On March 30, Xiaomi, who has repeatedly rumored, finally officially announced the establishment of a smart car business. Xiaomi said that a wholly-owned subsidiary will be established for this purpose, and Lei Jun will also serve as the CEO of this business. To this end, Xiaomi plans to invest 10 billion RMB in the first phase and 10 billion USD in the next ten years.
"Building a car is inevitable. On March 24, at the farewell party funded by Zhou, Mr. Lei was still saying that he was learning how to play in the automobile industry. " An insider of Xiaomi told Sohu Technology that he was not surprised by Xiaomi's decision to build a car.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi's car? What's the difference between Xiaomi and Huawei's automobile business? What can building a car bring to Xiaomi? Sohu Technology interviewed a number of people in the industry and chatted about their views on Xiaomi's car making.
Only when the road is proved can you enter the game.
Regarding the specific form and team size of building a car, Xiaomi has not officially disclosed the news, but the relevant discussions in the industry have been very enthusiastic. An automobile industry practitioner told Sohu Technology that Xiaomi's choice of this time point should be well thought out. "Building a car on the Internet is not a new concept. Xiaomi is obviously waiting for someone to find out the way before entering the game. "
He admitted that he was worried about Xiaomi's car at first, fearing that it would lead to distraction. "The phone hasn't finished. Will you be distracted by driving? "
Xiaomi's official car-making survey began on June 5438+ 10/5. In the past 75 days, Lei Jun said that he had made 85 visits and communication in the industry, had in-depth exchanges with more than 200 senior people in the automobile industry, held four internal management discussions and two formal board meetings.
Xiaomi has made a patent layout in advance. According to public information, there are currently 834 automobile-related patents of Xiaomi Group, and the value of related patents exceeds 654.38 billion US dollars. More than 96% of the patents related to Xiaomi automobile are invention patents, and the fields are concentrated in wireless communication network, digital data processing, digital information transmission, image communication, traffic control system, ranging, navigation and other fields, and there are relatively few patents for automobile parts.
Xiaomi "builds cars" and Huawei "helps car companies build cars"
Similarly, as the top brands of mobile phones, Xiaomi and Huawei also chose to carry out automobile business, but only temporarily chose different business models.
Xiaomi directly builds cars, while Huawei has repeatedly stressed that it does not build cars. Huawei locates intelligent networked automotive incremental parts suppliers, involving in-vehicle systems, automotive core parts and so on. In order to help car companies build good cars.
An insider of Huawei's smart car solution BU told Sohu Technology that "Xiaomi is very welcome to build a car, and maybe we have another potential customer".
As a supplier, Huawei is more cooperative with car manufacturers. If it is a complete vehicle, it means that it is an enemy of the industry. Some insiders gave an example. Huawei makes mobile phones, so other manufacturers dare not use HarmonyOS system. If Huawei builds its own car, it is estimated that no car company dares to use Huawei's software platform.
Regarding the two modes chosen by the two mobile phone giants, Zhong Shi, an auto industry analyst, commented that Huawei focuses on the "brain" and "eyes and ears" of the auto industry and will not directly manufacture the whole vehicle for the time being. Xiaomi has always been a terminal consumer product of B2C, and basically does not make an intermediate product of B2B. "They all choose the business model that suits them."
Is $65.438+000 billion too much to build a car?
In fact, for Xiaomi, this strange entry field is not simple, especially in the automobile industry with high input cost and long cycle.
Previously, Jia Yueting and Evergrande jointly built cars. As a result, Jia Yueting spent $800 million in investment in half a year and asked Evergrande to "pay $700 million in advance".
As the big brother in the new domestic car-making forces, Li Bin, CEO of Weilai Automobile, once bluntly said, "I know that car-making burns money, but I didn't expect to burn money like this." Loss is an unavoidable difficulty in the electric vehicle industry, and the three new forces have not yet achieved profitability. According to the financial report data in 2020, the net loss of Weilai Automobile was 5.3 billion yuan, that of Li was 65.438+52 billion yuan, and that of Xpeng Automobile was 2.732 billion yuan.
Lei Jun also said that he is very aware of the risks in the automobile industry. "Building a car requires tens of billions of investments, and it will take at least 3-5 years to be effective." But at the same time, he thinks that Xiaomi is not the original millet. Xiaomi's cash reserve is 654.38+008 billion yuan, which is "affordable". At present, the company's R&D team exceeds 1 10,000 people, and its mobile phone business ranks among the top three in the world, with the most perfect intelligent ecosystem in the world.
Zhang Xiaorong, president of Shenzhen Academy of Sciences, told Sohu Technology that the advantages of Xiaomi's car-making are mainly brand building and marketing packaging, while the main challenges come from technology accumulation, team building and business operation. How to attract relevant talents and build an automobile team is a major attraction.
"Xiaomi has had investment experience in smart cars before, but there is not much actual experience. In terms of software, smart cars need technologies and experience such as the underlying operating system, algorithms and drive test data. In terms of hardware, smart cars need three electric systems, smart chips, hardware manufacturing technology and experience. "
Some people related to Xiaomi told Sohu Technology that Xiaomi may be more inclined to do OEM. "If Xiaomi produces its own cars, it will cause huge fixed cost pressure, and OEM depends on the communication of manufacturers."
Zhong Shi believes that Xiaomi lacks experience and experience in building cars at present, but this can be solved by attracting automobile talents gathered all over the country, as long as Xiaomi is properly commanded.
In terms of channels, a car retailer who has worked for more than five years told Sohu Technology that both the new force of building cars and the old OEM are aimed at the stores in the business circle. "But the domestic core business circle is limited, and entering the market now will be a problem." .
What can building a car bring to Xiaomi?
The ceiling of the mobile phone industry has emerged, and the giants are looking for new growth space, while the smart car business is the outlet in the outlet. Not only Xiaomi, but also technology companies such as Huawei and Apple are also involved in the automobile business across borders.
Zhang Xiaorong believes that there are two main reasons for technology giants to deploy new energy vehicles: First, this is the future trend, and the car owners will win the world; Secondly, it is policy-driven. This industry has invested a lot, but there are preferential policies and government subsidies. "Besides, even if you can't do it well, you can also speculate on the stock price. Why not do it? "
At the capital level, the news of building a car may be good for Xiaomi's share price. At the business level, building a car may bring new profit points to Xiaomi.
Previously, the market rumors about Xiaomi's car-making were wave after wave, and Xiaomi's share price was also positively affected by obvious news. For example, in February 19, LatePost reported that Xiaomi decided to build a car, and Xiaomi's share price rose by over 10%. On March 26, there were rumors that Xiaomi and Great Wall Motor cooperated to build a car, and Xiaomi's share price rose by more than 6%.
"The mobile phone industry has a ceiling, and it is difficult to make further breakthroughs. Moreover, the competition in the original industry is too fierce. After saturation, the profitability will inevitably decrease year by year. Therefore, it is necessary to open up new industrial models to avoid potential risks. " Zhong Shi believes that driving a car next to Xiaomi can incite the capital market and significantly upgrade the industrial structure.
Generally speaking, building a car is both a risk and a challenge. Lei Jun also struggled repeatedly, but after making up his mind, he showed his determination beyond imagination. "I'm going to sprint for at least 5 to 10 years. We will face this new journey with great investment, incomparable awe and lasting patience. "