Image from Xiaomi's official website
Top News Henan Business Daily chief reporter Guo Dingran
It has been 700 days since Xiaomi officially announced its official entry into the electric vehicle industry on March 30, 2021.
Xiaomi cut into the automotive market and has attracted much attention. How is the automotive project progressing today? Can it be "delivered" on time?
Xiaomi replied to the top news Henan Business Daily reporter: The progress exceeded expectations, and it is full of confidence in the smooth mass production and listing in the first half of 2024. This means that in a year, you may be able to drive a new energy vehicle produced by Xiaomi.
Xiaomi Technology has registered a number of trademarks, and the names have deep meaning
On March 30, 2021, Xiaomi officially announced its official entry into the electric vehicle industry. Lei Jun once said at the press conference that "I am willing to bet all the accumulated achievements and reputation in my life to fight for Xiaomi Auto".
The news of Xiaomi's car, although relatively late, is actually not surprising. First of all, the development space of Xiaomi's mobile phone business is limited, the global market has entered the era of stock competition, and Xiaomi is actively seeking change to find the second growth pole. Secondly, new energy vehicles are the future development direction, with huge growth potential, and after many enterprises test the waters, the market and supply chain are more mature.
In order to build a car, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun is almost Allin. 500 days after announcing the car, in August 2022, Lei Jun announced the research and development progress of Xiaomi's autonomous driving technology: an exclusive team of more than 500 people has been established and a full-stack self-developed technology strategy has been formulated.
Recently, Xiaomi has made new moves. Tianyan inspection shows that Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd. has applied for the registration of a number of "Xiaomi Modena", "MODENAT", "XIAOMIMODENA" and "mimodena" graphic and word trademarks, and the international classification includes means of transportation, scientific instruments, and building repair, and the current trademark status is pending.
According to previous reports by technology media, Xiaomi's first car is a mid-size sedan (internally codenamed Modena), divided into two versions, the price is undecided. In addition, Xiaomi is also working on a second production car (internally codenamed Lemans Le Mans), which is scheduled to be launched in 2025. The new trademark registered by Xiaomi this time may be a tribute to the "engine capital" Italian city of Modena.
The first half of 2024 is full of confidence in mass production and launch
The meaning behind the name is understood, so 700 days have passed, how is the overall progress of the Xiaomi car project?
On February 28, 2023, a relevant person from Xiaomi Company replied to the top news Henan Business Daily reporter: "At present, the overall progress of Xiaomi's smart electric vehicles has been exceeding expectations, and we are full of confidence in the smooth mass production and listing in the first half of 2024." ”
In February 2023, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said at the Xiaomi Group Investor Day event that 1/2 of his time and energy are on Xiaomi cars, and 1/4 of his time is on Xiaomi mobile phones, IoT and high-end. At present, the Xiaomi automobile R&D team has convened more than 2,300 people.
The top news Henan Business Daily reporter learned that the Xiaomi automobile factory project is located in Beijing Economic Development Zone (Yizhuang). The project will build Xiaomi Automobile's headquarters base, sales headquarters, and R&D headquarters, and build a vehicle plant with a cumulative annual output of 300,000 units in two phases, of which the production capacity of the first and second phases will be 150,000 units. Construction of the first phase of the plant began in April 2021 and is expected to be completed in June 2023.
The relevant person in charge of the Beijing Economic and Development Zone once said that the whole district will exert its efforts to provide guarantee services for the Xiaomi Automobile project, promote the early start of the project and put into production as soon as possible, and build Xiaomi Automobile into a national brand of new energy vehicles with global influence.
The production qualification problem may have been solved, and the recruitment of marketing talents is being stepped up
In addition to R&D and self-built factories, automobile production qualifications are also a key part of car manufacturing. Previously, the new force car company Liberty was forced to "disband" because it failed to solve the problem of car manufacturing qualifications.
From past experience, there are three main ways to obtain car manufacturing qualifications: first, OEM production, and in the early days, NIO and Xiaopeng were respectively responsible for OEM production by Jianghuai and Haima; The second is the acquisition of qualifications, ideal to obtain production qualifications through the acquisition of Lifan passenger car, Zerorun acquisition of Xinfuda to obtain manufacturing qualifications, and Xpeng also obtained the right to independent production through the acquisition of Fudy in the later period; The third is to apply for qualifications independently, and Nezha Auto is one of them.
In October last year, Yizhuang New Energy Vehicle Research Institute disclosed that Xiaomi's automobile plant may obtain automobile production qualifications in mid-2023. According to internal sources, this time may have been advanced.
Self-media @ Technology Media Power Plant once sent a message that Xiaomi Automobile is close to obtaining the new energy vehicle production qualification.
According to media reports, according to people familiar with the matter, after the coordination of multiple departments, under the premise of ensuring that the number of new energy production qualifications in Beijing remains unchanged and the production capacity remains unchanged, Xiaomi has obtained Borgward's production qualification. Some insiders said that after Borgward's bankruptcy and liquidation, its production qualification was cancelled and then obtained by Xiaomi.
For the above statement, Xiaomi Technology said it would not comment to Top News Henan Business News.
But it can be seen that Xiaomi Auto has accelerated the pace of recruiting marketing talents. Xiaomi's internal push information shows that it is currently recruiting automotive market strategy director, automotive new media marketing director and automotive public relations director.
Full-stack self-developed algorithms, autonomous driving has achieved a phased breakthrough
Autonomous driving is the key to the success of smart electric vehicles.
At the Xiaomi Group Investor Day event, Lei Jun admitted that he was six or seven years behind the new forces of car manufacturing, but he pointed out that cars are a century-old track, and it is never too late. Lei Jun released a bold statement: "Strive to enter the world's top five in 15~20 years." ”
"Last year, we disclosed the latest progress in autonomous driving technology, which uses full-stack self-developed algorithms and has made a phased breakthrough, and we aim to enter the first camp of the industry in 2024." The relevant person in charge of Xiaomi Technology told the top news Henan Business Daily reporter.
It is understood that in addition to many top talents in the industry, Xiaomi is also committed to the medium and long-term industrial chain layout in the field of autonomous driving, and has invested in more than ten upstream and downstream enterprises in the field of autonomous driving, involving autonomous driving solutions, core sensors, core actuators and domain controllers, with a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan.
Xiaomi Group also revealed at the investor day event that in 2022, more than 3 billion yuan will be invested in new businesses such as automobiles, and the automotive R&D team will exceed 2,300 people.
Regarding the configuration of Xiaomi cars, some media previously broke the news that Xiaomi's first model will be a sedan, with 1 Hesai hybrid solid-state radar AT128 as the main radar, and several Hesai all-solid-state radars as blind radars.
In addition, it is rumored that Xiaomi has selected CATL and BYD's Verdy Battery to provide it with car batteries. The first car is planned to use a 400V voltage platform with Verdy's lithium iron phosphate blade battery, and the high-end model is planned to use an 800V voltage platform equipped with CATL's Kirin battery.
The blue ocean turns into the red ocean, what "big moves" can Xiaomi cars come up with?
When deciding to build a car, Lei Jun said, "10 billion US dollars will be invested in 10 years, and the first phase will invest 10 billion yuan." In 2022, Xiaomi will invest more than 3 billion yuan in new businesses such as automobiles. This attitude of "not bad money" seems to express Lei Jun's determination.
However, looking at the new energy vehicle market that has now entered the Red Sea, Tesla's price reduction news has made many domestic car companies sit on pins and needles, BYD will become the global new energy king in 2022, and Wei Xiaoli has also gained a vote of loyal fans... Can Xiaomi become a laugher in this money-burning market?
As a latecomer, how does Xiaomi play the trump card of "cost performance" like a mobile phone, and give a big move? What are the core strengths? How to ensure on-time mass production, how to ensure production capacity, how to solve charging and other supporting problems, and how to improve user experience?
Yang Hongsong, director of the Industry Development Department of China Automotive Research Institute Beijing Institute, said in an interview with the media that relying on the consumption reputation accumulated by Xiaomi's ecology will be much easier than other new entrants of new forces, the technical performance of the first product, product quality, etc. are the key, winning consumer recognition is the most important, and short-term sales scale is not so important.
In the future, can Xiaomi change the new energy vehicle market pattern like it subverted the domestic smartphone market back then? It's worth looking forward to.