in a large decline in the sales of these car companies, but the impact on BYD, Volvo, BMW, Toyota and other car companies is limited, mainly because these car companies have or have the ability to develop body stability systems. Therefore, Xiaomi should also have a sense of risk and not be easily "stuck" by suppliers after real mass production.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
Finally, it is important to note that entering the "catalog" does not necessarily mean that mass production will be achieved. Previously, in the 21st batch of the "catalogue" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in November 2018, a total of 141 models were withdrawn from the "catalogue" in 2019 because there were no production or imports for 12 months. According to the regulations, the models that have been revoked but need to be reinstated must be re-declared according to the policy requirements.
In 2021, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi Group would enter the smart electric vehicle business, more than 2 years ago, and Lei Jun has also expressed satisfaction with the progress of Xiaomi cars many times during this period, and it seems that he is also expressing confidence in the market. According to Xiaomi Group (1810. According to the financial report, Xiaomi Group's revenue in the third quarter of this year was 70.9 billion yuan, and the adjusted net profit was 6 billion yuan, of which 1.7 billion yuan was invested in innovative businesses such as automobiles, and said that R&D investment will exceed 100 billion yuan in the next five years.
It is expected that Xiaomi Auto will join the new energy vehicle market as soon as possible and compete with new and old car companies.