Who is it bad for SAIC to provoke, but it wants to provoke Xiaomi Lei Jun?

Elephant car

2024-04-10 07:00Posted in Guangdong automotive creators

Something happened to SAIC, and something big happened this time. Its new energy brand Zhiji has provoked the top streams in the automobile circle and even the entire network - Xiaomi and Lei Jun.

Xiaomi posted three Weibo posts in a row, naming names and demanding an apology. As a result, SAIC Zhiji could only apologize publicly, which was really embarrassed and slapped in the face. What's going on?

1. Mess with who is not good for Xiaomi

On the evening of April 8, SAIC Zhiji unveiled the new car Zhiji L6.

Perhaps because it is a direct competitor with Xiaomi SU7, or because it wants to rub the popularity of Xiaomi cars, Xiaomi unexpectedly became the protagonist at the L6 press conference.

Throughout the press conference, Liu Tao, co-CEO of Zhiji Automobile, mentioned "Mr. Lei" several times, and secretly did not lack "yin and yang" Xiaomi SU7, and Mingli directly took it as a benchmark product, making a comprehensive comparison between L6 and SU7 in terms of three electrics, zero hundred acceleration, chassis and configuration.

However, a low-level mistake was made in it, which caused an uproar.

Zhiji announced at the press conference that the Max version of the Xiaomi SU7 top-of-the-line model uses the front IGBT and rear silicon carbide electric drive, while the Zhiji L6 uses the front and rear dual silicon carbide electric drive.

Zhiji hinted pointedly that L6 outperformed SU7 in this regard.

However, Pan Xiaowen, product manager of Xiaomi Automobile, quickly denied this, saying that SU7 has a full range of silicon carbide, not only the front and rear electric drives are silicon carbide, but even the on-board charger (OBC) and the compressor of the thermal management system use silicon carbide.

The key parameters and indicators can be wrong, and Zhiji has caused strong dissatisfaction with Xiaomi.

2. Zhiji bows his head and apologizes publicly

In the aftermath of the incident, a Xiaomi spokesperson posted a lengthy post on Weibo pointing out Zhiji's mistakes and questioning whether Zhiji "lacks professional competence or deliberately spreads rumors and smears."

In addition, Xiaomi demanded that "Zhiji immediately make a public clarification and formally apologize to the public who were misled by it".

At the same time, Xiaomi also pointed the finger at SAIC by name, saying that "SAIC is a leading enterprise in China's automobile industry, and we respect it very much." Zhiji's behavior cannot match the reputation of SAIC, and we as peers cannot understand it."

Obviously, Xiaomi is angry and the consequences are serious.

Subsequently, Zhiji Liu Tao issued an apology, saying that "due to the error of the research results of the product information...... I sincerely apologize to Xiaomi Auto and all of you."

Xiaomi didn't buy it, releasing a second long article saying that it "does not accept an informal apology from an individual to make a light statement" and "once again urges Zhiji to immediately and publicly clarify".

But before waiting for an apology, Xiaomi released a third long article with an ultimatum, saying that "if we don't get a formal public apology from Zhiji Company, we will take legal weapons to protect our own rights and interests."

In the early morning of April 9, Zhiji Auto finally bowed its head and issued a public and formal apology statement on its official WeChat.

3. SAIC is embarrassed

In fact, since the launch of Xiaomi's new car, Zhiji Liu Tao has repeatedly "touched" the SU7 openly and secretly.

For example, Liu Tao once publicly questioned that Xiaomi started to build a vehicle from the platform in three years, and seemed to question why it was so fast; and after seeing the huge traffic after the SU7 was launched, he said that "traffic does not necessarily represent the truth, and the truth is often not in the hands of traffic".

It wasn't until this press conference that Liu Tao was finally eaten by his own behavior, stealing chickens and rice, and he was ashamed.

This turmoil not only embarrassed himself and Zhiji Auto, but also caused a lot of damage to the brand image of SAIC.

In fact, Liu Tao's operations are understandable, many car companies, including Xiaomi Automobile, have done this, but he didn't grasp the scale, and made low-level mistakes, and he also provoked the marketing master who shouldn't be messed with - Xiaomi, so he was slapped in the face.

Why did Liu Tao "touch" millet again and again?

Perhaps because the sales are too poor, they hope to get traffic through Xiaomi, enhance product influence and boost brand sales.

From the perspective of sales, Zhiji has been tepid in recent years, Zhiji L7 and LS7 sales are sluggish, and Zhiji LS6 is slightly better, but last year, Zhiji's overall sales were only 38,300 units, which was far behind by other new forces.

The decline also reflects the weak status quo of SAIC in the mid-to-high-end field of new energy.

As another of SAIC's mid-to-high-end electric "twin stars", the current situation of Feifan Automobile is even more unbearable. From 2022 to 2023, Feifan's sales will be 14,500 and 21,500 respectively, and this year's monthly sales will drop to several hundred.

Earlier, there were media reports that the Feifan Auto headquarters is expected to lay off 70% of its workforce, and the remaining employees will also face salary cuts. Moreover, under the "asset-light strategy", the Feifan high-end intelligent driving team has been "wiped out" and integrated into the SAIC passenger car system.

Feifan's situation is getting worse, Zhiji has broken out a scandal again, and SAIC's new energy business has entered an eventful season.