Lei Jun, who staked his reputation on building cars, plans to walk on two legs.Next, Xiaomi Motors will not only launch pure electric models, but also plans to develop extended-range electric vehicles, but it has not determined the breakthrough point of the product yet. Xiaomi Motors is currently developing multiple generations of platforms. The first-generation platform will be launched next year, and the second-generation platform is planned to be launched in 2025. Judging from the time progress, the launch node of extended-range vehicles may be after the second-generation platform.
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Xiaomi Youpin
Extended range products are planned
As the only remaining cross-border car manufacturer among major manufacturers, Xiaomi Motors is of great concern to both the industry and outside the industry. Design drawings and spy photos exposed in the past indicate that Xiaomi Motors' first model will be a pure electric coupe, and there has been no news of a research and development extension before.
Source: Internet
However, judging from market performance, consumers are paying more and more attention to and being more tolerant of extended-range vehicles. The popular sales of Li Auto are a good example. The latest example is that during the National Day holiday, Wenjie's new M7 sold a maximum of 7,000 units in a single day. Since its launch in mid-September, the cumulative sales have exceeded 50,000 units.
Sales volume is the bargaining chip for survival, and the blue ocean market to be developed is even more attractive.Although it is a bit surprising that Xiaomi Motors will build a range-extended vehicle, it is also reasonable.
It’s just that whether it is Ideal or Wenjie, these extended-range models have their own positioning and differences. For example, Ideal focuses on family cars for dads, while Wenjie is a smart car blessed by Huawei.
What label will be left for Xiaomi's range-extended vehicle?
01.or driven by key figures
Although Lei Jun has repeatedly emphasized that the progress of car manufacturing will no longer be disclosed to the outside world, news about Xiaomi cars has never stopped.
Not long ago, it was reported that Xiaomi Motors is in the trial production stage and is producing almost 50 prototypes per week. This puts Xiaomi Motors just shy of mass production. Xiaomi Automobile's Yizhuang factory is recruiting workshop workers on a large scale. The recruitment scale is about 100 people. The average salary is 6,000 to 7,000 yuan. The working hours are 8 hours a day, with weekends off and people can join at any time.
Preparations for the test of Xiaomi's pure electric vehicles are also in full swing. On August 19, in Xinjiang, Hu Zhengnan, an investment partner of Shunwei Capital, posted on Weibo that engineers were pranking a tram that showed a remaining range of 152 kilometers. After arriving at the destination, the remaining mileage showed that there were still 90 kilometers, and the energy consumption per 100 kilometers was only 8.8 kilowatt-hours.
Source: Hu Zhengnan Weibo
All signs indicate that Xiaomi’s first car will be a pure electric car. However, in addition to pure electric vehicles, Xiaomi is now also beginning to expand into the extended-range market.
Although Xiaomi officials did not respond to this, recruitment information for R&D positions related to the range extension system has been released on Xiaomi's official recruitment website. For example, positions such as extended-range system design and development engineer, power-fuel system engineer, etc.
Among them, the range-extended system design and development engineer clearly stated the requirements: more than 3 years of work experience in range-extended system design and development or supplier product management, while the power fuel system engineer recruitment requires 5 or more years of mainstream OEM or supplier-related development experience, and complete mass production project experience.
Source: Xiaomi Recruitment
This also proves from the side that Xiaomi’s development of extended-range electric vehicles is not groundless.
If we want to find out any clues about Xiaomi's development of extended-range vehicles, Xiaomi co-founder Wang Chuan may be the key driver. In addition to having frequent exchanges with Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, Wang Chuan is also a personal investor in Li Auto.
This also means that Wang Chuan is very receptive to extended-range models, and Wang Chuan also participated in Xiaomi Motors’ mid-to-high-level training.
Wang Chuan joined Xiaomi in 2012 and has successively been in charge of the TV department, staff department, China area, sales and other entire chain work. Before joining Xiaomi, Wang Chuan was also a serial entrepreneur. Lei Jun also has 100% trust in Wang Chuan. According to media reports, Lei Jun once said to Wang Chuan, I support whatever you do.
Source: Wang Chuan Weibo
Prior to this, Wang Chuan represented Xiaomi Group to explore the automotive industry, seek various resources such as talents, technology and factory manufacturing, and also visited Li Auto.
Therefore, as a key player in Xiaomi Automobile, Wang Chuan may be an important reason why Xiaomi decided to develop extended-range vehicles.
Lu Weibing, president of Xiaomi Group, once said that the progress of Xiaomi cars has exceeded expectations, and the mass production target for the first half of 2024 remains unchanged.
This means that once the range-extended model of Xiaomi Motors is confirmed, it will be unveiled after the launch of the first pure electric model, or the range-extended technology will be used from Xiaomi Motors’ second model.
In addition to ideals, another car company on the market that focuses on extended-range hybrid models is Wenjie, which also has a background in mobile phone manufacturing. In July this year, news broke that many employees in the industry had switched jobs to Xiaomi Motors. From this point of view, Xiaomi seems to be well prepared to develop and launch extended-range vehicles.
02.Going round and round, we have to extend the distance
Why did Xiaomi start developing a range-extended vehicle before the first model was mass-produced?
As we all know, this is Lei Jun's last entrepreneurial venture, which he put aside all the reputation in his life and personally led the team, just to "fight for Xiaomi cars."
From Lei Jun personally to the entire Xiaomi Group, they have invested a lot of time, energy and funds in car manufacturing. At Xiaomi’s investment day at the beginning of the year, Lei Jun claimed to have devoted 1/2 of his time to the new project from "0 to 1" - the automobile business.
Source: Xiaomi
There is no ambiguity in spending money. When announcing the car-building, Lei Jun once said that he would invest US$10 billion within 10 years, with an initial investment of 10 billion yuan. Last year alone, Xiaomi invested more than 3 billion yuan in new businesses such as automobiles, and currently has a car research and development team of more than 2,300 people.
The goal Lei Jun has set for Xiaomi is: in 15-20 years, Xiaomi Motors will strive to enter the top five in the world. After launching mass production vehicles in 2024, cumulative sales will reach 900,000 vehicles in three years.
However, to achieve this goal, it may be difficult to rely solely on pure electric models. Therefore, preparing and planning extended-range products in advance means planning ahead and planning ahead.
On the other hand, under the premise that the charging difficulties of pure electric models and the anxiety about battery life have not been resolved, hybrid models are really "too good".
In the hybrid market, range extension has always been unique. According to the latest data from Li Auto, Li Auto delivered a total of 36,060 new cars in 9, a year-on-year increase of 212.7%, setting a new monthly delivery record.
As of September 30, 2023, Li Auto's cumulative delivery volume in the third quarter was 105,108 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 296.3%, and the cumulative delivery volume for the year has reached 244,225 vehicles.
Source: Ideal
The success of Ideal has caused many friends and businessmen to set their sights on extending the range. Lantu, a subsidiary of Dongfeng, launched the Lantu FREE, an extended-range electric vehicle, based on the impressive sales volume of Li Auto and its relatively mature business model.
Last year, Changan Deep Blue’s first model, the SL03, was unveiled. While launching a pure electric model, it also released an extended-range version.
Entering 2023, more and more car companies will join the range-extending army. In February this year, Leapmotor launched its first extended-range model, the Leapmotor C11 extended-range version, and also announced the launch of a dual-power strategy of pure electric + hybrid.
After the launch of the extended-range model, the change in sales is obvious. In 14 months, Deep Blue’s sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles, setting a new record for the fastest independent new energy brand to exceed 100,000 sales. The sales volume of Leapmotor has surged even more. In September, Leapmotor delivered 15,800 units, a record high. A total of 44,325 units were delivered in the third quarter, an increase of 30% from the previous quarter, with an average monthly delivery of nearly 15,000 units.
Source: Zero Pao
Data released by the China Automobile Association shows that from January to July this year, the cumulative sales of pure electric models reached 3.26 million units, a year-on-year increase of 29.5%, while the cumulative sales of plug-in hybrid models reached 1.26 million units, a year-on-year increase of 87.4%.
The National Information Center predicts that by 2030, pure fuel vehicles and HEV models will account for half of the market share, and new energy vehicles will each account for 50%.Among them, HEV models will gradually complete the value upgrade and replacement of traditional fuel vehicles, and PHEV, as a new energy vehicle that can be powered by petrol or electricity, will also become an important choice.
The extended-range models already have a considerable user base, so Xiaomi Motors does not need to spend too long in the education market.
Source: Xiaomi
In addition, Li Xiang and Lei Jun actually have many similarities. For example, they are both good at learning from external companies. Huawei and Apple are their common learning partners. Both of them call themselves product managers. This has allowed both Xiaomi and Ideal to create phenomenal products.
In a sense, the user groups of Xiaomi mobile phones and Li Auto have a certain overlap. From this point of view, the market for Xiaomi Motors’ extended-range models will not be small.
Author｜Truman