Opportunities and Challenges of Internet Giants in Car Manufacturing: Looking at the Future of New Car Manufacturers from the Stories of Xiaomi Auto and Jia Yueting
In recent years, with the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market, more and more Internet giants have begun to set foot in the field of car manufacturing. With strong financial strength, advanced technology accumulation and huge user base, they hope to take a share of this trillion-level market. Among them, the most concerned are Xiaomi and Jia Yueting. In 2024, Lei Jun's Xiaomi car has begun mass production and delivery, while Jia Yueting's Faraday Future is still struggling to move forward. The different fates of the two Internet giants on the car-making track reflect the opportunities and challenges faced by the new car-making forces.
Can Xiaomi Auto become an important player in the industry?
In 2024, Xiaomi Auto has achieved mass production and delivery, which is an important achievement of Lei Jun All In car manufacturing for more than three years. In order to fully invest in the automobile business, Lei Jun even cashed out 7.5 billion Hong Kong dollars of Xiaomi shares. Under his leadership, it took less than four years for Xiaomi cars to go from the initial concept design to the final mass production delivery, which is remarkable for the industry. This is due to Xiaomi's years of experience in supply chain management and cost control, as well as Lei Jun's own decision-making courage and execution.
However, Xiaomi cars also exposed some quality problems in the early days of delivery. Some car owners complained that the Xiaomi car SU7 had problems such as paint peeling when it was not delivered. This shows that Xiaomi still needs to improve in terms of automobile manufacturing process and quality control. After all, building a car is different from making a mobile phone, which requires higher process requirements and stricter quality inspection standards. If these problems cannot be solved as soon as possible, the reputation and sales of Xiaomi cars may be affected.
In the long run, if Xiaomi wants to become an important player in the new energy vehicle industry, it needs to continue to make efforts in many aspects. The first is product power, Xiaomi needs to continue to launch competitive models to meet the needs of different consumers; the second is brand power, Xiaomi needs to establish a high-end, high-tech, reliable car brand image, enhance the brand premium ability; the third is the channel power, Xiaomi needs to establish a nationwide sales and service network as soon as possible, to provide consumers with a convenient car buying experience; and finally the ecological force, Xiaomi needs to give full play to the advantages of Internet genes, in the car system, automatic driving, Innovate in the Internet of Vehicles and other aspects to build a complete intelligent car ecosystem.
When will Jia Yueting's dream of building a car come true?
In stark contrast to Xiaomi Cars, is Jia Yueting's Faraday Future. The former internet mogul started building cars in 2014 with the ambition of "disrupting the automotive industry". However, 9 years have passed, and the production version of FF91 has not been officially delivered, and Jia Yueting's dream of building a car seems to be far away.
According to public reports, Jia Yueting has been building cars in the United States for 9 years and has burned 30 billion yuan, but only 5 prototypes have been delivered. On the one hand, there is a financial problem, FF has fallen into a "money shortage" many times, has to raise funds frequently, and even once filed for bankruptcy and reorganization; on the other hand, there is a management problem, FF senior management changes frequently, and key links such as R&D, production, and delivery have been repeatedly postponed. There are various signs that Jia Yueting has serious problems in fund management, team management, and project management.
Of course, some people think that Jia Yueting cannot be completely denied. After all, he was one of the first people in China to blow the horn of car building, and the design concept and technical scheme of FF91 were also very advanced at that time. As Sun Hongbin said, Jia Yueting is a person with dreams. It's just that in the matter of building a car, the road to turning dreams into reality is extremely difficult.
Looking forward to the future, there is still a lot of uncertainty about whether Jia Yueting's dream of building a car can be realized. Funding is still the biggest constraint, and the current financing environment for FF is far from ideal. At the same time, with the rapid rise of competitors such as Tesla and NIO, FF's technological advantage and first-mover advantage have been greatly weakened. If mass production and delivery cannot be achieved as soon as possible, I am afraid that even the brand appeal will be lost.
What is the future of Internet car manufacturing?
The story of Xiaomi and Jia Yueting reflects the opportunities and challenges faced by Internet giants in building cars. On the one hand, the trend of intelligent, electrified and networked automobiles is irreversible, and the transformation of traditional car companies into intelligent travel service providers has become inevitable, which provides a rare entry point for Internet companies.
Looking forward to the future, the author believes that Internet car manufacturing must return to rationality and professionalism. On the one hand, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of Internet genes, innovate in intelligence, digitalization, and ecology, and reshape the form and business model of automobile products; on the other hand, it is necessary to respect the laws of the automobile industry, strict requirements in manufacturing process, quality control, safety performance, etc., and learn advanced experience from traditional car companies. Only by taking both into account can the Internet make cars to achieve corner overtaking.
Internet car manufacturing also needs to embrace an open ecosystem. The car of the future will no longer be a single means of transportation, but an intelligent travel service platform. Around the automobile, there will be a large number of application scenarios and business models. For Internet enterprises, based on the concept of openness and sharing, they should widely link industrial resources, give full play to their respective advantages, and achieve a win-win situation for all parties. Only in this way can we build a complete, healthy and sustainable smart car ecosystem.
Building cars by Internet giants is a process full of opportunities and challenges. It can be seen from the different fates of Xiaomi Auto and Jia Yueting that car manufacturing requires not only the innovative vitality of Internet genes, but also the professionalism of traditional car companies. The future competition will not only be the competition between enterprises, but also the competition between ecosystems. Whoever can seize the opportunity in intelligence, digitalization, and ecology will be able to occupy a place in the future automotive industry. It remains to be seen whether the Internet giants can become the backbone of the new car-making forces.