Source: Securities Times
After asking about the data that the new M7 achieved in 25 days, the Xiaomi car completed it in 27 minutes.
On March 28, Xiaomi held a launch conference. Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of the Xiaomi Group, announced the official launch of the Xiaomi SU7.
According to the latest news from Xiaomi, the newly released Xiaomi car will break 10,000 vehicles in 4 minutes, 20,000 in 7 minutes, go on sale in 27 minutes, and reach 50,000 units in 27 minutes.
Affected by this,$Xiaomi Corp. Unsponsored ADR Class B (XIACY.US)$It continued to rise. By the close, it had risen by more than 12%.
About 50,000 vehicles, production capacity raises concerns
At the end of last year, the new AITO M7, which was jointly developed by Huawei and Cyrus, went on sale. It is expected to exceed 50,000 units in 25 days. On November 27, 2023, Yu Chengdong, executive director of Huawei and chairman of Smart Vehicle Solution BU, said that the new M7 has reached a milestone and will definitely surpass 100,000 vehicles in two and a half months after launch.
Even though it wasn't as fast as Xiaomi, the production capacity of the new M7 faced some challenges at the time. On October 13, 2023, Yu Chengdong personally appeared at the Cyrus smart factory to personally monitor the speed and quality of vehicle production. During the live broadcast of the factory, he said, “We are working overtime and starting production several shifts in a row, so that everyone can drive the new car home as soon as possible!” According to Yu Chengdong at the time, in order to quickly deliver the new M7 with high quality, Huawei invested more than 1 billion yuan in the entire supply chain.
Even Cyrus, which has been building cars for many years, is facing the problem that production capacity is difficult to meet market demand. The fixed speed far exceeds that of the new M7, and the Xiaomi SU7 will also experience a “traffic jam” in production capacity? Some industry insiders believe that this will test Xiaomi's comprehensive capabilities such as supply chain management.
According to the Cinda Securities Research Report, in terms of production capacity, the Xiaomi car factory will be built in two phases. The first phase covers an area of about 720,000 square meters, has an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, and will be completed in June 2023. The second phase is scheduled to begin construction in 2024 and be completed in 2025.
As can be seen, the short-term production capacity of Xiaomi cars may be difficult to meet the rapidly growing demand for orders.
Why are Xiaomi cars so popular? Yan Jinghui, an expert from the China Automobile Mobility Association, said during an exchange with reporters that as a scientific and technological innovation enterprise, the first car launched by Xiaomi had various intelligent features, and its price positioning, whether compared to competitors in the same price range or higher level new energy products represented by new forces, had strong market competitiveness and influence, and its market sales are worth looking forward to.
Xiaomi car prices are trending. Netizens directly call Lei Jun “Thor”
In addition to being very popular, topics related to Xiaomi cars are also rarely popular on Weibo in history. The topics of “Xiaomi SU7 price” and “Lei Jun and Thor” directly exploded. Nearly half of the popular searches on Weibo were contracted by entries related to Xiaomi and Lei Jun. In addition, companies such as “Tesla,” “Inquire M9,” “BYD,” and “NIO” also hit the headlines.
The price exceeded expectations, causing netizens to call Lei Jun the “God of Thor.” According to press conference information, the standard version of the Xiaomi SU7 is 215,900 yuan, the price of the Xiaomi SU7 Pro is 245,900 yuan, and the price of the Xiaomi SU7 Max is 299,900 yuan. According to reports, before April 30, you can also enjoy up to 22,000 yuan worth of free upgrades.
Regarding this pricing, Lei Jun said that it was all a loss of money. “Everyone is so excited and expecting too much from Xiaomi.”
After the press conference, Lei Jun said in an interview with the media: “In the pure electric vehicle industry, apart from Tesla, I don't know which companies are still making money. The pricing of the Xiaomi SU7 must not only make consumers feel that we are sincere, but also that we can afford the losses. Our original price was 229,000. The original price for the top version was 350,000, but later (the car company cut the price) fooled us, so we decided to do it in good faith. The price of the standard version was 30,000 yuan lower than the Tesla Model 3, and the Max version was set at 299,000 yuan.”
Since late February of this year, BYD has disrupted the A-class sedan market with the Qin PLUS Honor Edition and Destroyer 05 Honor Edition, which start at 79,800 yuan. Subsequently, car companies such as SAIC-GM-Wuling, Changan Automobile, and Nacha Automobile cut prices one after another.
Lin Shi, Secretary General of the China-Europe Association for Intelligent Connected Vehicles, said in an interview with reporters that the automobile industry is currently “fighting for money,” and that car companies with poor families and weak financing capabilities will be the first to leave the market. Examples include Beau County Motors and Green Chi Motors, which were not mass-produced in the early days, and Weimar, Skyrim, and Ace, which have experienced difficulties in the capital chain in recent years, and even new car builders deliberately cut production and sell fewer cars, hoping to survive capital market recovery or listing.
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