Xiaomi Auto is finally here.
Recently, someone leaked spy photos of Xiaomi’s new car SU7, in which the electric rear spoiler can be seen. In terms of appearance,
has a low-key and elegant silver gray color, a panoramic sunroof, and an obvious Xiaomi LOGO on the front face, but it is not the same Xiaomi TV as the TV, but a single Mi.
The streamlined body, the LOGO and the body also match well. Some people say that this appearance looks like a Porsche Taycan. What do you guys think?
In addition, a video of the actual Xiaomi SU7 car on the road has also been leaked online. It can be seen that the side door handles of the vehicle are not the hidden design commonly seen on trams.
Although the hidden door handle is beautiful, the experience is not good. Recently, the weather has been cold, and the handle has been frozen, causing the car door to be unable to open.
This Xiaomi door handle is as rare on a tram as the 3.5mm headphone jack on a mobile phone.
Xiaomi builds a car, Mr. Lei is happy
The launch of this new car makes Lei Jun very happy. On Mr. Lei’s birthday not long ago, he posted a picture on Weibo saying "There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain".
* Sina Weibo
"There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain" was once Toyota's advertising slogan, followed by the sentence "Where there is a road, there must be a Toyota car". Does Mr. Lei's move mean that Xiaomi wants to replace Toyota?
When Xiaomi SU7 surfaced, Lei Jun was interviewed by the CCTV program "Face to Face" and elaborated on his journey during Xiaomi's car-making process.
* CCTV News
Lei Jun believes that Xiaomi has many natural advantages in making cars, because the essence of smart electric vehicles is the integration of the automotive industry and the consumer electronics industry.
When talking about his expectations for Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun said that he had high expectations, but he was worried that "it won't be popular at first and no one will buy it."
* CCTV News
Lei Jun also said, "What is more worrying is that if everyone Come and buy it, if you have to wait for a year or two, you will definitely be scolded!"
It seems that Mr. Lei also knows very well that if Xiaomi cars have insufficient production capacity like mobile phones, it will be another wave of "monkey tricks".
Many people believe that Xiaomi cars will be launched in 2021, but according to Mr. Lei, Xiaomi’s car layout actually started ten years ago.
As early as 2013, Xiaomi had contact with Tesla. In 2014, Xiaomi also participated in strategic investments in a number of OEMs, parts companies, and smart driving-related software companies.
However, Xiaomi and cars seemed to be insulated since then. On the contrary, in 2018, there were more than 400 new energy vehicle manufacturers in China.
Until the end of 2020, when other businesses were reaching bottlenecks, news of Xiaomi building a car reappeared.
In March 2021, Xiaomi Group announced that it would establish a smart electric vehicle business. In September of the same year, Xiaomi Automobile Company was officially established.
In November 2021, Xiaomi signed a contract with Beijing Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone to build a vehicle factory with an annual output of 300,000 vehicles in two phases.
* Bitauto.com
In August this year, Xiaomi Motors finally received approval from relevant departments and obtained the qualification to build a car. On the other hand, there are only about 50 new power car companies left.
Nowadays, the reshuffle of new energy vehicles has almost been completed. At this point in time, Xiaomi officially entered the game.
Xiaomi Auto's competitiveness
In such a fiercely competitive environment, Xiaomi Auto launches its first new car at this time. What are the prospects? Need to look at their competitiveness.
As a B-class car, SU7 targets medium and large sedans such as Weilai ET7, Jikrypton 007, and Tesla Model 3.
From a performance perspective, the SU7 has a comprehensive operating range of 600 kilometers, which is even slightly higher than pure electric vehicles such as Tesla Model 3 and NIO’s ET7.
But compared with pure electric SUVs such as Tesla’s Model Y and Model
What is eye-catching is the four-wheel drive version of SU7, with a front motor of 220kW and a rear motor of 275kW, with an output power of nearly 500kW, equivalent to more than 660 horsepower.The battery capacity and motor power of
are slightly superior to those of Tesla Model 3, Xpeng P7 and BYD Han EV.
So what if you compare SU7 with Huawei Smart World S7, which is also a cross-border entry, and BYD's Seal, the new energy overlord? The three models of
are all medium and large sedans with little difference in appearance. They are all streamlined designs. If you only look at the data, the SU7 is slightly larger.
* Experts say power integration
Looking at the configuration, SU7 MAX is built on an 800V high-voltage platform and is equipped with front and rear dual motors with powers of 220kW (front) and 275kW (rear) respectively. The maximum speed is 265km/h.
The Zhijie S7, which has just been pre-sold, supports 800V super fast charging and is equipped with a new Drive ONE 800V silicon carbide motor with 215kW power and a limit speed of 22,000 rpm.
* Experts say that the power integrated
BYD Seal is inferior to the other two in terms of parameters, but the BYD Seal, which was born out of the e3.0 platform, has the lowest cost assembly solution.
Looking at the hardware cost alone, the parameters of Xiaomi SU7 are quite eye-catching, but the parameters of cars of the same grade, such as Xpeng P7i, Huawei Zhijie S7, and Jikrypton 007, are not bad either.
In terms of price, which is the most talked about, will SU7 continue to be cost-effective and have a car version of "Make a Friend in 1999"?
According to rumors, the price of Xiaomi SU7 is about 200,000-300,000 yuan, which is not an advantage among cars of the same class.
To achieve "cost-effectiveness", the key is to control the cost of bicycles. In this regard, BYD has an absolute advantage.
Take BYD Seal as an example. The car has a gross profit margin of 16% and a pre-tax profit margin of 5%. Compared with traditional OEMs, BYD has a 25% cost advantage.
Xiaomi’s bicycle cost control will definitely not be as good as BYD’s, so in terms of pricing, it will be difficult to replicate the “1999” miracle.
Can Xiaomi, which is famous for its “cost-effectiveness”, abandon this label in new fields? Xiaomi needs to study carefully how to choose.
The Prospects of Xiaomi Auto
There are many cross-border car manufacturing companies, including Baidu in the past and Huawei in the later. Their endings are also different.
In January 2021, Baidu announced with a high profile that it would build a car. In March of the same year, Baidu and Geely jointly registered Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd., in which Baidu holds the dominant position.
But after two years of wasted time, Baidu gradually gave up the automobile business. Today, it is difficult to see Baidu's presence in Geely Automobile.
The opposite is Huawei. Although the process has been full of twists and turns, cars such as the Wenjie M5, M9 and Zhijie S7 have successively detonated the market, and Huawei has gained a firm foothold.
Xiaomi has successfully surpassed Baidu in the field of car manufacturing, but it is still difficult to become another Huawei.
In addition, Xiaomi Motors’ potential competitors include traditional car manufacturers and cross-border companies, as well as major new forces.
Most of the new forces are in-depth learners of the "Xiaomi model". Now, Xiaomi has to compete cross-border with its "disciples" in a new field. You can imagine the difficulty.
But Xiaomi has a major advantage that is different from other new forces, that is, Xiaomi has a strong capital chain, with a cash reserve of 127.6 billion.
is currently the most popular ideal among new forces. Its cash flow reserve is 88.52 billion yuan. Not to mention other new forces, some of which are even rumored to be bankrupt.
* Ideal Financial Report
's high risk resistance is a major advantage of Xiaomi Motors over new forces. This is a boost for potential users in the market.
Thanks to the diversified development of mobile phones and other businesses, MIUI has more than 600 million monthly active users worldwide. They are definitely the largest potential buyers of Xiaomi cars.
This is another advantage of Xiaomi. With such a large number of "rice fans", sales volume aside, Lei Jun's worry about "not being popular" is probably unfounded.
While other businesses are gradually becoming mediocre, car-making is the only hot spot for Xiaomi that can arouse enthusiasm in the capital market. For Xiaomi, there is absolutely nothing to lose.
SU7, whether it can become Xiaomi’s challenge, the market will tell us the answer.
