Reporter Chen Yannan reports from Beijing
"Through 15-20 years of efforts, it will become the world's top five car manufacturers", "Xiaomi's autonomous driving goal is to enter the first camp of the industry in 2024", "Xiaomi Auto is determined to be the king of electric vehicle winter range". These bold words come from the mouth of Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group.
Recently, the reporter of "China Business Daily" saw at the Xiaomi automotive technology conference that after 1003 days of car manufacturing, Lei Jun, who has always been known for shirts and jeans, put on a suit and leather shoes, and solemnly brought Xiaomi's first car SU7. Lei Jun gave an impassioned speech on the stage for 3 hours, explaining the technical parameters of Xiaomi Auto SU7 in simple terms, during which he also constantly set new goals for Mi Auto and won applause from the audience. However, Lei Jun did not give a clear answer to the price issue that the public is most concerned about, only saying: "99,000 yuan and 149,000 yuan are impossible." The reporter noticed that Lei Jun's latest response on social platforms was "Within 500,000 yuan, is there an opponent?"
Industry insiders said in an interview with reporters that Lei Jun only talked about technology at the press conference, not about price, or paved the way for the high-end of Xiaomi cars. Zhu Keli, executive director of the China Information Association and founding president of the National Research Institute of New Economy, told reporters: "It can be roughly speculated that the price range of Xiaomi SU7 is 200,000-400,000 yuan. By emphasizing technical strength and innovation, we can better enhance the brand image and market expectations, and lay a good foundation for future product launches and sales. ”
According to Zhan Junhao, a well-known strategic positioning expert and founder of Fujian Great Aim Brand Positioning Consulting, "the price of Xiaomi cars needs to comprehensively consider factors such as brand positioning, market competition, and technical level to ensure that Xiaomi cars are attractive and competitive enough in the market."
Just three days before Xiaomi's automotive technology conference, the launch of the M9 also sparked heated discussions in the industry. "The best SUV within 10 million yuan is here," Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei, CEO of Device BG, and Chairman of Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU, shouted this slogan when he took the stage to introduce it. It is understood that the price of the new car is 469,800 yuan - 569,800 yuan, which is Huawei's most expensive model at present.
It is understood that three years ago, the emergence of new car-making forces such as Ideal, Weilai, and Xiaopeng changed the pattern of domestic new energy vehicles. Three years later, the automotive industry has come to the second half of "intelligence", with the "birth" of Xiaomi SU7, Wenjie M9 and other "birth", with the halo of "technology" emerging new forces are expected to reshape the high-end automotive business spectrum.
Benchmarking million-level luxury cars, Xiaomi's car was unveiled
The reporter learned that Xiaomi's first car SU7 is positioned as a C-class high-performance ecological technology car. In Lei Jun's view, the goal of Xiaomi Auto is to build a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla. In Lei Jun's comparison, Xiaomi cars have performance indicators that are not inferior to luxury cars such as Model S and Taycan Turbo, such as SU7's acceleration of 2.78s per 100km, top speed of 265km/h, and braking of 33.3m per 100km. Regarding the technological breakthrough of Xiaomi Automobile, Lei Jun focused on the five self-developed core technologies such as motor, battery, large die-casting, intelligent driving, and intelligent cockpit, and repeatedly mentioned that it has achieved "first" in the industry in some key areas.
In the eyes of industry insiders, Lei Jun's speech at this press conference seems to be paving the way for the "a bit expensive" of Xiaomi cars.
At this press conference, Lei Jun revealed that the cost of the battery of Xiaomi SU7 will cost more than 100,000 yuan, so in response to the price problem, he bluntly said: "Don't shout 99,000 yuan, it's impossible! But anyone with this kind of performance and configuration, it has to be more than 400,000 yuan, and 149,000 yuan doesn't need to be talked about anymore, or respect technology!"
Lei Jun introduced that Xiaomi Auto has invested a large amount of R&D in the first phase, including thousands of top technical experts at home and abroad in key fields. "Xiaomi Auto adheres to the strategy of 'ten times investment', and the average car company builds a car, about three or four hundred people, 1 billion to 2 billion yuan of R & D funds, and Xiaomi's first car invested 3,400 engineers, and the entire R & D investment exceeds 10 billion yuan. ”
Previously, some netizens asked about the price of Xiaomi cars, and Lei Jun responded on social platforms: "Xiaomi SU7 is in the trial production ramp-up stage, and it will take a few months for it to be officially launched." Regarding pricing, we haven't made a final decision yet. However, the Xiaomi SU7 is indeed a bit expensive, but believe me, we are doing it 'expensive for a reason'. ”
At present, there are all kinds of conjectures in the industry about the price of Xiaomi cars. "We judge that the main competitors of Xiaomi Auto will be concentrated in the B-class - C-class pure electric sedan of 200,000 yuan - 300,000 yuan after the listing of Xiaomi Auto, of which Huawei Zhixuan Zhijie S7 is expected to be the biggest competitor of Xiaomi Auto. Huaan Securities said.
You Xi, co-founder of the Communication Planet APP, told reporters that referring to the range of 209,900 yuan to 299,900 yuan of competitor Zeekrypton 007, it is guessed that the price of Xiaomi cars is between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan. At present, the benchmark on the market and Xiaomi SU7 configuration is ZEEKR 007. ZEEKR 007 also has an 800V architecture, a single motor power of 310kW and other configurations, and the price has been lowered to 209,900 yuan. However, there are also comparisons on brand premiums. Xiaomi is stronger than ZEEKR in terms of brand recognition, but in terms of recognition of professional brands in automobiles, ZEEKR is stronger than Xiaomi, which can be described as equal.
Lei Jun calls himself a "primary school student" and runs into the "finals"
At present, the subsidy bonus period for new energy vehicles has passed, and it happens to encounter a "price war" filled with gunpowder, and the intelligent cockpit is also "rolling" out of a new height. This means that emerging forces such as Xiaomi SU7 and Wenjie M9 will directly enter the "finals" as soon as they are listed, and they will be forced to accept the cruel challenge of the automotive industry.
"I'm willing to stake all my reputation and fight for Xiaomi cars. Lei Jun recalled his mental journey in the past three years and said, "I have invested in several new forces, and I know that it is difficult to build a car, but there is no turning back from the bow." For this reason, Lei Jun claims to be a "primary school student" in the car manufacturing industry who needs to learn Xi from scratch. In the past three years, Lei Jun has driven more than 150 vehicles, frequently visited the upstream and downstream industry chain of automobiles, and recruited talents from all walks of life. At present, the construction of sales and service channels of Xiaomi cars is speeding up in an all-round way.
Zhan Junhao told reporters that car manufacturing is of great strategic significance to Xiaomi Group, which can not only bring new business areas and growth points to Xiaomi Group, but also enhance Xiaomi's brand image and market position. In addition, as a smart electric vehicle brand, Xiaomi Auto can promote Xiaomi's technological innovation and application in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, Internet and other fields, and further promote Xiaomi's development in the direction of high technology and intelligence.
He also said that at present, Xiaomi Auto has certain advantages, such as technological innovation, brand influence and Internet genes. However, Xiaomi Auto is also facing fierce market competition and challenges in manufacturing. In order to truly achieve a leap forward, Xiaomi Auto needs to continue to invest and optimize in technology research and development, manufacturing, marketing, etc., improve product quality and competitiveness, and strengthen cooperation and collaboration with the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to achieve sustainable development.
Trying to enter the game as "high-end" is expected to reshape the luxury car system
Many industry insiders believe that the reason why Lei Jun has not yet announced the price is also to wait and see and wait for the market's reaction, and the pricing strategy is particularly important for Xiaomi cars that want to step into the "finals".
It is understood that in the car segment with a price of 500,000 yuan and above, the sales volume of pure electric vehicles was small, and the market was mainly occupied by traditional luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche. At present, from the 600,000 yuan ideal MEGA, the 700,000 yuan tank 700, the 800,000 yuan NIO ET9 to the million-level BYD Yangwang and Haobo SSR, the pricing of domestic brands is approaching the hinterland of the imported luxury car camp represented by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, and the competition in the high-end automobile market is becoming more and more fierce.
As a result, "if you don't work hard, you can only open BBA in the future", "I didn't have money to buy imports before, and now I can't afford to buy domestic ones", "The price of domestic new energy vehicles is close to luxury cars" Comments are endless, which also means that domestic new energy brands are constantly refreshing the price system of new energy luxury cars.
In fact, referring to the high-end pricing of friendly brands in recent years, it has gone quite smoothly. Previously, Li Auto focused on high-end "daddy cars", priced at 328,000 yuan. In recent years, it has repeatedly reached new highs in sales, once surpassing many traditional car companies and becoming a dark horse in the automotive industry.
According to the latest data, Li Auto successfully challenged the monthly delivery of 50,000 units at the end of the year after achieving its annual sales target ahead of schedule in November last year. The cumulative deliveries of the brand's three models currently on sale have exceeded 100,000 units. Li Auto is confident that it will launch its first all-electric MPV model, MEGA, which will be launched in March, and has set an annual sales target of 800,000 units.
"Taking Li Auto as an example, after the sales of Ideal L in September reached tens of thousands, its re-launched L8 and L7 could easily reach monthly sales of 10,000 units. The development path of any brand is easy from top to bottom, and difficult from bottom to top. Some industry insiders said.
NIO, which focused on high-end automobiles as soon as it was born, also quickly gained a firm foothold among a number of new brands, forming a "three-legged" situation with Li Auto and Xiaopeng Motors. Li Bin said: "First enter the high-end market through the NIO brand to lay the foundation for technological innovation, and then design lower-cost cars for the mass market, so as to serve more users and apply technologies such as intelligence and battery swapping to more models." ”
It is worth noting that as of the date of publication, the reservation volume of the Wenjie M9, which also takes the high-end route, has exceeded 54,000 units. As a collection of Huawei's many technologies, known as the model with the highest "Chinese content" at present, the M9 is pinned on high hopes. Sailis expects the steady monthly sales of the M9 to be around 10,000 units.