On April 8, 2024, the high-profile Xiaomi Auto SU7 launch event was held in Beijing. Lei Jun, founder and chairman of Xiaomi Group, personally took the stage and introduced the highlights and characteristics of Xiaomi's first new energy vehicle in detail. Impressively, Li Xiang, founder and chairman of Li Auto, Li Bin, founder and chairman of NIO, and He Xiaopeng, founder and chairman of Xpeng Motors, were also invited to attend and sit side by side in the front row of the press conference to applaud the birth of Xiaomi SU7. This scene not only shows Xiaomi's ambitions in the automotive industry, but also highlights the deep friendship between Lei Jun and these three bigwigs.
In fact, Lei Jun has a long history of intersection with Li Xiang, Li Bin, and He Xiaopeng. As early as 2015, Shunwei Capital, which Lei Jun co-founded, participated in the A round of financing of NIO. In 2018, Lei Jun personally appeared at the NIO DAY event to cheer for the NIO platform and became the owner of the NIO ES6. It can be seen that Lei Jun has always been very concerned about and supported the development of Li Bin and NIO. And He Xiaopeng and Lei Jun have a relationship of "teacher and friend" for more than ten years. In 2019, Xiaomi Group participated in the C round of financing of Xpeng Motors and became one of the important investors of Xpeng. When Xiaopeng Motors was listed, Lei Jun also personally participated in the celebration, which can be said to have given great trust and encouragement to He Xiaopeng's entrepreneurial road.
At the press conference, Lei Jun also frankly expressed his gratitude to the three friends. He said: "In the past three years, Li Bin, Li Xiang and He Xiaopeng have given me a lot of valuable advice and help, which has allowed me to avoid many detours and avoid many pitfalls on the road of car building. For that, I would like to say thank you on a high note. It can be seen that although Lei Jun is a big man in the Internet and technology industry, when entering the new track of automobile manufacturing, he also humbly learns from the pioneers and actively learns from their lessons, which is an important reason why Xiaomi was able to launch SU7 in a short period of time and has been widely recognized by the industry.
In addition to Wei Xiaoli, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, Zhang Jianyong, chairman of Beijing Automotive Group, and other veterans of the automotive industry also attended the scene to witness this important moment. Their arrival is not only an affirmation and support for Xiaomi's car manufacturing, but also indicates that Xiaomi will occupy a place in the competition in the future automobile market. Industry insiders believe that with Lei Jun's industrial resources and contacts accumulated over the years, as well as Xiaomi's first-mover advantages in the Internet, artificial intelligence, supply chain, etc., Xiaomi cars are expected to form their own characteristics in intelligence, personalization, cost performance, etc., bringing more choices to consumers.
Of course, as a latecomer, Xiaomi Auto needs to make more efforts to gain a firm foothold in front of pioneers such as NIO, Ideal, and Xiaopeng. However, as Lei Jun said, only with competition can there be progress, and only with healthy competition can we promote the healthy development of the industry. It is foreseeable that with the launch of Xiaomi SU7, China's new energy vehicle market will usher in a strong new player, and the competition and cooperation game between Wei Xiaoli and Xiaomi will also be further upgraded, so as to bring more high-quality products and services to consumers.
All in all, the release of Xiaomi SU7 not only marks Xiaomi's official entry into the field of car manufacturing, opening a new journey of "mobile phone + car" dual-engine development, but also shows that China's new energy vehicle industry is moving towards a more mature and perfect new stage. On this trillion-level track, Xiaomi and Wei Xiaoli will go hand in hand, accelerate technological innovation and industrial upgrading through healthy competition and cooperation, and contribute to the construction of China's automobile power. Looking back at the time node in 2024, this Xiaomi SU7 conference may be remembered as an important milestone in the history of the development of China's automobile industry.