Since the Xiaomi Investor Day in February, I feel that I haven't heard the news of Xiaomi's car for a long time. Recently, Xiaomi released the full-year financial report for 2022, revealing the relevant progress of Xiaomi's car-making.
In terms of smart electric vehicles, Xiaomi Automobile invested 365,438+billion yuan in innovative business expenses in 2022. At the same time, up to now, the R&D team of Xiaomi Automobile Business is about 2,300 people.
Not to mention what information this financial report has revealed to us, it has been two years since Lei Jun 20021March Xiaomi conference announced the construction of the car. In the past two years, the new energy vehicle market has undergone earth-shaking changes. First, last year, the rise of various new forces to build cars was accompanied by the bankruptcy of car companies like Weimar Automobile. Then this year's fierce car "price war", car companies are trying to "tighten their belts", but at this time Xiaomi seems to stay out of it.
Regarding Xiaomi's car, Lei Jun said at the plenary meeting of the Beijing delegation that its progress exceeded expectations and the winter test had been successfully completed. It is expected to achieve mass production in the first half of next year.
In fact, many people are questioning that Xiaomi's entry is too late, but Lei Jun doesn't think so. He thinks it is "just right" to enter the market now. Since Xiaomi announced to build a car, many people will regard Huawei, which is also a traditional technology company, as a competitor of Xiaomi. However, according to the current state of Xiaomi, it can be said that Huawei has "no residue left".
In terms of sales volume, Huawei achieved 75,000 vehicles last year and became the fastest growing brand of new energy vehicles. Some time ago, at Huawei's flagship conference in spring, Yu Chengdong also announced that Huawei's intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving experience have been fully upgraded. Considerable sales and technical blessing are enough for Xiaomi to catch up for some time.
Looking back at this financial report data, the financial report shows that in 2022, the research and development expenses of Xiaomi Automobile will reach 3 1 100 million. In terms of research progress, Xiaomi is not doing nothing.
Previously, Xiaomi Automobile also disclosed a patent entitled "Method, device, electronic equipment and storage medium for automatic driving of vehicles". It is reported that this patent can automatically match the driver with the automatic driving mode that meets the driver's current safe driving level to ensure the driver's driving safety.
In July last year, Xiaomi's self-driving test car was frequently photographed by netizens. It can be seen that Xiaomi has been advancing to achieve his own autonomous driving goal.
In addition, several design renderings claiming to be Xiaomi's first model MS 1 1 were circulated on the Internet at the beginning of the year. The overall impression is very similar to the previously exposed engineering drawings, which has certain reference significance. However, Xiaomi's official only said that he hoped that the public would give Xiaomi a relaxed environment and make it "low-key and pragmatic, and be yourself".
Even so, Xiaomi's investment in R&D is far less than that of other new energy automobile companies. However, this year, Xiaomi Automobile will still increase investment in R&D, and the total investment is expected to reach 7.5-8 billion yuan.
It is reported that Xiaomi still has 27.6 billion cash, which is more than enough in the mobile phone industry, but far from enough in the automobile industry. Compared with the company's cash reserve of 654.38+008 billion yuan two years ago, is Xiaomi really "affordable"?
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi Financial Report also revealed the decline of Xiaomi's smartphone business. Compared with 202 1, Xiaomi sold 40 million mobile phones less in 2022, and the degree of this decline in sales is also very worrying. The decline of mobile phone business also means that Xiaomi needs to find a new fulcrum to support it. Building a car seems to be the best choice for Xiaomi.
But is this really the best choice?
Lei Jun once said that he would strive to enter the top five in the world within 15-20 years, but we don't know how difficult it is for Xiaomi now. Is it really too late for Xiaomi to leave the car in 2024? Can Xiaomi's dream of building a car really come true as promised?
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