Author | Hiu
Source | Internet Brand Officer
01
Following Cadillac, which has a century-old brand history, used the "coconut tree wind" poster to fancy "touch porcelain" Xiaomi cars, and Jia Yueting, who was far away on the other side of the ocean, issued an article to bombard Xiaomi cars, another car brand "consumed" the traffic of Xiaomi SU7.
Just last night (April 8) at the Zhiji L6 press conference, SAIC's "pro-son" Zhiji Automobile made a number of "face-fitting" comparisons with Xiaomi SU7.
At the press conference, Xiaomi Auto went to benchmark Porsche and Tesla throughout the process, and Zhiji L6 in turn went to benchmark the recent "traffic king bomb" Xiaomi SU7, which can be regarded as a regular operation of the car rim.
Today's car companies love to engage in this play, which is nothing more than to make horizontal comparisons with friends through various configurations and parameters, and then highlight the advantages of their new model performance.
But I never expected that Zhiji made a big oolong and marked a key parameter of Xiaomi car wrongly.
At the launch of the new car, Zhiji Auto mentioned that the Xiaomi SU7 Max version uses the electric drive of the front IGBT and the rear silicon carbide module, while the Zhiji L6 uses the front and rear dual silicon carbide electric drive.
Source: Zhiji L6 press conference
Immediately, Pan Xiaowen, product manager of Xiaomi Automobile, corrected online, saying: "Xiaomi SU7 has a full range of silicon carbide, not only the front and rear electric drives are silicon carbide, but even the compressor of the on-board charger (OBC) and thermal management system uses silicon carbide." ”
Source: Pan Xiaowen, product manager of Xiaomi Auto, Weibo
Such a simple parameter can be wrong, let's just say, it's hard not to doubt that Zhiji is clearly going to "rub" the heat of Xiaomi cars.
At 23:04 on April 8, Liu Tao, co-CEO of IM Zhiji, admitted on Weibo that he had marked an error in the Xiaomi SU7 product at the press conference, and apologized to Xiaomi Auto and Volkswagen.
However, Xiaomi has a tough attitude and does not buy personal apologies. A spokesperson for Xiaomi responded in three consecutive Weibo posts with harsh language, urging Zhiji to immediately make a public clarification and formally apologize to the public who were misled by it.
Source: Xiaomi spokesperson Weibo
In the third long article in the early morning of April 9, Xiaomi issued an ultimatum, mentioning "Zhiji's recent repeated harassment and smearing" and "if we do not get a formal public apology from Zhiji, we will take legal weapons to protect our own rights and interests."
Source: Xiaomi spokesperson Weibo
Subsequently, only 37 minutes later, IM Zhiji Automobile issued a letter of apology stamped with the official seal of the Zhiji Public Relations Department. Reading between the lines, he did not forget to raise his own value and advertise himself. The front and rear motors of the Xiaomi SU7 Max version are the same as those used in the Zhiji L6, and they are both top technical standards in the industry.
Source: IM Zhiji Auto Weibo
I have to say that Xiaomi's fast, accurate and ruthless PR has won a beautiful battle for Xiaomi SU7.
02
Last night was destined to be an extraordinary night.
This "hard-hitting" shout can be regarded as a microcosm of the fierce competition among car companies in recent years, and it also reflects the unparalleled marketing ability of Xiaomi Automobile.
Xiaomi has gone from "bloodbathing" the mobile phone market to entering the new energy vehicle industry, and Lei Jun has also successfully completed the transformation of his identity, evolving from "Rebus" to "Reske".
If the new car-making forces represented by Tesla and Wei Xiaoli before, their founders are very good marketing masters, then Xiaomi Lei Jun, who has its own traffic, can be called a dimensionality reduction blow to the former, and it can definitely be called the god of marketing, and it is the real "Thor".
It was only announced in 2021 that it would enter the car, and at this point in time, everyone said that Xiaomi was late. Not to mention that after 3 years of industry reshuffle, the new energy vehicle track has been dyed from the blue ocean market into a red ocean.
Rice fans are anxious for Xiaomi, but Xiaomi has always been very calm, because everything is in Thor's control, and he paved a broad road for this smart technology toy from the beginning.
For example, the three crucial press conferences of Xiaomi Automobile, each step stepped on the hot spot and even the explosion point of topic marketing.
The first time was on March 30, 2021, on this day Lei Jun officially announced that Xiaomi was officially building a car, and he gave a speech at the press conference. The sentence "Xiaomi Auto is the last major entrepreneurial project in my life, and I am willing to bet on all the reputation of my life, personally lead the team, and fight for Mi Auto", which gave the media enough space to play freely for Xiaomi Auto, and also won the greatest attention for Xiaomi Auto in the public range.
Source: Xiaomi Auto
03
After a much-anticipated opening, everyone's attention to Xiaomi, which is known for its value for money, naturally shifted to the price of Xiaomi cars.
"Talking about price" is a "no threshold" topic that can arouse the participation and discussion of the whole people, unlike technology, configuration parameters, etc., which more or less need to understand the idea of "jargon".
In terms of price, Xiaomi has sold enough and whetted the public's appetite.
Lei Jun is a first-class master who sets up suspense, before the official announcement of the price, whether it is an interview in public or on personal social media, he has never answered the pricing of Xiaomi cars positively, but responded to the ridicule of netizens on the side, "Let's stop talking about 99,000, that's impossible", "140,009 don't need to talk about it anymore, we still have to respect technology".
Source: CCTV2
In the second time, on December 28, 2023, at the 1000-day technology conference announced by Xiaomi Auto that it would build a car, Lei Jun only talked about technology throughout the game, and kept the price still secret, which directly pushed the topic of Xiaomi car price to the top and helped Xiaomi car break the circle.
As for this third press conference, it was the "Gala" of the Chinese car circle that dominated the hot search led by Xiaomi on March 28, and the price of 215,900 yuan finally "came out after a long time".
After that night, Xiaomi lost its "biggest secret", but it reaped countless flowers and applause, and most importantly, a large order that could make friends "pink eye".
04
This is why Liu Tao, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, has been "yin and yang" several times.
Before the Zhiji L6 press conference, Liu Tao publicly questioned Xiaomi's speed of car manufacturing, saying that it only took 3 years to build the first vehicle from the platform, and insinuated: "According to the rhythm of R&D and testing of large manufacturers, it is difficult to complete it without 4 or 5 years." ”
Source: Liu Tao Weibo
Whether it can be completed or not, regardless of these three words, the facts will be in front of you. Now that Xiaomi SU7 has been put on sale, Mr. Liu can go to the Xiaomi car booth for a test drive, but there are a lot of people, and it may take a while to queue up.
Immediately afterwards, Mr. Liu incarnated as a "master who sees through the Internet", and sighed that "traffic does not necessarily represent the truth, and the truth is often not in the hands of traffic." ”
Source: Liu Tao Weibo
The content of the two Weibo before and after,It's almost a direct report to the ID card of Xiaomi SU7。
Admittedly, traffic doesn't necessarily represent truth.
In the same way, no traffic does not necessarily represent the truth.
It's really like listening to your words. I understand the big truth, and I act the most honestly.
Mr. Liu seems to be "unaccustomed to" such a high-profile marketing method of Xiaomi Auto, but he has no choice but to do so, and finally does not hesitate to embark on the road of rubbing the traffic of "disgusted people".
If you want me to say, at the moment when the new energy vehicle track is extremely involuted, it is understandable for companies to help brands expand their voice with the help of positive or controversial topics, after all, the aroma of wine is also afraid of deep alleys.
But if you can, try to avoid this kind of marketing method of "elevating" yourself by "denigrating" your opponents, which is the next step.
Not only killed 800 enemies and self-damaged 1,000, it seems that the brand has no pattern, but it is also equivalent to making wedding clothes for others.
Because of the rotation of major car companies, Xiaomi cars now have free door-to-door traffic and volume almost every day, attracting consumers to offline stores, and then converting them into sales.
The commercial closed loop of Xiaomi SU7 is indispensable to the promotion of friends.
However, in the end, I hope that everyone can jointly build a more benign and inclusive public opinion environment for the automobile market, as Lei Jun appealed.
After all, together, it is a Chinese car.