On March 30, 2021, Lei Jun announced Xiaomi’s entry into the automobile manufacturing field at Xiaomi’s spring new product launch conference. This decision shocked the entire industry.Building a car is not only Xiaomi's bold prediction for future development, but also a full bet on Lei Jun's personal reputation.
Faced with market doubts and competitive pressure, Xiaomi relied on its profound accumulation in the field of smart hardware to begin its exploration in the direction of smart cars.
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Xiaomi's car-making process is full of challenges. Not only does it have to solve technical and production problems, but it also has to deal with outside speculation about its motivations and prospects for building cars. Among them, the price issue has become the focus of attention. Some people believe that Xiaomi cars will continue the tradition of cost-effectiveness, but others point out that the cost and technical difficulty of building cars are far higher than those of traditional consumer electronics products, and pricing strategy will be the key.
The release of Xiaomi Auto not only demonstrates Xiaomi's innovation in design and technology, but also marks Xiaomi's formal entry into competition in the global automobile market. Specifically, the launch of Xiaomi SU7 will have an important impact on the domestic electric vehicle market. Xiaomi's brand influence, user base and smart ecosystem layout will become its competitive advantages. However, Xiaomi still has to face many challengers in the highly competitive automotive market. How to position itself and break through technological and market barriers are key issues for Xiaomi Auto's future development.
Based on this, we launched a series of special topics “Lei Jun sharpened his sword for three years, and Xiaomi finally made a car.” The focus of this article is on the turmoil and controversy caused by Xiaomi cars.
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Comparing cross-border car building with Lei Jun? Friendly businessmen lost from the starting line. From the moment Xiaomi SU7 was officially unveiled, it can be said that Xiaomi has already succeeded in building a car. Xiaomi's car manufacturing has advantages that many manufacturers do not have. Lei Jun's national popularity, years of experience in online marketing in the machine industry, abundant funds and huge users all make Xiaomi Motors unable to keep a low profile. Every move of Xiaomi Motors and Lei Jun attracts the attention of netizens.
Lei Jun pays tribute to the pioneers of new energy vehicle companies
Since Lei Jun officially announced the creation of a car, he has always emphasized that he “knows how difficult it is to build a car.” Before the official release of Xiaomi SU7, Xiaomi held a Xiaomi car technology conference on December 28, 2023.As a “new entrant” in the automotive industry, Lei Jun directly booked the exterior wall advertisements of many buildings with a wave of his hand the day before the press conference, paying tribute to China's new energy vehicle pioneers such as BYD, Weilai, Huawei, Xiaopeng, and Ideal. .
Lei Jun himself also posted several Weibo posts to pay tribute to the above-mentioned car companies. Some netizens said that Lei Jun and Xiaomi Motors wanted to express their position and express Xiaomi Motors' respect for the domestic new energy vehicle pioneers as a latecomer, and take the initiative to show goodwill and seek common development.
However, car manufacturers’ evaluations of Xiaomi and Lei Jun’s approach are polarized. BYD expressed its welcome to Xiaomi's joining. Its official Weibo forwarded Xiaomi's Weibo saying: “Welcome @小米车 to join China's new energy vehicle family! Together we are Chinese cars.” Xiaopeng Motors Chairman He Xiaopeng and Lei Jun have a personal relationship Better, he also gave a friendly response to Lei Jun's tribute: Warmly welcome Xiaomi to join the automobile family, applaud Mr. Lei for his new venture, and energize the spirit of striving for dreams. Those who have confidence and the means will definitely sell well in 2024. .
In addition, NIO, Ideal, and CATL also responded on Weibo, expressing their welcome to Xiaomi to join the automotive family. Yang Xueliang, vice president of Geely Automobile Group, said, “Come on, although we haven't paid tribute, we are still open to welcome new players.”
But regarding Lei Jun’s multiple Weibo posts to pay tribute to car companies, Yang Xueliang also said that Xiaomi’s announcement was “over the top.”Some netizens said, “In terms of publicity in the automobile industry, it has indeed passed, but for mobile phones, where is this?”
Yang Xueliang said, “So I can't understand it.”
At the same time, some netizens expressed their boredom with Xiaomi Motors's large-scale publicity campaign and felt that this wave of tribute was “a bit embarrassing”. If you really want to pay tribute, you should use real technology instead of word games.
However, whether netizens and businessmen like it or not, this wave of operations by Xiaomi Motors has indeed had a very good publicity effect and made Xiaomi Motors completely out of the circle. Many netizens know that Xiaomi will hold an automotive technology sharing meeting on December 28.
Xiaomi car appearance controversy
Before Xiaomi held its automotive technology sharing conference, Xiaomi SU7 had already been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and its appearance was made public. Two days later, Huawei Managing Director, Terminal BG CEO, and Smart Car Solutions BU Chairman Yu Chengdong attended the 2023 Guangzhou Auto Show. When asked “Who is more handsome, Xiaomi Auto or Zhijie S7?” Yu Chengdong said: “Of course it is our more handsome one.” He’s so handsome, hahaha, everyone says good things about him.”
According to Xiaomi’s introduction at the sharing meeting, Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a C-class high-performance ecological technology sedan, with the world’s lowest drag coefficient Cd 0.195. The car is 4997mm long, 1963mm wide, 1440mm high, has a wheelbase of 3000mm, and has a golden wheel-to-axle ratio. Wheel height ratio and aspect ratio. Xiaomi SU7 has many family-style designs, including drop-shaped headlights, halo-shaped taillights, 175° rippled curved surfaces and semi-hidden door handles.
However, when netizens used Xiao Ai, the smart voice assistant of Xiaomi mobile phones, to scan the official renderings of Xiaomi cars, Xiao Ai still recognized the Xiaomi cars as Porsches. The results of using Xiaoai to scan Xiaomi SU7 show that this car will be launched in April 2022, with a price ranging from 898,000 yuan to 1.838 million yuan. It is a pure electric sedan from Porsche.
Former OPPO Vice President of Mobile Phones “Confident Eyebrows” Shen Yiren also joked: I paid tribute to so many car companies, but I forgot to pay tribute to “Porsche”. Some netizens ridiculed Xiaomi cars as “Porsche Mi”.
However, Shen Yiren appreciates the fact that Xiaomi Auto retains necessary physical buttons. He posted: “Looking at Xiaomi Auto's retention of commonly used high-frequency physical buttons and support for Carplay, I really want to like it. It has excellent insight into product details.”
How big is the space inside the car?
Xiaomi SU7 is scheduled to be released on March 28. As the release date approaches, officials are also continuing to warm up the car. On March 18, Xiaomi Group partner, president, international president, Xiaomi brand general manager Lu Weibing and other senior executives drove Xiaomi SU7 to attend the Qualcomm Snapdragon new product launch conference, which in turn caused Xiaomi SU7 to fall into controversy over the interior space of the car. middle.
After the press conference, a photo of Lu Weibing sitting in the back row of Xiaomi SU7 caused heated discussion on the Internet. Many netizens found that the rear space of Xiaomi SU7 seemed a bit small. Lu Weibing was so frightened that he recorded a video himself to respond that day. Lu Weibing said: When I was riding Xiaomi SU7 this afternoon, there was a photo. The front seats were pulled to the end, which caused some misunderstandings about the space inside the car. The reason why the back seat space feels insufficient in the photo is because the front seats are adjusted further back, so the rear seat space appears to be small.
For further proof, Lu Weibing also demonstrated it in the video. After adjusting the space in the front seat to a level where he could sit comfortably, he entered the back seat of the vehicle. He said that the rear space is still very spacious. The video was also forwarded by Lei Jun. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi SU7 is a C-class sedan, and its second-row legroom is larger than that of Model S and standard-axle BMW 5, so you don’t need to worry.
However, some netizens think that Lu Weibing “might as well not clarify”. Lu Weibing is sitting in the back row, which is indeed a bit crowded. After sitting down, the leg room should be less than two punches, and the head space seems to be a bit cramped. Some netizens even said that Lu Weibing's sitting posture in the back row “felt like sitting on a small bench.”
In the end, it was Lei Jun who had to take action. On March 21, Lei Jun released a video on the social media platform introducing the front and rear trunk and interior space of Xiaomi SU7. He said that he is 1.81 meters tall and the space inside the car is relatively spacious.
In fact, Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a C-class sedan. The body data is there, and the space inside the car will not be too small. However, considering that the SU7 adopts a coupe design style, the interior space is not expected to be very spacious.
write at the end
As the “last step” of Lei Jun's career, Xiaomi Motors is like Lei Jun's “son”, and it can be said that it is not unsatisfactory. Xiaomi cars also have their own traffic capabilities. But traffic is a double-edged sword. Excessive attention has also caused every detail of Xiaomi cars to be observed by netizens with a magnifying glass. Any slight disturbance may cause a stir.
But then again, black and red are also red. As Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, said: A product without attention is truly a life worse than death! Xiaomi SU7 is covered by Lei Jun, a “super internet celebrity”, and it has been out of the market one after another even before it was officially launched. Despite the constant controversy, it has already won at the starting line. The rest depends on the performance of Xiaomi SU7 after it is launched on March 28.