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1. The central bank reported that the economy is expected to continue to improve.

The Central Bank issued the Report on the Implementation of Monetary Policy in China in the Second Quarter of 2023, which covered monetary policy, RMB exchange rate, real estate and other heavy contents. The report pointed out that the macro economy is expected to continue to improve, and the future will be more matched with financial data. A prudent monetary policy should be precise and powerful, give full play to the dual functions of monetary policy tools in aggregate and structure, and firmly support the recovery and development of the real economy. The report makes it clear that it is necessary to keep the total amount of money and credit moderate and promote the steady decline of financing costs in the real economy. The report predicts that China’s CPI is expected to gradually pick up in August, showing a U-shaped trend throughout the year; PPI has bottomed out in July year-on-year, and the decline will tend to converge in the future. We should give full play to the positive role of finance in promoting consumption, stabilizing investment and expanding domestic demand, and keep the price level basically stable. (xinhuanet)

2. The Ministry of Commerce welcomes the US Secretary of Commerce to visit China.

The Ministry of Commerce held a regular press conference to respond to recent hot economic and trade issues. The Ministry of Commerce said that China welcomes US Secretary of Commerce Raymond to visit China. At present, the two sides are maintaining close communication on the relevant arrangements for the visit. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce is conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the US administrative order on investment restrictions in China, and will take necessary countermeasures according to the evaluation results. In addition, the Ministry of Commerce has successively received applications from some enterprises for permission to export gallium and germanium-related items, and is currently reviewing them according to laws and regulations. (People’s Network)

3. China continues to welcome foreign-funded enterprises to take root

Chen Chunjiang, Assistant Minister of Commerce, met with Wei Jiekai, Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil, and his party. Chen Chunjiang said that China will unswervingly promote high-level opening up, and Chinese-style modernization will bring great development opportunities to foreign-funded enterprises. Foreign-funded enterprises such as ExxonMobil are welcome to continue to take root in China and achieve better development. (People’s Network)

4. The central bank requires maintaining financial support for small and micro enterprises.

The central bank requires that the supporting tools for small and micro loans should be implemented, financial support for small and micro enterprises should be maintained, and enterprises should be supported to ensure employment. We will continue to implement special refinancing loans for inclusive old-age care and support the increase of inclusive old-age care services. For areas where structural contradictions are still outstanding, the implementation period can be extended and new tools can be created when necessary. (xinhuanet)

5. A number of major traffic projects are progressing smoothly.

According to the front-page article of the China Securities Journal, data show that in July, 28 major railway, highway, urban rail transit and airport projects with an investment of more than 500 million yuan were approved, with an investment of nearly 236 billion yuan in total investment of the project. According to industry insiders, a number of major transportation projects are progressing smoothly, and the modern and high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network has been accelerated and improved, which has provided strong support for economic and social development. (CSI)

6. The National Development and Reform Commission issued a document to guide the recycling of wind power photovoltaic.

The National Development and Reform Commission and other six departments jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Recycling of Retired Wind Power and Photovoltaic Equipment, encouraging qualified localities and enterprises to take the lead in cultivating advanced technologies and business models; Considering the industrial development stage and other factors, the recycling target of retired wind power and photovoltaic equipment is put forward in two stages: 2025 and 2030. (xinhuanet)

7. Last year, the revenue of China’s robot industry was 170 billion.

In 2022, the operating income of China’s robot industry exceeded 170 billion yuan and continued to maintain double-digit growth; The installed capacity of industrial robots accounts for more than 50% of the world’s total, making it the largest market in the world. In the next step, relevant departments will further promote the "Robot+"application action, strengthen the application of sub-sectors and accelerate the popularization of mature scenes. (wonder)

8. 1 yuan fuel surcharge will be charged for fuel taxis in Hangzhou.

On the evening of August 16th, Hangzhou Traffic Officer Wei announced that due to the rising oil price, since August 18th, cruise taxis (except electric vehicles) have to pay 1 yuan fuel surcharge. According to the news, recently, due to the adjustment of domestic refined oil prices, the highest retail price of No.92 gasoline in Zhejiang Province has been adjusted from 24: 00 on July 12 to 7.63 yuan per liter, which has exceeded the starting point of oil transportation price linkage adjustment and lasted for more than 30 days (inclusive). (Hangzhou Daily)

9. The new EU battery law came into effect.

On August 18th, the new EU battery law will come into effect. The EU battery regulation has replaced the current EU battery directive (2006/66/EC). It has three main priorities: strengthening the internal market by formulating standardized rules for battery products, processes, waste batteries and recyclables; Promoting circular economy; Reduce the impact of batteries on the environment and society in the whole life cycle, focusing on the supply chain. After the new regulations come into effect, operators who put batteries on the market need to comply with due diligence requirements. (First Electric)

10. new york requires that the network car be fully electrified before 2030.

Eric Adams, Mayor of new york, and David Du, Chairman of the Municipal Taxi and Limousine Committee (TLC), today announced the new "green travel" rules, requiring new york’s online car-hailing team to complete the transformation of electrification and barrier-free by 2030. The "Green Travel" plan will be implemented in stages: starting from 2024, new york will require 5% of high-frequency network car trips, including platforms such as Uber and Lyft, to use electric vehicles or barrier-free vehicles. It will increase to 15% in 2025 and 25% in 2026. After that, it will increase by 20% every year until it reaches 100% by the end of this decade. (First Electric)

11. The 2023 Automotive Technology and Equipment Development Expo is about to open.

The 2023 Automotive Technology and Equipment Development Expo will be held in Suzhou Shishan Convention Center from August 21st to 24th. The Expo is mainly divided into six related directions and fields: intelligent manufacturing of automobile industry, new energy vehicles, industrial mother machine, automobile chip and safety technology, automobile intelligent testing equipment and testing and certification, and will jointly help the automobile and equipment industry to continuously upgrade with the "2023 International Forum on Automobile Technology and Equipment" held in the same period. (First Electric)

12. Zhiji has released a road map for smart driving in the next 3 to 5 years.

On August 16th, Zhiji Automobile announced the "Landing Roadmap of Zhiji Automobile’s Intelligent Driving Products in the Next 3-5 Years", and announced that it will officially open the "IM AD City NOA" beta in October this year, and step into the "urban NOA era" synchronously with the global head players. Judging from the road map published by Zhiji Automobile, in the next 3-5 years, the intelligent driving products will accelerate: 1. Go to the high-precision map NOA, and the public beta will be opened in September; 2. The NOA of the city is in the internal test, and the public beta is in October; 3. Commuting mode will quickly cover 100+ cities nationwide in 2024; In 2025, IM AD will enter the era of Door to Door. The third model, Zhiji LS6, which was unveiled at Chengdu Auto Show, has NOA capability to go to high-precision maps, and it is equipped with the function of "one-click scene driving" upon delivery. According to the official introduction, IM AD is preparing for the technology to go to sea, and has completed the European localization adaptability training, and the planning algorithm has adapted to the local environment and driving habits. (First Electric)

13. Yu Chengdong said that in September, it released a brand-new AITO world M7.

On August 17th, Yu Chengdong, managing director of Huawei, CEO of BG and CEO of BU, a smart car solution, revealed in Weibo that the brand-new top five M7 will meet with you in September. Yu Chengdong said that whether driving or sitting, the new car has made a qualitative improvement and leap, and its excellent vision and performance are suitable for the whole family to travel long distances. First Electric searched the information of new cars and found that the new model M7 still adopted the extended-range hybrid system. In terms of intelligent driving, the new model M7 added laser radar and HUAWEI ADS 2.0 advanced intelligent driving system. HUAWEI ADS 2.0 can complete intelligent driving in high-order cities without relying on high-precision maps. The system is expected to realize "map-free commercial assisted driving" in a large number of cities across the country in the second half of this year. (First Electric)

14. Qiruixing Road released a new car equipped with iFLYTEK Spark model.

On the evening of August 17th, Qiruixingtu brand announced some information about its first pure electric car, Xingtu Xingyu Era ES, and introduced the brand-new experience brought by the iFLYTEK Spark model which was first built by this model. With the help of iFLYTEK Spark Model, Starway ES has brought five brand-new experiences: vehicle function instructor, warm and cold empathy partner, knowledge encyclopedia, travel planning expert and health consultant. AI makes the car system evolve into a car housekeeper with communication ability and knowledge feedback ability. In addition, the new Star Age ES car will become the first pure electric car with 800V platform in China, with an official power consumption of only 11.7kWh per 100 kilometers and a maximum battery life of 720km. The starting price will be around 200,000 yuan, and two versions of plug-in and pure electricity will be provided. (First Electric)

15. Weilai ET5 Travel Edition was officially renamed ET5T.

Weilai ET5 Travel Edition was officially renamed as "ET5T". In the future, consumers can buy ET5T with different styles of tail characters. ET5T has been on the market for one and a half months, and its sales volume has exceeded 4,500 units. Weilai Automobile said that replacing the "Travel Edition" with ET5T, Weilai hopes that this car will face a larger mainstream family car market, not just the market segment of station wagon. (First Electric)

16. Look forward to U8 or it will be officially listed at Chengdu Auto Show.

It is said that U8 will be officially listed at Chengdu Auto Show, and the new car has been pre-sold during this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, with a pre-sale price of 1.098 million yuan. As BYD’s high-end new energy hard-core off-road SUV, looking up to U8 is a technology-intensive new car. The whole vehicle is equipped with 38 high-precision sensors, among which 3 laser radars, 5 millimeter-wave radars, 12 cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors are strongly related to intelligent assisted driving, which can realize high-order intelligent assisted driving and the rear seats of the vehicle can be leveled. The new car is also equipped with the "Easy Sifang" power system that supports in-situ U-turn. Four wheels and four motors are independently driven and equipped with a plug-in hybrid system. CLTC has a pure electric cruising range of 180 kilometers and an acceleration time of 3.9 seconds for 100 kilometers. It has been the focus of cross-country circles since its release. Legend. (First Electric)

17. The third power exchange station in Weilai Europe was launched in Sweden.

Weilai Europe’s first third-generation power station and 500kW ultra-fast charging station were officially launched in Sweden. The third generation power station adopts a brand-new three-station cooperative power exchange mode, and the power exchange time is shortened by 20%. (First Electric)

18. Dongfeng Motor Headquarters directly operates autonomous passenger cars.

On August 16th, Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. announced a major management system adjustment for the new energy industry of self-owned passenger cars, and the three product series brands of dongfeng fengshen, Dongfeng eπ and Dongfeng Nano under the "Dongfeng" brand will be managed by the Group as a whole.

At this point, Dongfeng has officially formed a brand new brand pattern of luxury electric off-road brand warrior, high-end new energy brand Lantu and "Dongfeng" brand "three pillars" facing the mainstream market in the passenger car field. (First Electric)

19. Dongfeng eπ released its first model spy photos.

Dongfeng eπ, a brand new brand of Dongfeng Company, released its first model-S73 official spy photos. The car is built based on Dongfeng quantum architecture, or positioned in a pure electric sports medium-sized car. It is planned to be unveiled in the third quarter of 2023 and open for pre-sale at the end of the year. As the first model of Dongfeng eπ brand, S73 has the advanced technology blessing of Dongfeng Group, such as Dongfeng Mach E power system, Dongfeng quantum architecture platform and Dongfeng SOA electronic and electrical architecture. (First Electric)

20. Good Cat GT Honorable Model will be launched on August 20th.

It was learned from the official of Euler that on August 20th, the 400,000th vehicle rolled off the assembly line, and the 2023 Good Cat/Good Cat GT Honorable Model will also be officially launched. The 2023 Good Cat is currently selling 5 models, and the price range is 129.8-165.8 million yuan; The 2023 Good Cat GT Mulan Edition is selling two models, with the price range of 143.8-153.8 million yuan. Good Cat GT is equipped with a motor with a maximum power of 126 kW and a maximum torque of 250 Nm. It is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery with a cruising range of 401km. The time required for fast charging is 30 minutes. As a smart electric car that loves women more, a good cat has always been very eye-catching. (First Electric)

21. Volvo sells electric trucks in Malaysia

Swift Haulage Berhad, a Malaysian logistics company, purchased two Volvo FM electric trucks produced by Volvo Trucks. Malaysia has formulated a national plan to achieve zero net emission of greenhouse gases by 2050, and electrification of road transport is one of the important measures to achieve this goal. In 2019, Volvo Trucks became the first manufacturer in the world to start mass production of heavy-duty electric trucks. The goal of Volvo trucks is that by 2030, electric trucks will account for 50% of the new Volvo trucks sold worldwide. So far, the company has sold about 5,000 electric trucks in about 40 countries around the world. (Geshi Automobile)

22. Many States in the United States have incorporated Tesla charging interfaces into official standards.

Texas, USA, approved a plan on August 16th, forcing electric vehicle charging companies to use Tesla’s charging standards in their charging stations, so as to be eligible for the support of federal funds. Both Ford and GM announced more than two months ago that they planned to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) in their electric vehicles, which caused a shock in the industry and prompted many automakers and charging companies to follow suit. Washington State has also proposed a similar plan, and Kentucky has forced enterprises to use Tesla standards. Florida has also recently revised its plan. ((Geshi Automobile)

23. GM invests in AI battery material startups.

On August 16th, General Motors announced that it was leading the $60 million Series B financing project of Mitrachem, a startup company of AI battery materials. Mitra Chem, headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, USA, is working to develop new batteries based on Ferrous lithium phosphate (LFP) chemical composition. LFP battery does not contain expensive minerals such as cobalt and nickel, and its cost is lower than that of standard lithium-ion battery. Automobile manufacturers such as Tesla, Rivian and Ford Motor Company all use LFP battery in lower-priced models. At present, most LFP batteries on the market are produced by China Company. （CNBC)

24. Hyundai Motor acquires GM’s Indian factory.

Hyundai Motor India subsidiary will acquire GM’s Talegaon plant in Maharashtra, western India. This transaction will enable GM to withdraw from India and increase the production of Hyundai Motor in India. On August 16, Hyundai Motor said that it intends to upgrade the existing infrastructure of the Talegaon plant and start production in 2025. The plant currently has an annual production capacity of 130,000 vehicles. (Reuters)

25. Zero-One Automobile won the Pre-A round investment of 100 million yuan.

Zero One Automobile, a new energy intelligent heavy truck enterprise, announced the completion of 140 million yuan Pre-A round of financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Tianshan Capital and Lenovo Venture Capital, and Xinyi Capital followed suit. So far, this one-year-old company has completed three rounds of financing. The company said that the funds will be mainly used for the continuous investment and construction of the first batch of vehicle mass production, core subsystem research and development, autonomous driving algorithm research and talent recruitment. (First Electric)

Pang Guanchen said: AI big model is integrated into smart car, and the interaction between people and cars is becoming more and more intelligent. Will you place an order for this?

A slowly opening preface to building a car

"This time I decided, I will personally lead. This will be the last entrepreneurial project in my life. I am well aware of what this decision means to me. I am willing to put all the achievements and reputations accumulated in my life and fight for Xiaomi Automobile. " On March 30th, 2021, Mr Lei Jun announced in hit the floor at the spring product launch conference of "Endless Millet". If his eyes can drift as little as possible to the teleprompter on the ground when he speaks, then the above passage can be more forceful.

Chart 1 Lei Jun "Fighting for Xiaomi Automobile" (Tuyuan Network)

It has been almost two and a half years since the announcement of building a car. In the past two and a half years, Xiaomi Automobile has made a lot of noise, but in fact it has done an excellent job of confidentiality. Until recently, the interaction between Mr. Lei Jun and netizens about Xiaomi’s first-generation mobile phone packaging box in Weibo once again triggered the discussion of Xiaomi’s car-making among netizens.

Chart 2 Weibo interaction between Lei Jun and rice noodles (source network)

According to all kinds of network transmission information, Xiaomi’s first car is Coupe, code-named MS11.

Chart 3 Weibo bloggers exposed Xiaomi camouflage car (source network)

There are two versions of the media webcast, of which the entry version is equipped with a 400V voltage platform and the battery is BYD blade battery. In terms of intelligent driving, the entry version will adopt the mainland multi-sensor fusion scheme (5 millimeter waves+1 camera). The advanced version will be directly equipped with 800V high-voltage platform, and the battery will be Kirin battery from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. In terms of intelligent driving, the advanced version will use Orin X chip and laser radar supplied by Wo Sai, and the cockpit chip will also use Snapdragon 8295. About the advanced version of the battery use, it has basically been hammered. Previously, some netizens exposed a battery label printed with Xiaomi logo. According to the label information, the rated voltage is 726.7V, the rated capacity is 101kWh, and the weight is 642kg, which is Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited’s Kirin battery.

Chart 4 User exposure Xiaomi car battery parameters (source network)

After Huawei, Sony, and Apple, Xiaomi once again entered the new energy electric vehicle circle as a consumer electronics company, and its own positioning is a vehicle manufacturer rather than a supplier, adding a new firewood to the burning bonfire. However, not everyone bought Reske’s account. After the official announcement, Xiaomi’s stock has fallen by nearly 60% in the past two and a half years. The capital market and investors have learned to look at the new energy vehicle market with a calm and rational eye under the baptism and education of Wei Xiaoli, and domestic and foreign brokers are also cautious about giving Xiaomi a valuation. At the beginning of 2022, Goldman Sachs gave Xiaomi a valuation of 34 billion yuan, about 1.6 Hong Kong dollars per share, accounting for less than one tenth of Xiaomi Group’s share price; Huatai Securities gave a more conservative valuation in a research report at the beginning of this year. It is estimated that by 2024, the valuation of Xiaomi’s automobile business will be about 14.3 billion yuan, corresponding to 0.6 Hong Kong dollars per share, accounting for only 3% of Xiaomi Group’s overall target valuation.

Is Mr. Lei Jun’s challenge of "putting all the achievements and reputations accumulated in life" really so unbearable?

The difficulties and bumps on the long road ahead

Smart electric car, the first thing is the car.

At the press conference in 21 years, Reske confidently announced that he would "use high-quality intelligent electric vehicles to let users around the world enjoy the ubiquitous intelligent life". In October 2012, Lei Jun himself wrote on Twitter: "Electric vehicle is a consumer electronic product with intelligence, software and user experience as its core. The essence of the automobile industry will develop from machinery to consumer electronics. "

From Lei Jun’s resume, the meaning of his speech, and the current focus of Xiaomi Automobile, it is not difficult to see that Xiaomi Automobile focuses more on "intelligence" than "car".

Chart 5 Lei Jun’s Declaration of "Let Users Enjoy Smart Life" (Source Network)

Chart 6 Lei Jun believes that smart trams are consumer electronic products (source network).

So at first glance, it’s a bit like a book, but it’s not. Intelligent electric vehicles must be a good car to drive first, and then they need to consider intelligence. Electric vehicles are just another form of energy. When I first became interested in the field of smart trams, I didn’t care about the so-called "maneuverability" and "chassis feeling". It was not until I hit a 400,000-yuan SUV on the net and sat in the back row with the car constantly fluctuating up and down, as if I were riding a boat breaking the waves at sea that I realized that most of the cars I drove/rode before didn’t have these maneuverability and chassis problems, not that smart trams didn’t need to pay attention to these problems.

Reske regards smart trams as pure consumer electronic products, and is committed to creating an unprecedented intelligent cockpit ecology and intelligent assisted driving system to help Xiaomi users immerse themselves in a happy technological life all the time.

As far as autonomous driving is concerned, Xiaomi acquired a company called "Shendong Technology", and it is said that it has invested 3.3 billion yuan to set up a special autonomous driving team of up to 500 people, and cooperated with its artificial intelligence laboratory and Xiaoai team in an attempt to get rid of this hard bone.

However, as far as the current form of human-computer interaction is concerned, I think that in the foreseeable long period of time, the smart tram must first be a traditional car, not a pure consumer electronic product. On a global scale, whether it is a traditional fuel car or a new energy tram, driving this action still depends on human drivers, and assisted driving can only be an aid. The day when high-level assisted driving is recognized by law is still far away. This fact determines that no matter whether a car is intelligent or not, maneuverability must be ranked first. As a "new and new force" with no background in building cars, Xiaomi Automobile, just like its predecessors, has almost no idea about how to build a good car, and this behavior of Resker betting on intelligence is bound to enlarge this shortcoming of Xiaomi Automobile twice. For many people who love cars and cars, driving itself is fun, and there is no need for a big tablet in the car or a smart voice assistant to gild the lily.

In the final analysis, weThe era witnessed the energy transformation from fossil fuels to electric energy, rather than the interactive transformation from manpower to intelligent automation..

The trite question of qualification

For the new forces, it is also a headache to get the qualification to build a car. In the Regulations on Investment Management of Automobile Industry issued in December 2018, there are two requirements for shareholders:

Article 19 (2) states: "Shareholders have strong control over key components, and have intellectual property rights and production capacity of key components such as vehicle control system, drive motor and vehicle power battery. "

Chart 7 Article 19 of the Regulations on Investment Management of Automobile Industry (Source: official website, National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China)

With such a rule, Xiaomi’s crazy foreign investment is not so difficult to understand. According to enterprise investigation, Xiaomi’s "Beijing Xiaomi Zhizao Equity Investment Fund" has invested in 27 companies abroad; According to Sina Finance, in addition to Xiaomi Zhizao, Xiaomi has three equity investment platforms, namely Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund, Shunwei Capital and Xiaomi Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., all of which have invested heavily in the automobile industry chain. Layout, and before the announcement of building a car, Xiaomi Capital has already laid out the smart car field. According to incomplete statistics, Xiaomi Automobile has invested in more than 50 smart tram suppliers, including chips, smart cockpits, autonomous driving, lidar, power batteries, and even battery raw materials.

Chart 8 Xiaomi Zhizao’s Foreign Investment (Source: Enterprise Check)

Article 20 (1) 2 states: "The construction scale shall be no less than 100,000 pure electric passenger cars and 5,000 pure electric commercial vehicles."

Chart 9 Article 20 of the Regulations on Investment Management of Automobile Industry (Source: official website, National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China)

What the automobile industry pays attention to is a scale effect, and the country’s entry threshold for production capacity has suddenly increased to 100,000 units. LI is one of the first new forces to build its own factory. Its Changzhou factory was originally designed with a production capacity of 100,000 units, and now it has expanded to 200,000 units. Its Beijing plant has not yet been put into production, and its design capacity is also 100,000 units; Xpeng Motors has three production bases in China: Zhaoqing factory, Guangzhou factory and Wuhan factory. Among them, after the expansion of Zhaoqing plant, the annual production capacity is expected to reach 200,000 vehicles; The Guangzhou plant has an annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles; The planned annual production capacity of Wuhan plant is 100,000 vehicles. In the future, after the three production bases are fully completed, Xpeng Motors is expected to have a production capacity of 420,000 vehicles.

Ideal and Tucki did not set foot on the road of building their own factories at first. LI was originally manufactured by chongqing lifan Automobile, but the sales in Li ONE far exceeded expectations. In order to establish its own reputation and get rid of the reputation of "changing the shell Lifan", LI invested 650 million yuan to acquire 100% shares in chongqing lifan and obtained the qualification to build a car. The factory in Beijing, ideally, will be upgraded at a big price of 6 billion yuan. According to the latest news in the middle of this month, the Chongqing base project, which is ideal for the planning of Chongqing’s two rivers, has stopped. The ideal reply is that "the production layout plan will be continuously promoted according to the national industrial policy and its own development rhythm. At present, efforts are being made to improve the operation efficiency of Changzhou factory to ensure timely delivery of orders. " Xpeng Motors was originally manufactured by Haima Automobile, and then it was officially acquired by Guangdong Fudi Automobile in March of 20, and it is said that in 2017, Tucki invested 2 billion yuan to build its own Zhaoqing factory, which was completed in 2019. A new force with similar experience is Zero Run, which wholly acquired Fujian Xinfuda Automobile and built its own vehicle factory in Jinhua.

Xiaomi’s choice is to build its own factory in Yizhuang, Beijing. According to the news center of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xiaomi Smart Car Project will cover Xiaomi Automobile Headquarters Base, Sales Headquarters and R&D Headquarters, and a vehicle factory with an annual output of 300,000 vehicles will be built in two phases. Among them, the production capacity of the first and second phases is 150,000 vehicles respectively, and the cumulative annual output of the two phases reaches 300,000 vehicles. It is expected that the first vehicle will be off the assembly line and mass production will be realized in 2024. However, the qualification of Xiaomi to build a car still needs to be solved. Not surprisingly, Xiaomi Auto will also follow the tricks of its predecessors, find a car factory and buy it neatly.

Chart 10 Signing Ceremony of Xiaomi Automobile Beijing Economic Development Zone Project (Source: Interface News)

However, we should know that except for its high-end mobile phone line, Xiaomi’s products are all OEM, while Xiaomi Automobile built its own factory as soon as it came up, ensuring that the production and processing links are completely in its own hands, which is enough to prove Xiaomi’s determination to solve the problem.

Exciting pricing problem

The latest news about the pricing of Xiaomi car happened at the beginning of this month. FAW Fuwei revealed on the investor interaction platform that it is communicating with Xiaomi Automobile. Many molecular companies have entered the purchasing group of Xiaomi Automobile, and the quotation for the first model of Xiaomi has been completed.

Chart 11 Answers from FAW Fuwei Investor Q&A Platform (Tuyuan Network)

However, regarding the pricing of Xiaomi car, there has been a heated discussion on the Internet. In June this year, some netizens asked Xiao Ai about the pricing of Xiaomi car, and he replied that "the price of Xiaomi car starts at 149,900, and the WLTC of rear-drive single motor has a battery life of 800km, while the pro version has a battery life of 179,900, which is a four-wheel drive dual-motor configuration with a battery life of about 700km".

Chart 12 Xiao Ai’s answer to Xiaomi’s car pricing (source network)

However, this news was quickly rumored by Wang Hua, general manager of Xiaomi’s public relations department, saying that Xiao Ai had grabbed the relevant information from the media prediction on the Internet and directly replied.

Chart 13 Xiaomi Public Relations Manager Rumors (Source Network)

According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi Automobile is the first car for young people. Since it is the first car for young people, it is naturally inconvenient to set the entry price too high. I always think that Xiaomi and Tucki have something in common in many aspects: similar naming patterns, taking the route of technology and youth, so it is logical that Xiaomi’s benchmarking brand can be Tucki. The entry price of P5 is 157,900 yuan, the entry price of P7 is 249,900 yuan, and the entry price of retail run C01 of similar routes is reduced to 149,800 yuan. Therefore, it is completely reasonable for Xiaomi’s first Coupe model to set the entry price in the price range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan. The advanced version is limited by the overall increase in cost, so it is not bad to set it higher as the price anchor. After all, the large battery of 101kWh is really expensive. At this stage, the price of models equipped with over 100kWh batteries exceeds 300,000 yuan.

But the biggest problem still lies in Xiaomi’s original audience, as Lei Jun said, "young people". According to the theory of high emotional intelligence, the future of young people can be expected, and the final value is incalculable, but the present value is not so satisfactory; Low EQ is that young people have no money when they are young. One of the original intentions of Reske to build a car is to build a car for "rice noodles" to make them happy, so the biggest natural audience of Xiaomi Automobile is the rice noodles that have already entered the pit. However, are young people who are willing to pay thousands of dollars for Xiaomi mobile phones and Xiaomi computers really willing or able to spend hundreds or even hundreds of thousands to buy a Xiaomi car? For most traditional China people, the car is the second largest asset in life besides the house, which is worth studying and investing, and it’s hard to beat your head with enthusiasm. Mobile phone is an out-and-out consumer electronic product, which can be regarded as a category of fast-moving consumer goods (there are many consumers who change their mobile phones every year). Cars, on the other hand, are real commodities. Under normal circumstances, they will be replaced for many years after being bought. The logic and play of FMCG products are unlikely to work in this category of cars.

Lei Jun once initiated a voting on the pricing of Xiaomi automobile. Among the 17,000 people who participated in the voting, those who chose less than 100,000 voted the most, followed by 100,000-150,000, and those with more than 300,000 voted the least. Xiaomi mobile phone started with cost performance. I wonder if Xiaomi automobile can endure the huge losses in the early stage and the damage of brand tonality, and focus on cost performance.

The real "Red Sea Action"

It is an indisputable fact that the new energy electric vehicle market is already an out-and-out Red Sea.

Xiaomi first announced that it would build a car at the end of the first quarter of 21 years. At that time, Wei Xiaoli had already established prestige in the circle, and other new power brands also mushroomed. Now, two and a half years have passed, Weilai Tucki is no longer brave, and a large number of new forces of that year have withered, while Xiaomi Automobile is still quietly building cars, continuing the promise of releasing the first car in 24 years.

In the eyes of most netizens, including me, this entry time is really bad. The domestic new energy market has reached a point where it can no longer be rolled up, whether it is a luxury configuration that can be used or not, but any OEM that is a little pursuing will plug its own products at no cost. All kinds of leapfrog configurations and luxurious interiors have washed away the nerves of consumers round after round. In such a fully competitive market, car prices and profits are both moving in an incredible direction: at a time when inflation is serious and prices are soaring, car prices are going against the trend, bringing benefits to consumers in a humorous way. In the first quarter of 2021, JATO Dynamics released a data report on the price trend of electric vehicles. The statistical data in this report covers the period of 2011-2021, and the targeted markets include China, Europe and the United States. It is reported that the average price of electric vehicles in China market.In ten years, the decline has exceeded 40%At present, it has been significantly lower than the European and American markets.

The car was announced in 2021 and a new car was released in the first half of 2024. Three years to release a new car, such a speed on the tram, referring to Wei Xiaoli, is actually not slow, it is a standard operation. However, the market is too saturated, and new players who want to enter the market can’t wait. At a time when many new forces are still unable to correct the gross profit, the challenge faced by Xiaomi Automobile is extremely severe.

Xiaomi’s confidence

We have money.

Building a car is quite expensive. On autonomous driving alone, Baidu burned 20 billion yuan a year in 2020; In the fourth quarter of 2022, Weilai recorded the largest loss of 5.07 billion yuan in history, and the annual net loss reached 14.437 billion yuan. However, Xiaomi has little anxiety about money and loss.

"Today’s millet has accumulated a little, and it is time for us to do a big job. What do we have? We have money. " At the press conference, Lei Jun said that the ppt behind him read "108 billion yuan, the cash balance of Xiaomi Group at the end of 2020".

Chart 14 Lei Jun shows the cash balance of Xiaomi Group at the press conference (Tuyuan Network)

Compared with the new forces, Xiaomi can really be called a rich man. According to Wei Xiaoli’s annual report, by the end of 2022, Wei Xiaoli’s cash and cash equivalents were worth 45.5/32.85/58.5 billion yuan respectively. With such a strong capital reserve, Xiaomi Auto can really be said to be full of confidence. It doesn’t need to worry about when it will go bankrupt every day like the new forces, and it doesn’t need to look around for investment. Volkswagen pocketed 4.99% of Tucki’s shares for $700 million and got a seat as an observer on the board of directors. This kind of thing is completely unimaginable for Xiaomi Automobile, which is backed by a big tree. In 2021, Lei Jun solemnly announced that all the money for Xiaomi’s car was made by Xiaomi himself and did not accept external investment. In 10 years, Xiaomi will invest 10 billion US dollars, with an initial investment of 10 billion RMB. "We can afford it." Reske said.

Chart 15 Lei Jun promised that Xiaomi Automobile does not need financing (source network)

Perfect intelligent ecology

At the press conference in 2021, Lei Jun showed an RV customized by Xiaomi for fans and full of Xiaomi smart home products. Netizens joked that the new forces now build cars with big refrigerators and big color TVs, just the washing machine. But if you really want to compete to install smart home appliances in the car, I think Xiaomi must not be afraid.

Chart 16 Xiaomi’s smart home car for fans (source network)

Just like Apple, Xiaomi has always been committed to building its own ecological environment. The perfect ecological environment makes it natural for it to choose to exert its strength in the field of intelligent cockpit. Imagine a rice noodle opening the door without contact through the mi band worn on your hand; After getting on the bus, he clicked on the map on his Xiaomi mobile phone, and the car directly received the synchronization message, and AR-HUD began real-time road navigation; Xiao Ai, who has been through many battles, realized it efficiently after receiving the voice instructions from the owner. I believe that Xiaomi will definitely focus on the development and optimization of such scenes.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS car has a similar effect, Geely tried to put the flyme system on the car after acquiring Meizu, and Wei started to develop the mobile phone manufacturing business last year … The new forces attach great importance to the human-car interaction experience, and I believe Xiaomi can do it effortlessly with its years of deep cultivation in the field of mobile phones and smart homes. The question is, how big the gap between Xiaomi and other families can be, and whether it can achieve the blow of dimension reduction will give consumers something different.

Chart 17 Xiaomi’s R&D strength (Figure Source Network)

Hey, Mi Fans

Apple’s fans are called fruit powder, and Xiaomi’s fans are called rice noodles. I first learned about this concept because Lei Jun’s press conference in India in 2015 was made into a video of ghost animals by netizens, and the sentences "Are you OK" and "How are you Indian Mi Fans" left a deep impression on people.

Chart 18 Lei Jun Ghost Livestock Video (Source Network)

At the "Rice Noodle Festival" in 2022, Lei Jun said that rice noodles can be recorded in tens of millions. This figure is naturally too watery. However, it is undeniable that the overall image of Xiaomi and its products are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. No matter how many, most people will have a few products of Xiaomi Group at home. Two sports bracelets, two hand sanitizer machines, an air purifier and a smart doorbell in my own home are from Xiaomi. It is really cheap enough and easy to use.

With the help of such a huge customer base and market awareness, Xiaomi Automobile has been very hot and topical since it was announced. Lei Jun also bluntly said at the press conference in 21 years that he was deeply encouraged by rice noodles and wanted to build a good car and the first car belonging to young people according to the needs of rice noodles.

However, as mentioned above, young people who are willing to spend thousands of dollars on mobile phones and computers may not be willing or able to spend hundreds or hundreds of thousands on a car that will take many years and tens of thousands of kilometers.

Only when the tide is low can we know who is swimming naked. When the right person buys it, the real product strength and influence of the product will be truly displayed. If Xiaomi only wants to create an explosion in the rice noodle circle, he should carefully consider how much true love powder can really be shot; If you want to create a real explosion that can break the circle, you can’t just think about the considerations of rice noodles, but concentrate on polishing good products and launching new things that can make people shine.

What is the journey of building a car?

Do you earn money by building a car?

Do you earn money by building a car? If you ask the founders of the new forces this question, it is estimated that their feelings are complicated. However, in recent years, traditional fuel car companies such as Volkswagen and Toyota seem to have poor management and failed to keep up with the pace of electrification. One of them has invested in Tucki and the other is looking for a BYD OEM tram, but when it comes to making money, it is unambiguous. In 2022, Volkswagen Group, Toyota Motor Corporation, Stellantis Group, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla all recorded net profits of more than 10 billion US dollars, reaching 24 billion US dollars, 18 billion US dollars, 17.8 billion US dollars, 15.8 billion US dollars and 12.6 billion US dollars respectively. As a leader in profit growth, Tesla’s annual net profit increased by 128% year-on-year. After that, a total of four companies achieved double-digit profit growth, namely Hyundai Motor 40%, Mercedes-Benz 34%, Stellantis Group 26% and Volkswagen Group 12.5%. Nissan’s performance has also improved significantly, while GM can maintain its previous high profit level.

Chart 19 Car Enterprises with the Highest Net Profit in 2022 (Source: Annual Reports of Companies)

In contrast, Xiaomi. When the car was announced in 2021, Xiaomi Group was climbing after listing. In 2020, Xiaomi’s revenue increased by 19% year-on-year to 245.9 billion yuan, and its net profit increased by 103% year-on-year to 20.3 billion yuan. However, Xiaomi’s life has been difficult recently. In 2022, the company achieved revenue of 280.044 billion yuan, down 14.7% year-on-year. From the perspective of specific business, the company’s smartphone business revenue decreased by 19.9% year-on-year, and the shipment volume decreased by more than 3.9 million units, a decrease of 20.9%, which was higher than the overall decline of the industry. In addition, the company’s IoT and consumer products business also recorded the first year-on-year decline since listing.

Chart 20 Revenue of Xiaomi Group (Source: Xiaomi Annual Report)

Xiaomi’s main problem at present is how to save the slightly declining mobile phone market and improve revenue efficiency. The smart tram business can make money, but only a car company like Tesla, whose scale effect is already very terrible, is qualified to make money. Even BYD, GAC Ai ‘an and Ideality dare not guarantee that their tram business has made a steady profit. Therefore, in such a green and yellow environment, Xiaomi is still throwing a lot of money into the car-making business. The main purpose is not to expect it to bring high returns in the short term.

Everything is for the fans.

At the 21st conference, Reske always emphasized the inspiration brought by rice noodles. "As long as Xiaomi dares to make it, we dare to buy it." This is the message that Lei Jun repeatedly mentioned, and the rice noodles gave Xiaomi.

In fact, from Xiaomi’s various attempts over the years, I can realize that Xiaomi is really thinking about how to make products suitable for consumers, or how to design products to better meet the needs of consumers. Lei Jun mentioned in his speech that Xiaomi wanted to make a touching car for rice noodles. Regardless of whether this attempt is correct or not, Lei Jun’s respect for consumers is real. One thing that Tesla’s products have always been criticized and controversial is that Tesla constantly challenges consumers’ inherent habits with its own designs. From the irrevocable kinetic energy recovery/single pedal mode to the cancelled physical buttons/dashboards, some consumers have adapted, or have been successfully educated, while others feel offended.

Chart 21 Tesla Controversy (Source Network)

What makes LI very popular is that Li Xiang, who comes from the background of product manager, successfully caters to consumers’ driving and even living habits with various design ingenuity and exaggerated high configuration, and has won the market’s affirmation and recognition. From this perspective, I believe that Reske, who has been immersed in the field of consumer electronics for many years, also has deeper feelings and creativity.

Back to the fan effect. Weilai has "Forbidden Weijun", BYD has "Difen", Tucki has "Pengyou", Tesla and Ideality also have their own thick fan groups.Doing things for fans is a good thing, because in the end, fans will become the strongest shield and the highest barrier of a brand.Think about the most difficult period of Weilai in 2019, and the "Forbidden Weijun" advertised Weilai from their own pockets; Think about the constant "rice circle" of the car circle, various public relations means emerge in an endless stream, and fans scold and chatter.

Grow up with Xiaomi

After revisiting the whole press conference in 21 years and the press conference in 22 or 23 years, I always have the feeling that Lei Jun’s ambition is not only to win the mobile phone market, but also to do IoT, but to truly turn Xiaomi into a powerful R&D, design and manufacturing enterprise.

Chart 22 Growing up with Xiaomi (Source Network)

Lei Jun said that it took Xiaomi ten years to enter the world’s top 500 companies and gain a firm foothold in the mobile phone market. With money and people, why can’t it be bigger and stronger? There is no doubt that the automobile is the heavy weapon of a country. I always think that besides aircraft and rockets, the automobile can best reflect the manufacturing level of a country. There are many developed countries in the world, but few can make good cars. In the past, China’s automobile industry was unable to master the core technologies of engines and gearboxes, and always lagged behind the world. In the era of trams, China has found a shortcut to overtake. With the advantages of electrification and intelligence, China has laid a solid foundation on the electric car track. Wei Xiaoli appeared, the joint venture brand entered, Huawei Apple followed, and Xiaomi came.

Like Li Bin, He Xiaopeng and Li Xiang, Lei Jun is also an outstanding entrepreneur who has started many businesses and succeeded many times. After Jinshan, Lei Jun has been financially free, so it is time to realize his dream of life. Starting from a bowl of millet porridge in Zhongguancun, Beijing, Xiaomi Group set sail. However, I believe Lei Jun is not satisfied with the fact that Xiaomi’s mobile phone is not self-produced but OEM. So he directly invested and set up a factory in Yizhuang, and promised that Xiaomi Automobile would realize all its own production. Lei Jun has the confidence to accompany Xiaomi to grow up and become a century-old enterprise with unambiguous design, research and development, and manufacturing.

Write it at the end

I have a friend for many years who calls himself "half a rice noodle". From Xiaomi MIX 2S, he entered the pit of Xiaomi, and then upgraded Xiaomi 10 pro and Xiaomi 12S ultra.

Chart 23 Xiaomi 12S ultra (source network)

I asked him, "Why do you like millet?"

"I think Xiaomi’s things are quite interesting."

"Interesting? What is interesting? "

"Xiaomi’s own UI, and Xiao Ai’s classmates."

"Little love classmates? You usually use a voice assistant? I may not use siri three times a year. "

"I don’t use it very much, but after I bought a little love speaker for my mother, she now calls little love classmates for something. It’s quite convenient to turn on the TV, air conditioner and light. "

"Then will you buy Xiaomi’s car?"

"A generation will definitely not buy it, even if it is10,000 yuan."

"Do you really think about Xiaomi car? Aren’t you afraid of being said to be a leek?"

"So I won’t buy a generation, and then I’ll see if the products are done well."

"Are you willing to pay a brand premium to Xiaomi?"

"That shouldn’t happen for a while."

"Mainly value the cost performance?"

"That’s for sure."

As mentioned above, Lei Jun made an article with the concept of "building a car for fans" from beginning to end at the press conference. But then again, as Henry Ford famously said, "If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me:’ A faster horse.’ Jobs once said, "Did Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?" . If Lei Jun really caters to consumers and his fans in the end, then the high probability result of Xiaomi Automobile is to build an ordinary tram that can drive in the current Red Sea of Wang Yang. If it is better, it may be the second Tucki. If it is more ordinary, it may be the second zero run, but there is an upper limit after all.

To tell the truth, people who change the world are those who dare to dream and seek. I sincerely hope that Reebs/Reske’s last venture in his career will really bring something new to the smart tram market. Xiaomi doesn’t need to be the second XXX, just need to keep its own style-make something interesting, and then make sincere friends with consumers with high cost performance.