Source: Caixin.
Author: Tang Zhixiao. Recently, the topic of the continuous decline in sales of Xiaomi cars has surged on Weibo. According to statistics from the sales chart of China's Market New Forces brand, Xiaomi cars' sales have shown a significant decline for two consecutive weeks. The latest monthly sales volume of Xiaomi cars in June was around 2,100 units, slightly lower than the previous week's 2,192 units, ranking eighth in the new car-making forces. Xiaomi Group's PR Department General Manager Wang Hua responded to this on Weibo, saying, 'Everyone has been paying attention since the launch of Xiaomi car SU 7. Almost every few weeks, there will be reports on the decline in sales. In fact, the number of locked orders is stably increasing every day. As a new car brand, there is only one model currently, and the number of national delivery centers is very limited. It is a huge pressure to be able to make it to the delivery volume rankings every week.'

The topic of the continuous decline in sales of Xiaomi cars has surged on Weibo recently.

According to statistics from China's Market New Forces brand sales chart, Xiaomi cars' sales have shown a significant decline for two consecutive weeks. The data shows that Xiaomi cars' latest monthly sales volume in June was around 2,100 units, slightly lower than the previous week's 2,192 units, ranking eighth in the new car-making forces.

Xiaomi Group's PR Department General Manager Wang Hua responded to this on Weibo, saying, 'Everyone has been paying attention since the launch of Xiaomi car SU 7. Almost every few weeks, there will be reports on the decline in sales. In fact, the number of locked orders is stably increasing every day. As a new car brand, there is only one model currently, and the number of national delivery centers is very limited. It is a huge pressure to be able to make it to the delivery volume rankings every week.'

Earlier, Xiaomi officially announced that the Xiaomi car factory officially started double-shift production from June to increase production capacity. At the same time, in order to speed up the efficiency of matching orders and production, the lock-in period for large orders was reduced from 7 days to 3 days (72 hours) from 0:00 on June 5th.

Previously, at the earnings conference in Q1 2024, Lu Weibing told reporters from Cailian Press that he is confident that more than 10,000 vehicles will be delivered in June, ensuring that more than 100,000 units will be delivered throughout 2024, and challenging the goal of completing 120,000 units throughout the year.

Recently, reporters from Cailian Press visited a Xiaomi store in the Shenzhen area. The store's sales staff said that there are indeed users who give up their orders due to the long wait, but they also said that there may be situations where the delivery time is advanced. The long delivery cycle has also given rise to scalpers who sell orders at different prices depending on the length of the delivery cycle.

Reporters also noted that although the popularity of Xiaomi SU7 in the second-hand car trading market has declined, it is still generally sold at a premium price, and only some car dealers claim to sell it at a lower price to attract traffic.

Long delivery cycles have led to scalpers selling orders.

Reporters from Cailian Press found that the production cycle for locking any model of Xiaomi SU7 on the Xiaomi car App has reached more than 28 weeks.

Some Xiaomi car owners said, 'I completely don't understand the delivery order. I feel that the estimated delivery time on the app has no actual reference value. I asked the salesperson which week the order will be delivered, and the other party said that it is an internal secret and cannot be disclosed.'

'The delivery order is completely determined by the order in which it is placed.' According to salespeople from Xiaomi's car dealerships, it is now necessary to queue up for at least 8 months to place an order, but there have been cases of early delivery due to the increase in production capacity. Some consumers may also give up their orders because the waiting time is too long, 'which is normal.'

An industry practitioner told reporters from Cailian Press, 'If it takes more than three months to buy a car and pick it up, users are very easy to be intercepted by other manufacturers in various forms, such as WENZ or NIO, which targeted consumers who have already ordered Xiaomi car's SU7 by providing 5,000 yuan subsidies to attract orders. To avoid losing orders as much as possible, shortening the large order lock-in period is a good method, and Xiaomi has already used it.'

It is worth noting that faced with the long delivery cycle, scalpers have targeted the already ordered Xiaomi SU7 orders for resale and providing requirements for the transfer of 'first-hand' cars. Depending on the delivery time, the prices of single orders vary from 800 to 10,000 yuan.

Xiaomi cars previously stated that once the vehicle enters the production stage, user information cannot be modified, and buyers can only purchase through transfer, which means that these orders can only be traded in the form of second-hand cars.

Some scalpers told reporters from Cailian Press that there is a way to help 'transfer' orders, and buyers and sellers can register the car without transfer to avoid making new cars turn into used cars.'We also recycle some orders with longer delivery cycles, because orders before April have some rights and interests, such as refrigerators, speakers, leather seats, and electric tail wings.'

Second-hand SU7 cars are still trading at premium prices, and the Xiaomi factory is busy recruiting.

Reporters from Cailian Press noticed that most of the second-hand SU7 cars are still trading at a premium, and some are sold at the original price.

One used car dealer told reporters from Cailian Press that although the popularity of Xiaomi SU7 has declined and the premium has decreased, there are basically no low-priced sales of Xiaomi SU7. 'Those are basically traffic bait. It's not what they claim when you call them.'

He also suggested to reporters from Cailian Press that the essence of a used car is cost-effectiveness, and there is no cost-effectiveness, so he won't buy a used car. 'New cars are worth waiting for.'

At present, the delivery speed of Xiaomi SU7 is steadily increasing. According to existing public data, 7,058 units were delivered in April and 8,630 units were delivered in May. As of June 13th, Xiaomi officially announced that the cumulative delivery volume exceeded 20,000.

Regarding the speed of delivering 20,000 Xiaomi SU7s in 72 days, Wanghua stated on Weibo that Xiaomi’s monthly delivery in June will exceed 10,000 and will ensure a delivery of 100,000 for the entire year, with a goal of sprinting to 120,000!

According to publicly available data, Xiaomi SU7 is expected to complete the delivery of 27,000 vehicles by the end of June. In order to achieve the set delivery target of 120,000 vehicles, Xiaomi car factory needs to complete an average of 15,500 vehicle deliveries per month in the remaining six months.

The information from the recruitment platform also shows that the Xiaomi car factory is trying to continuously expand its production capacity. Currently, the Xiaomi car factory has posted a large number of recruitment positions on the platform, including general assembly workshops, welding workshops, painting workshops, body workshops, battery workshops, fully automated workshops, and many other positions, with an average monthly salary ranging from 6,500 yuan to 8,000 yuan. Even for the highest-paid forklift operator, they can get a monthly salary of tens of thousands of yuan.

Editor/Jeffy