It is rare for a product to have such a high degree of discussion before it is released, especially as it is an electric car that is destined to be missed by most people, with a maximum price of nearly 300,000 yuan – Xiaomi SU7.
From a marketing perspective, Lei Jun’s “Within 500,000 yuan, are there any rivals?” Compared with its peers, it is rare to be “low-key”—Li Auto CEO Li Li said that the Ideal L9 is “the best SUV within 5 million yuan.” Huawei Managing Director Yu Chengdong said that the Wenjie M9 is “the best SUV within 10 million yuan.”
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Xiaomi cars and the discussions it triggered have become a rare national technology event in recent years. To put it in Internet jargon: it successfully “breaks the circle” and its influence spreads from the automotive and technology circles to the entire public society, triggering a carnival in which all people participate. This is not only the personal influence of Lei Jun and the success of the “rice fans” marketing strategy, but also the background of the times lurking in the depths.
So, when we talk about Xiaomi cars, what are we talking about?
When a product becomes a popular meme
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Before the official announcement of building a car in 2021, the outside world speculated whether and when Xiaomi would build a car. After announcing that it would build a car, everything related to Xiaomi cars seemed to be trending on social media, including but not limited to appearance, Configurations, prices, etc. have been revealed, so much so that it may be the new car that has violated the most confidentiality agreements in history;After Xiaomi Auto was released, its popularity showed no sign of fading away, and the media announced its arrival by flooding the screen.
Even if you are not interested in Xiaomi, have no interest in new energy vehicles, and don’t want to buy a car, you must have actively or passively participated in the above topics.
According to PConline statistics, on Douyin,The total views of short videos with the label “Xiaomi Auto” exceeded 10 billion.The hot search for Xiaomi Auto has been hanging for two days; there are more than 100 topics related to “Xiaomi Auto” on Weibo with more than 10 million views, 12 of which have more than 100 million views. On average, Xiaomi Auto has been searched every ten days. It will be on a Weibo hot search.
As the launch approaches, almost every car information platform has launched activities to guess the price of Xiaomi SU7. There are even similar plans on Bilibili, Douyin and other video platforms. Such uniformity is a miracle in China's automobile industry.
Take “price” to the extreme
For a long time in the past, Xiaomi has been synonymous with “cost-effectiveness”. Whether it is the “1999” label or various smart homes that are priced lower than most of its peers, every new product launched by Xiaomi can be called a “spoiler.” , even if you don’t plan to buy Xiaomi’s products, other brands may reduce their prices because of Xiaomi’s entry.
This is also what people expect from Xiaomi cars.
Before 2023, electric vehicles will not be considered cheap. Xiaomi's past success in “cost-effectiveness” gives people reason to believe that it may be able to “bring down the price of electric vehicles.”
But Xiaomi has been resisting this expectation. “99,000 is impossible” and “people who call 149,000 don't even think about it.” Xiaomi repeatedly emphasized that Xiaomi SU7 “cannot be cheap” and “great value for money”, but on the other hand, Lei Jun also “persuaded executives overnight.” , a precedent of not raising prices in the end. Therefore, no matter how Xiaomi and Lei Jun raise the price threshold of Xiaomi SU7, Mi fans still have expectations for Lei Jun to “persuade executives” at the last moment.
In recent years, with the changes in the consumer market, “consumption upgrade” and “new consumption” seem to be the last era. Now, whoever has a cheaper price will win more users. BYD, which sells its products once a year, and Mixue Bingcheng, which sells a glass of lemonade for 4 yuan, are the most successful beneficiaries.
In the end, Xiaomi SU7 is priced at 215,900 yuan to 299,900 yuan. How would you rate this price?
According to Xiaomi Auto Weibo, Xiaomi SU7 took only 4 minutes to break 10,000, 7 minutes later to break 20,000, and 27 minutes to break 50,000. For comparison, it took 25 days to get 50,000 large orders for last year's hot Wenjie new M7. The record set by Tesla Model Y when it was first produced in China was 100,000 yuan in 10 hours. However, Xiaomi SU7 orders can be returned within 7 days.
The day after the release of Xiaomi SU7 was a working day, but a Xiaomi car sales center in Guangzhou was already overcrowded, and all three display cars in the store were full of customers taking test rides.
A salesperson told Zhixing Driving that many people placed orders the night before and came to test drive today. More than 100 customers have made reservations for test drives on March 29. The three test drives have been open since they opened. non-stop.As a car salesman, his immediate impression of Xiaomi SU7 is, “Customers know SU7 very well and there is almost no need for us to explain it.”
Xiaomi SU7 is a perfectly normal electric car. It fails to achieve what no one has and what we have in terms of several core indicators of electric cars. If I had to pick a few highlights, they would be faster acceleration, faster charging, smarter cabin, etc., but none of these labels will be exclusive to Xiaomi SU7. In the electric vehicle industry, where updates and iterations are based on months, there will always be Faster and smarter new cars.
Before Xiaomi SU7, there are two well-known self-branded models, U8 and Wenjie M9, which are also quite out of the circle. The former is the boss of BYD, the leader in the new energy vehicle era, and the latter has both technical strength and brand influence. The extremely powerful Huawei blessing, but they are far less discussed among the public than Xiaomi Motors.
The way prices are announced is key. When the U8 was first released, BYD released its positioning as a “million-level new energy vehicle”. The Wenjie M9 also gave a price range of “400,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan” early in the first half of the year. Not only did they lose the most important price suspense very early, but they were also destined to only cater to the richest 1%.
Looking up at U8 and Wenjie M9 are “something to look at from a distance but not to play with” for most ordinary people, but for Xiaomi SU7, “maybe I can really afford it”.
On the other hand, since last year, the price war in the automobile market has become more and more fierce. The prices of new energy vehicles have continued to drop. Other car companies have begun to “Xiaomi” and play with the price/performance ratio. Adhering to the mentality of watching the excitement, everyone wants to see how Xiaomi will counterattack – penetrate the market with higher cost performance and lower price? This virtually prevented Xiaomi Motors from being overwhelmed by price wars one after another, but instead highlighted its uniqueness.
For a long time, Xiaomi SU7 has been “still holding the pipa half-hidden”. Even though a technology conference was held on December 28 last year, it did not announce the pre-sale price or price positioning like other models. Instead, it The suspense was maintained until the last moment of the press conference.
Just like a Hollywood blockbuster that needs to end with a big battle to take back the foreshadowing, all the emotions finally reached their peak at the moment Lei Jun announced the price.
Lei Jun’s “last battle” begins
Lei Jun obviously felt the pressure brought by the turbulent public opinion. At the end of the press conference, he said that he hoped everyone could be more tolerant and merciful towards Xiaomi SU7, and bowed deeply to the audience.
As a worker, Lei Jun became the CEO of Kingsoft Software from a programmer at the age of 28; as an investor, Lei Jun is one of the most well-known and successful angel investors in China. Xiaomi and Shunwei Capital have invested in more than 900 companies; as an entrepreneur , Lei Jun built Xiaomi into the youngest Fortune 500 company.
At the Xiaomi SU7 launch conference on March 28, NIO CEO Li Bin, Xpeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng, Li Auto CEO Li Xiang, and Great Wall Motors Chairman Wei Jianjun all appeared in the audience, allowing competitors to stand up for themselves. Lei Jun Its influence in China’s business community is evident.
When the official announcement of the car was made three years ago, Lei Jun made a promise: “Xiaomi Auto will be the last major entrepreneurial project in my life. I am willing to stake all my accumulated achievements and reputation in my life to fight for Xiaomi Auto!” The words reflect Lei Jun's personal influence and reveal a strong sense of tragedy.
Three years ago, this kind of tragedy may have been Lei Jun's intention in emotional marketing or personal expression, but three years later, it has turned into a reality that must be faced – Xiaomi Motors is surrounded by giants and in a price war. under the invasion.
14 years ago, Lei Jun used “1999” to put Xiaomi on the “trend” of smartphones; 14 years later, he abandoned the sharp sword of “1999” and had to swim against the current in the new energy automobile industry, which is no longer a “trend”. . At this point, Lei Jun's “last battle” officially kicked off.
