Lei Jun can't get up to Tesla, and Xiaomi Auto "retreated" to become the first hot search

Text/Rui Finance Xu Shumin

Lei Jun gambled on the honor and achievements of his life.

Since the official announcement of the car three years ago, Lei Jun has begun to build momentum, until the Xiaomi car press conference, Lei Jun is still taking the emotional route: "In the past 1000 days, every day has been trembling, and today it is finally time to hand in the homework, it is impossible not to be nervous." ”

Netizens said that Lei Jun played marketing very slippery. Like Huawei, he brought the marketing methods of smartphone technology companies to the automotive industry, conveying the core message of Xiaomi cars with his personal influence and building brand influence.

At the press conference, he also invited Li Bin, He Xiaopeng, Li Xiang of "Wei Xiaoli", as well as Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, Zhang Jianyong, chairman of BAIC and other executives.

The Xiaomi car press conference lasted for 2 hours, Lei Jun showed all the functions of Xiaomi SU7 in detail, and matched a number of video commercials, raising expectations, and finally announced the biggest suspense - the price starts at 215,900 yuan.

But the whole press conference left the deepest impression on people, not the technical strength and intelligence of Xiaomi cars, but the accessories of Xiaomi cars.

In any case, the press conference was a success, bringing great exposure and discussion to Xiaomi SU7, and it has exceeded 50,000 units within half an hour of listing.

A momentary marketing boom doesn't mean anything. Lei Jun is also facing the continuous sales problems, delivery problems, and industry competition problems of Xiaomi SU7 in the future.

Some netizens have posted one after another that the page for unsubscribing from Xiaomi SU7 orders.

01

Roll up power consumption performance

In the more than two-hour press conference, Lei Jun said "industry leading" 26 times.

In Lei Jun's introduction, Xiaomi SU7 has reached the industry's leading level in terms of intelligent chassis technology, endurance performance, paint quality, and even delivery efficiency and speed. "Far ahead of the generation", Lei Jun has to emphasize every time he introduces a function.

Indeed, Xiaomi SU7 adopts dual-motor all-wheel drive, with a maximum horsepower of 673PS and a peak torque of 838N·m, which is indeed excellent. Lei Jun boasted that he was a little floating, "A performance beast like Xiaomi SU7max, a fuel car within 2 million really has no opponent."

The Xiaomi SU7 is benchmarked against the Tesla Model 3. Lei Jun compared various parameters, saying, "Open all configurations, more than 90% of the configurations, Xiaomi SU7 leads." ”

But it is undeniable that Tesla is still far ahead in key configurations - battery life and power consumption. Lei Jun admits that he can't catch up with Tesla in a short time, but Xiaomi SU7 has technology and hard work, and the battery is large.

In terms of the endurance of pure electric vehicles, there are two main reference parameters for mileage, one is the maximum mileage, and the other is the three-electric system. Lower power consumption means lower dead weight, lower manufacturing costs, and better handling.

This means that the Xiaomi SU7 still has a lot of room for improvement. Xiaomi SU7's long battery life is measured, in the case of the highest speed limit of 120km/h in Guangdong, full power starts continuous driving, and the average speed is 97.7km/h, Xiaomi SU7 standard version achieves a range of 495km, with an average power consumption of 15kWh/100km.

The exact level of power consumption is still to be verified. It can be known that the version that flowed out in August last year was a Xiaomi car tested in Xinjiang, with a power consumption of 8.8kWh per 100 kilometers, which also caused a heated discussion at that time.

"It will take 3-5 years for Xiaomi cars to catch up with Tesla". In the picture shown by Lei Jun, Tesla's power consumption per 100 kilometers is only 11.3kWh, while the power consumption of Xiaomi cars per 100 kilometers is 12.3kWh. Some analysts believe that the BMS of Xiaomi SU7 is much weaker than Tesla, and the quality of BMS is directly related to the battery life and safety of the car.

Can't roll up the level of power consumption, Xiaomi cars roll up ecology and intelligence. This is also the biggest selling point of the Xiaomi SU7.

And the whole press conference, the deepest impression was the accessories of Xiaomi cars. Xiaomi Auto has released a large number of accessories, such as mobile phone holders, car karaoke microphones, seatback tablet stand sets, flashlights, outdoor Bluetooth speakers, Xiaomi walkie-talkie 3 charging docks, ambient lights, etc.

Some netizens began to ridicule, "You don't make money by selling vehicles, you make money by selling auto parts, Lei Jun understands the Apple ecology." ”

Some netizens questioned whether so many plug-ins would burn the motherboard directly, or the card system, such as Xiaomi cars, if there are many plug-ins, it will be stuck.

Some people even linked Lei Jun's car building with Luo Yonghao's mobile phone building, "countless useless micro-innovations". These innovations are more like being designed to meet Lei Jun's personal preferences.

02

Join the price war

In the first half of the press conference, Lei Jun praised Xiaomi cars very high, and he was even more benchmarked against Porsche and Tesla.

But the price has not been announced.

Lei Jun played marketing very thoroughly, he arranged the most suspenseful price link at the end, and in the way of "high and low", he raised expectations and then grabbed consumers at a lower price.

He finally announced the price of Xiaomi SU7, Xiaomi SU7 Standard Edition, Xiaomi SU7 Pro Edition, and Xiaomi SU7Ma Edition, the prices are 215,900 yuan, 245,900 yuan, and 299,900 yuan respectively.

This price is not much different from market speculation, and it is generally expected to be at the level of 200,000-300,000, mainly in combination with Lei Jun's previous saying, "It is impossible to 90,000, and 140,000 is impossible." ”

Judging from the parameter configuration of Xiaomi SU7, the current main competitors are Tesla Model3 and Xpeng P7i, which are all models with greater brand influence.

As a new brand, Xiaomi SU7 can only occupy a certain market share by taking a low-price strategy and joining the price war of car companies. Lei Jun said after the meeting, "229,000 is our original price, and the original price of the top version is 350,000, but then (the car company price cut) confused us." ”

The sales volume of Xiaomi SU7 is closely related to the pricing strategy.

According to the official WeChat account of Xiaomi Auto, after the Xiaomi SU7 was launched, the number of large orders exceeded 10,000 in 4 minutes, 20,000 in 7 minutes, and 50,000 in 27 minutes. The authenticity of the data is unknown, but the Dading of Xiaomi Auto can be refunded in 7 days (except for the Genesis version), which means that the sales volume in the future is more variable.

At present, the topic of unsubscribing from Xiaomi SU7 has rushed to the hot search, and many netizens have posted the unsubscribed page. Some consumers complained on the rights protection platform that the 5,000 yuan car deposit could not be refunded.

Xiaomi responded: The deposit supports no reason to refund within 7 days, and after 7 days, the vehicle configuration will be automatically locked, and once the order is locked, the deposit will not be refunded. In addition, the configuration of the original version of the current car has been locked, and consumers will lock the order after paying a deposit of 20,000 yuan.

In the context of fierce competition in the automotive industry, although Xiaomi SU7 has taken the lead in marketing, as a new brand, whether Xiaomi SU7 can withstand the test of the market is still the focus of attention.

Next, the delivery capacity and production capacity of Xiaomi cars still need to keep up.

According to the views of most in the industry, the key to the competition of new energy vehicles lies in product quality, intelligent technology, and market channels, and marketing capabilities alone are far from enough.

At present, the price war of car companies is escalating. According to incomplete statistics, in March, 30 car companies have joined the price war, including BYD, Li Auto, AVATAR, FAW-Volkswagen, VOYAH Automobile, etc., some directly reduce prices, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan, and some give back to users through gift rights and interests, hedging and repurchase.

In the sedan track in which Xiaomi Auto is located, competitors also include traditional oil vehicles, including BMW 3 Series, Audi 4 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and other models with good sales.

On the other hand, there is a downward trend in the demand for car purchases in the market. According to the data of the Passenger Car Association, the retail sales of passenger cars in February were 1.095 million units, down 21% year-on-year and 46.2% month-on-month.

Even Tesla, the leader of the global pure electric vehicle market, has begun to reduce production to cope with the pressure of declining sales under fierce market competition. In addition, Li Auto and NIO have both lowered their vehicle delivery forecasts, with Li Auto cutting its first-quarter vehicle delivery forecast by 24%, while NIO expects first-quarter deliveries of 30,000 units, down from 31,000 to 33,000 units previously.

In the face of many pressures, Lei Jun said, "The high-end road is the only way for Xiaomi to grow, and it is also a life-and-death battle for Xiaomi's development." ”

03

Future sales challenges

Lei Jun bet on the future on Xiaomi cars. He set a sales target of 100,000 units in the first year of Xiaomi Auto, aiming to enter the first camp of the industry and strive to become one of the world's top five automakers in the next 15 to 20 years.

Achieving this goal is a huge challenge.

Judging from the positioning of Xiaomi SU7, the industry has questioned its embarrassing positioning. Xiaomi SU7On the one hand, it aims at Xiaomi iron fans, and the price of more than 200,000 is not friendly enough for Xiaomi mobile phone consumer groups; on the other hand, it aims at Tesla's consumer groups, ready to attract such consumer groups with higher configuration and lower prices, but the industry bluntly said, "People who buy Tesla don't look at Xiaomi."

The rise in sales of Xiaomi SU7 in the future is under pressure.

Moreover, low prices are by no means a long-term solution, Xiaomi Auto, which has entered the price war, continues to compress profit margins, and sells cars at a loss, and it will take a long time for cash to return in the future.

According to the financial report of Xiaomi Group, in 2023, the expenses of innovative businesses such as Xiaomi's smart cars will increase to 6.7 billion yuan (excluding 800 million yuan of stock compensation expenses related to innovative businesses such as smart electric vehicles).

In terms of overall R&D, Xiaomi Group spent 19.1 billion yuan on R&D last year, a year-on-year increase of 19.2%, and is expected to be 24 billion yuan this year. Although Lei Jun said that Xiaomi has enough cash reserves to deal with any fierce "war" in the next five years, the pressure on all sides remains.

For example, Xiaomi Group's mobile phone business also has growth pressure, and in 2023, Xiaomi Group's total revenue will be 271 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%. Among the three major business segments, the revenue of the main smartphone segment decreased by 5.8% to RMB157.5 billion from RMB167.2 billion in the same period last year, a decrease of nearly RMB10 billion.

Lei Jun also knows that car manufacturing is very complex, with large investment and long cycle. In the market, many car companies have embarked on the road of bankruptcy and reorganization due to cash flow problems, such as WM Motor and Aiways.

According to Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Vehicle Solution BU, it will be difficult for leading car companies to produce less than 5 million or even 10 million vehicles per year in the future.

Therefore, Lei Jun said that the first day of building a car was already a place of death and then a life.

Now, Lei Jun has begun to spoil Xiaomi Auto's second car, which is said to be a luxury medium and large SUV, benchmarking the ideal L9. According to sources, Xiaomi Auto may release an SUV model at the end of this year.