Late Xiaomi car, difficult to climb the peak of the auto market

　　Since the decision to dream of the car circle two years ago, Xiaomi has been receiving much attention from the industry. Due to the delay in updating the progress, people’s views on Xiaomi Automobile have gradually changed from the previous optimism to the current singer. However, a series of news recently seems to indicate that Xiaomi car is close at hand.

　　Recently, some media broke the news that Xiaomi Company has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission to produce electric vehicles, which means that Xiaomi Automobile has taken an important step towards the goal of mass production in early 2024. Not long ago, photos of Xiaomi Group founder Lei Jun, Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibing and others testing Xiaomi’s new car in Xinjiang Road were spread all over social media. Hu Zhengnan, a co-investor of Shunwei Capital, also issued a document saying that the power consumption per 100 kilometers of the test vehicle is 8.8kWh. At the same time, Xiaomi Automobile Factory has been open to the outside world since August, including the recruitment of painting operators and battery workshop operators. A few days ago, it was reported that the cumulative number of new cars rolled off the assembly line of Xiaomi Auto Yizhuang Factory in August has reached double digits. The influx of these news will inevitably make people feel that "Xiaomi car is really coming."

　　Looking back on Xiaomi’s road to build a car, it has been more than two years since Lei Jun shouted "10 billion dollars in 10 years". Although he did not see any substantial progress in related products during this period, Xiaomi Automobile has torn off the labels of "no technology" and "no experience" with a large amount of investment, and quickly established an automobile industry chain system covering chips, power batteries, intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit and other fields, and "earned income" from many automobile industry executives. In addition, some media reported that the Yizhuang factory of Xiaomi Automobile was completed in July and delivered to the factory to start construction, with an estimated annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles. In May this year, Lu Weibing also revealed that Xiaomi Automobile will conduct summer test and winter test respectively this summer and winter, and will be listed in the first half of next year as originally planned.

　　However, in two years, it is not only Xiaomi Automobile that has changed, but also the ever-changing new energy vehicle market. Especially since the beginning of this year, under the price war that lasted for half a year, the new energy vehicle market has become more and more volume, some enterprises have skyrocketed, some enterprises have fallen into the altar, and some enterprises have disappeared. For example, Xpeng Motors, which used to be the "Big Three of New Forces", suffered from the dilemma that the monthly delivery volume dropped to less than 10,000 vehicles this year. The delivery volume in the first half of the year decreased by nearly 40% year-on-year, and the net loss reached 5.142 billion yuan, bidding farewell to the first echelon of new forces automobile enterprises for the time being. It can be seen that the rapid development, great changes and fierce competition of the new energy vehicle market today are no longer what they were two years ago.

　　If two years ago, the new energy automobile market still revealed its fledgling youth, then the current automobile market has become a recognized "king of volume". At the moment when Tesla entered the range of 200,000 yuan, it is difficult for the late Xiaomi car to gain a firm foothold only by its own "online celebrity aura" and loyal "rice noodle" support. When new energy car companies flock to the mid-end market with great potential, "how to position" has become a problem that Xiaomi needs to rethink. "Some people question that the image of Xiaomi is already very fixed, or should we change the brand? It is really too difficult to use the Xiaomi brand to be high-end. " Lei Jun’s speech in 2023 also expressed his hesitation in positioning Xiaomi products, including Xiaomi Automobile.

　　Lei Jun once revealed that Xiaomi’s first model is positioned in the middle and high end, and will use the cutting-edge technology and cutting-edge products at the time of delivery, and the price is between 100,000 and 300,000 yuan. Just looking at the technical layout strategy of Xiaomi’s full-stack self-developed algorithm in autonomous driving, we can predict that its price may not become the "first new energy vehicle for young people" as expected by the outside world. It is reported that Xiaomi Automobile has invested as much as 3.3 billion yuan in the first phase of autonomous driving, and reached L2+assisted driving ability in August last year, striving to enter the first camp of autonomous driving industry in 2024.

　　However, the price war in the auto market seems to have "blown" to Xiaomi Auto. In June, Xiao Ai, an artificial intelligence service platform of Xiaomi, said that Xiaomi’s first pure electric vehicle will be divided into standard version and pro version, with the price of 149,900 yuan and 179,900 yuan. Wang Hua, the head of Xiaomi’s public relations, then responded that the news was untrue. A few days ago, some media revealed that the overall profit rate of Xiaomi automobile hardware may not exceed 1%. This seems to mean that Xiaomi Automobile will continue its consistent Xiaomi style and launch a very sincere pricing for its first product, which will maximize the cost performance. This also makes many consumers look forward to whether Xiaomi can become a "price butcher" in the automobile industry.

　　"Life is a marathon, and the success or failure of the moment is not so important. All life problems will find answers in growth." As Lei Jun said, people are like this, and so are cars. At the moment when the "predecessors" are fighting for momentum, Xiaomi’s first product is still "still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar". Whether it can achieve the goal of "the top five in the global automobile market" is not based on the speed, but ultimately depends on the product.