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Product | New Product Strategy Finance
Author | Wu Wenwu
It is getting closer and closer to the launch conference of Xiaomi Automobile on March 28, and the hot search of Xiaomi Automobile is rolling.
"New Product Finance" is concerned that on March 19, Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi Group, said that Xiaomi’s phased goal is to enter the top three sales of pure electric luxury cars.
Regarding the pricing of Xiaomi car, Lu Weibing said that it will be a bit expensive, but I believe that everyone will recognize this pricing after watching the press conference on March 28.
Lu Weibing also said that Xiaomi SU 7 is a C-class high-performance eco-technology car with excellent performance, configuration and experience.
Xiaomi Automobile has held a technical conference at the end of 2023, but it has not announced the price, which has always triggered speculation. Lei Jun once said that 99,000, 149,000 or even 199,000 are all joking.
Recently, Li Guoqing, the founder of Dangdang, also sent a video calling Lei Jun, suggesting that Xiaomi’s car should be priced at 150,000 to 200,000 yuan, not to mention 400,000 to 500,000 yuan.
Combined with Lei Jun’s previous responses and Lu Weibing’s latest views, Xiaomi’s first model doesn’t want to lower its posture. Xiaomi wants to directly sprint the luxury car market and impact the luxury car brand.
From this point of view, Xiaomi Automobile didn’t want to make friends with young people from the beginning.
So, why does Xiaomi want to dream of a luxury tram? What else does Xiaomi need to do to make a luxury brand dream?
01 luxury brand dream, Xiaomi car has no choice.
It is said that China’s new car-making forces and new energy car brands crossed the river by touching Tesla.
Tesla took the high-end route at first, first released the Roadster, a pure electric supercar, and later released the Model S, a luxury coupe, which directly laid the brand positioning of Tesla.
Later, Tesla began to scale up, and then released Volkswagen models such as Model 3 and Model Y, but still locked in the mid-to high-end market. This is Tesla’s market play.
Look again, how did China’s new car-making forces develop?
After the resumption of Wei Xiaoli’s three new car-making forces, Weilai positioned luxury brands from the beginning, despised Tesla and challenged BBA. Xpeng Motors focuses on science and technology, starting with younger models and then developing upwards. LI learned from Apple’s product thinking, and released the first Li ONE mid-to-high-end model from the very beginning, which set the tone for the ideal brand, and then developed continuously.
Now, among the three new forces making cars, Ideal is the most successful, Weilai is under increasing pressure, and Tucki is under pressure to survive, which Xiaomi sees.
The first model of a new car company will directly set the tone for the future brand image.
In the case of Tucki, Tucki started to focus on high-tech and younger models, and then the brand went up. After the launch of high-end models, it faced the pressure of brand going up.
In addition, the new energy vehicles labeled with Huawei have broken a new path, and the brand cars in the world are also taking the middle and high-end route.
Xiaomi’s late entry can greatly reduce the cost of trial and error, and it is no longer necessary to cross the river by touching Tesla like the previous new car-making forces. Xiaomi’s car touches all the new car-making forces.
The brand Xiaomi is synonymous with cost performance in public perception. Later, the road of high-end Xiaomi mobile phone was very difficult. Xiaomi mobile phone made it difficult for Xiaomi brand to be associated with high-end brands. Lei Jun would definitely not let Xiaomi car go back to the old road of Xiaomi mobile phone.
The low-end new energy vehicle market is a red sea, and players from all walks of life are fighting fiercely. Since the beginning of this year, BYD has taken the lead in price reduction, directly reducing the price of low-end Volkswagen models to less than 100,000.
The competition in the low-end new energy vehicle market is extremely fierce, so Xiaomi Automobile naturally has to avoid it. If it directly enters this market from the beginning, Xiaomi Automobile has no advantage.
"New Product Finance" believes that Xiaomi Automobile has a late time to build a car, and the cultivation period of the domestic new energy automobile market has passed. Xiaomi Automobile can only choose to take the middle and high-end route, and there seems to be no other choice.
To realize the dream of luxury brand, Xiaomi automobile has to go through three levels.
It will definitely not be smooth sailing for Xiaomi Automobile to make this luxury brand dream. In the view of New Product Finance, Xiaomi Automobile faces many challenges to realize its dream of luxury car enterprise, including at least three hurdles.
The first level, the product level, to realize the dream of luxury cars, Xiaomi SU 7 needs to win the first battle.
Xiaomi SU 7 is the first model of Xiaomi Automobile, and its importance to Xiaomi is self-evident. Xiaomi Automobile has held a technical conference. In Lei Jun’s words, the performance of Xiaomi SU 7 can reach the performance of at least two or three million luxury cars with fuel vehicles.
At least from the technical parameters of Xiaomi SU 7, it must be able to pass the customs, but it still needs the recognition of consumers and the market.
Recently, MEGA, the first pure electric MPV model ideally released, fell into a crisis of public opinion due to styling association problems. The large order did not break through 10,000, and the number of small orders turned into large ones was limited. Although it broke through 1,000 vehicles in the first week of delivery, its market value has shrunk by nearly 100 billion yuan.
One of the key reasons for the controversy over the ideal MEGA is the starting price of 559,800 yuan, and the high-end positioning needs to be recognized by the market and consumers.
It can be seen that the lesson of the ideal MEGA rollover, Xiaomi Auto is certainly in the eye, and the pricing of Xiaomi SU 7 is still the key.
The second level, brand level, Xiaomi automobile should be born out of Xiaomi and create a brand new brand.
As mentioned above, Xiaomi Automobile doesn’t want to take the old road of brand development of Xiaomi mobile phone, but wants to find another way and take the middle and high-end route.
If Xiaomi SU 7 wins the first battle, it will not only lay the industry position of Xiaomi automobile brand in one fell swoop, but also push the brand height of Xiaomi Group to a new level.
Weilai began to locate high-end, and the brand style has been formed. LI also has a foothold in the mid-to-high-end market, and Xiaomi Automobile also needs to be a blockbuster.
"New Product Finance" has written an analysis before. Although Xiaomi Automobile is based on Xiaomi, it must be born out of Xiaomi and re-create a new Xiaomi automobile brand.
The third level, the long-distance running level, Xiaomi Automobile definitely needs long-distance running if it wants to become a luxury brand.
The new energy car track is more popular than long-distance running, not who. Building a car is completely different from making a mobile phone.
At present, some new car-making forces and new energy automobile brands under traditional automobile brands say that they are luxury brands, but in fact they are not, and they are still far away.
Because to become a luxury brand, it is not overnight, but requires long-term cultivation and long-distance running.
03 conclusion
Looking at the current new energy vehicle market, it is mainly divided into two factions. A large faction focuses on the affordable mass consumer car market, and its representative is BYD. Another faction is focusing on the full-size luxury SUV market, which represents the ideal, and the gap market gives Xiaomi an opportunity.
"New Product Finance" believes that Xiaomi Automobile will have great strategic extensibility if it releases its first model, whether it is to expand the higher-end price range market upwards or expand the niche market of the affordable Volkswagen model range downwards.
I don’t know if you have found out that new energy automobile brands, including many new car-making forces, all say that they are luxury brands, but the market views are inconsistent.
But Tesla never seems to say that he is a luxury brand, but Tesla has formed a solid luxury brand image and made Tesla’s brand advantage.
Therefore, in terms of brand play, Xiaomi Automobile might as well "learn" from Tesla, not always saying that it is a luxury brand, but asking consumers and the market to recognize Xiaomi Automobile as a luxury brand, and then Xiaomi Automobile will truly realize its dream of luxury brand.
On March 28th, Xiaomi Automobile will hold an official press conference, which will reveal the mystery of the price of Xiaomi Automobile and will also determine and influence the future of Xiaomi Automobile.
Do you think Xiaomi SU 7 will be a blockbuster? Can it support the luxury brand dream of Xiaomi Automobile?
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