China Business Daily (Reporter Jiao Likun text/photo) On the afternoon of December 28, 2023, the first press conference of Xiaomi Auto was held in Beijing. When the two Xiaomi SU7 slowly drove on the stage "by themselves", the whole press conference reached a climax. "To be a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla. Lei Jun, founder and chairman of Xiaomi Group, shouted out the goal of Xiaomi Auto - to become the top five in the world in 15-20 years. However, the price that the public is concerned about has not been announced, Lei Jun has been talking about "the truth that expensive is expensive", he said, the price of 99,000 yuan, 149,000 yuan is impossible.
Lei Jun "pre-release" Xiaomi SU7.
The car of dreams
December 28, 2023 is the 1003rd day of Xiaomi's announcement of its entry into the electric vehicle industry, and there is no suspense, and the press conference of the day rushed to the hot search on Weibo. Previously, Lei Jun said that this conference only sent technology, not products. At the end of the press conference, the Xiaomi SU7 in two colors "unmanned" took the stage by itself and showed off its self-driving technology.
At this press conference, Lei Jun simply carried out a "pre-release". According to reports, Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a C-class high-performance car, with two versions, which will be officially released in a few months. It has a cobblestone-like streamlined shape, and also has the world's lowest drag coefficient of a sedan - Cd 0.195, the length of the car is 4997mm, the wheelbase is 3000mm, the width of the car is 1963mm, the height of the car is 1440mm, and the body color is Gulf Blue, Elegant Gray and Olive Green, and the interior is available in Galaxy Gray, Twilight Red and Obsidian Black.
In the three-hour speech, Lei Jun showed the progress and breakthroughs of the five core technologies of Xiaomi Automobile, and achieved many global firsts and China's firsts in key areas such as electric drive, battery, large die-casting, intelligent driving, and intelligent cockpit.
Among them, in the field of industrial hard technology, Xiaomi has demonstrated strong self-developed manufacturing hard-core scientific and technological strength, and has a leading intelligent manufacturing strength for a complete automotive industry. For example, the super motor HyperEngine V8s independently developed and produced by Xiaomi has a speed of 27,200 rpm, ranking first in the world's mass production motor speed, refreshing the global motor speed ceiling, while the pre-developed next-generation Xiaomi super motor, innovative laser winding rotor technology, has successfully exceeded 35,000 rpm in the laboratory, and Xiaomi has developed its own CTB integrated battery technology and the world's first cell inversion technology, achieving the world's highest battery integration efficiency of 77.8% for CTB batteries. In order to ensure the performance and quality of the battery from the source, Xiaomi has even built its own battery pack factory.
In Lei Jun's comparison, Xiaomi cars have performance indicators that are not inferior to Tesla Model S, with 0-100km/h acceleration, 100km/h-0 braking distance, and maximum speed not lagging behind.
Lei Jun shows off Xiaomi's automotive technology.
"There are no shortcuts on the 100-year circuit, and I knew from day one that we only had one way. Through 15 to 20 years of hard work, it will become one of the top five car factories in the world and strive for the comprehensive rise of China's automobile industry. This is the goal that Lei Jun set for Xiaomi Auto.
It is reported that at present, the first phase of Xiaomi Auto's R&D investment exceeds 10 billion yuan, and the R&D team has more than 3,400 engineers, including thousands of top technical experts at home and abroad in key fields.
The price is not low
Of course, for the public, this conference is more like a popular science of automotive knowledge. In fact, since Xiaomi announced that it would build a car, the public has been paying close attention to its progress. Especially at present, Huawei is playing well in the car circle, and Meizu has also announced its entry into the automobile market.
Xiaomi, which started as a smartphone, has embarked on a counterattack in the mobile phone industry in the past 13 years, contributing to the popularization of smartphones and accelerating the development of the domestic supply chain. The public is also looking forward to what kind of surprises will be brought by Xiaomi's "first car for young people".
Among them, the price is naturally the part that the outside world is most concerned about. However, Lei Jun did not announce the specific price of Xiaomi SU7, but admitted that the pricing is indeed a bit expensive, "but it must make everyone feel that it is reasonable, and at the same time, it will definitely exceed everyone's expectations in terms of experience." He said that it is impossible for Xiaomi SU7 to be priced at 99,000 yuan, "but anyone with this kind of performance and configuration has to be more than 400,000 yuan (yuan)! So 149,000 yuan does not need to be talked about anymore, and it is still necessary to respect technology!"
Soon, the discussion about the "Xiaomi car price" was also on the hot search, and some netizens even shouted "199,000 yuan to make a friend".
Xiaomi billboard at the National Convention Center on the day of the press conference.
However, some professionals believe that Xiaomi SU7, as Xiaomi's first car, must be "held high" and the brand style will be beaten, and it is not ruled out that an entry-level model will be launched in the future. After all, it takes 15-20 years to become the world's top five, which requires considerable scale support.
Some analysts believe that at present, among the top five in global automobile sales, Toyota ranks first, with annual sales of 9.5 million to 11 million vehicles, Volkswagen ranks second, with annual sales of 8.4 million to 10 million vehicles, and ranks third to fifth with annual sales of more than 6 million vehicles.
Especially at present, the price war in the new energy vehicle industry is very fierce, and new products from friends are constantly being launched.