Chapter 118 Xiaomi Car First Experience

"What do you think of Guangjia Aerospace's Pioneer 2's delivery to Tiangong-1 this year?"

“Thank you for the invitation, it’s too fast, the God of Light’s progress is even faster than my fastest expectations.

Normally, a strap-on rocket would fail three or four times before launching, and would start delivering goods after launching two or three times.

This is already the most optimistic scenario. This is how Falcon 9 initially went. Bezos’ Blue Origin has failed even more times.

The Pioneer has never failed since launch number 1.1, and it has reached number 1.2 after one launch. At least others are still number , , . Then number directly jumped from a single engine to multiple engines. The whole rhythm is like cheating.

If Earth Online has an administrator, he would have turned on the easy mode for the God of Light. I watched the entire launch process of Pioneer 2, and the process from launch to recovery at sea was as accurate as a sandbox simulation.

Given this technology, it is no wonder that the Space Agency would directly give a portion of the cargo transportation orders to Guangjia Aerospace.

On the one hand, it is to put pressure on the research institute and the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. If you don't make progress, we still have Plan B. On the other hand, we want to see where the limits of light armor aerospace are.

Launching a rocket, launching the rocket into orbit, and then docking the rocket with the space station after launching the rocket into orbit have different levels of difficulty.

If they can achieve space station docking this year, it means that many subsequent rocket launch missions can be handed over to Guangjia Aerospace.

Considering that the Trailblazer rocket is also a reusable rocket, the domestic labor cost is much cheaper than that of America, and the domestic launch cost will drop to a level lower than that of SpaceX.

We can also go overseas to grab SpaceX orders around the world. For the space agency, they can reduce costs and invest the money elsewhere.

Later on, the rocket launch will be packaged and handed over to Guangjia Aerospace, which itself has state-owned capital background.

I now believe that Guang Shen was not bragging when he said in an interview at Bilibili that he was cooperating with the European Space Agency.

“Can you give other commercial airlines some chance to survive? This is the final nail in the coffin for other commercial aerospace companies. With Light Armor Aerospace in the lead, no one else can play.

It's fine if you launch a reusable rocket, but you also want to launch five satellites in one rocket, or five satellites in one rocket with multiple orbits. Five satellites in one rocket means that you can launch more satellites in one rocket.

The most popular demand in domestic commercial aviation is satellite launches, which can be completely taken care of by Guangjia Aerospace. Their rockets are reusable, so the cost is low.

With the support of orders from the space agency, the more rockets are launched, the more mature the technology becomes, the lower the failure rate becomes, and the cost becomes lower. Is there any way out for other commercial airlines?

We can’t compete in technology, cost, or volume, and I feel the cold winter is coming.”

"Not bad."

In Yanjing Yizhuang, after finishing the work related to the launch of the Pioneer 2 rocket, Lei Jun invited Chen Yuanguang to visit the Xiaomi Automobile Factory in Yizhuang to see the engineering prototype car they built.

"For now we have temporarily named it su7. There are basic version, max version and pro version. We are not sure whether Ultra will be named separately or also called su7." In the Xiaomi Automobile Factory in Yizhuang, Lei Jun talked about his hard work over the past three years, and it was difficult to hide his inner excitement.

Looking at the appearance that is similar to that of a Porsche, Chen Yuanguang couldn't help but wonder, would Mi fans really pay for a car that looks so much like a Porsche?
Is the logic of selling cars and selling mobile phones really the same?

Chen Yuanguang didn’t know the answer. This was his inner doubt. On the surface, he pretended to be very satisfied. After all, he owned 20% of the shares in this company.

"It's a very beautiful design." Chen Yuanguang said sincerely.

It is indeed beautiful. It would be strange if this pixel-level tribute to Porsche is not beautiful.

Lei Jun said as he walked: "Our goal is to enable young Mi fans to drive sports cars as good as Porsche when they are 20 to 30 years old.

Xiaomi su7 can help us achieve this goal very well.

How about it, Yuanguang, do you want to go up and give it a try?

In addition to its appearance being very similar to Porsche, we have also tried our best to simulate the texture of Porsche in terms of power and control.

In terms of chassis tuning, acceleration and linear braking, we imitated the Porsche as quickly as possible.”

Chen Yuanguang was indeed very interested. He was just a college student at Jiangnan University when Xiaomi announced its plan to build cars. At that time, Xiaomi’s decision to build cars was widely publicized in the media. This was Lei Jun’s last entrepreneurial venture.

To be honest, he was not interested in Lei Jun’s last entrepreneurial venture at that time, but was still very interested in Xiaomi’s car manufacturing.

Chen Yuanguang is looking forward to seeing what Xiaomi, a company known for its cost-effectiveness and supply chain management and integration, will achieve in car manufacturing and what kind of car it can make.

Lei Jun's reputation is much better than Boss Jia and Xu Daizi.

Boss Jia has been making cars for eleven years and has built eleven cars, and then recalled them all. Netizens joked that if he hadn't recalled them, no one would know how many cars he had built.

Xu Daizi disappeared while he was working.

Chen Yuanguang sat in the driving seat of Xiaomi SU7Pro with great anticipation. The young engineer next to him came over and said, "Mr. Chen, this is to adjust the sports mode. If you choose the track mode, it will give you an experience almost the same as that of a Porsche."

Chen Yuanguang joked: "I have never driven a Porsche. How do I know if its handling is the same as that of a Porsche?"

He indeed had never opened it, but Lin Jia had, but he just couldn't sit in it.

Lei Jun said beside him: "It's okay, we still have a Porsche here, we will drive the Porsche over for you to try when the time comes."

Lei Jun went on to say: "If you come to support me at the Xiaomi press conference, I will give you a Porsche."

Chen Yuanguang knew that nothing is free in the world, so he asked, "No other requirements?"

Lei Jun said: "I only have one request, that is, I will give you a Porsche and a Xiaomi, you can drive them in turn, and then tell us about your experience at the press conference.

I guess I was a guest at the press conference."

Chen Yuanguang was a little overwhelmed. If he accepted the gift, could he say at the press conference that the Xiaomi car was difficult to drive?
Moreover, when he talked about his feelings at the press conference, in a sense he was personally standing up for Lei Jun.

However, considering that he did own 20% of Xiaomi Auto’s shares, Chen Yuanguang did not refuse: “Give me Ultra.

I’ll talk about Ultra’s feelings then.”

Compared with su7, ultra doesn't look like a Porsche at all.

Its appearance is completely different from the su7 series. No wonder Lei Jun is hesitating whether to call it su7 or give it a separate name.

Xiaomi Ultra has a completely non-streamlined design. Most cars try to use curved lines as much as possible in order to achieve ultra-low wind resistance, but the Ultra is like two planes spliced ​​together, as if it doesn't care about wind resistance at all.

Lei Jun said, "Okay, then Ultra."

The reason why Chen Yuanguang said this is that he was not sure whether anyone would buy Xiaomi su7.

But he is sure that there will definitely be users who will buy Ultra, even if the price is much higher.

China has no shortage of wealthy people. Domestic brands that can gain a foothold at a high price must have two characteristics: either a long brand history, such as Hongqi, or superb technology, such as Huawei and BYD.

Huawei relies on its ultra-high safety in intelligent driving, while BYD relies on more than ten years of accumulation in electric vehicles.

Xiaomi Ultra relies on the black technology that Chen Yuanguang brought back from the future.

Chen Yuanguang first test drove the Xiaomi su7pro twice. Lei Jun sat in his passenger seat and they chatted while driving.

"How about it?"

Chen Yuanguang said: "It feels very smooth and silky. I have driven a Tesla before, and I feel that the braking and control of this car are smoother than Tesla.

The new Tesla seems to have removed the paddle shifters, and the turn signal has been replaced by a button.

Including changing the steering wheel from round to rectangular, their designs are always trying to change people's driving habits."

Lei Jun talked about his thoughts: "Tesla had no competitors in electric vehicles before, they didn't have to worry about sales, and users only had Tesla and others to choose from.

Competition has become increasingly fierce in recent years, and Tesla has faced tremendous competitive pressure in both domestic and foreign markets.

They have to change, they have to rely on their advantage as a leader to take the lead in making changes, such as changing the turn signals to buttons and changing the steering wheels to a square shape as you just mentioned.

They are confident that most potential customers will not choose Tesla because of this change, so they want to set standards.

If other car companies do not follow suit, then this will be Tesla's unique brand identity. If other car companies follow suit, then Tesla, as a pioneer, will be able to once again strengthen its image as a benchmark for electric vehicles in the minds of consumers.

Even if I make such unconventional controls, other car companies will have to follow my pace. "

Lei Jun's point of view gave Chen Yuanguang a different perspective on the problem.

Chen Yuanguang said: “That’s how it is.

So what is the design logic of Ultra?
We have talked about this before. The reason why Xiaomi su7 is very similar to Porsche is because of its pricing. Porsche costs millions, but with Xiaomi su7, you only need to spend two or three hundred thousand to have the experience of a million-dollar product.

So why Ultra?"

"Why is Ultra's appearance so different from other series?" Chen Yuanguang asked.

Lei Jun leaned back on the passenger seat, with the bright sunshine outside, which was rare in Yanjing in spring. He said, "Because the ultra can't be the same as the Porsche.

Ultra is better than Porsche in many aspects, so we cannot give consumers such an impression. It is a sports car, a sports car that focuses on both control and comfort.

Everything was overturned and started over again, using the latest and best technology.

The exterior is made of two flat surfaces spliced ​​together to maximize the efficiency of the solar TV in absorbing sunlight.

What we pursue is a product that can score full marks in terms of control, comfort, appearance recognition, speed and battery life.

This design results in very little loss in speed, but the vehicle's constant temperature system can maintain a better experience.

We will use HJT batteries to absorb solar energy, which will keep the vehicle at a constant temperature in real time. A unique calculation module will calculate what is the appropriate constant temperature at the moment.

The car is equipped with eight speakers to create a borderless audio-visual effect, which can provide the best sound effects and simulate the most realistic sound waves. "

Lei Jun was very proud. Ultra had put a lot of effort into it, and since the cooperation was confirmed, they had been working quickly to produce the prototype car.

After the prototype car was designed, the constant temperature system he mentioned was still just a prototype. Currently, it can only play a role in constant temperature, but the intelligent constant temperature and automatic temperature calculation system have not yet been developed.

The Freestream player is also still in the debugging stage, and the Ultra is completely a construction vehicle before mass production.

Other Xiaomi cars are already ready for mass production.

On the way back to the starting point, Chen Yuanguang said, "Very good, brother, to be honest, I prefer the design of the ultra.

It is better to be unique than to imitate. "

Lei Jun said: "Because you have no real need, you are rich enough to buy a million-level luxury car, saying a million is a bit insulting to you.

Buying a luxury car worth tens of millions is no different from buying groceries.

So you may think that imitation seems low, but for most ordinary people, Porsche is like their dream, and they can only watch others driving it while watching videos.

What Xiaomi wants to do is to make dreams come true. Two or three hundred thousand is still within the reach of most young people if they grit their teeth.

It’s like the craziest years for Apple. To buy an Apple, you had to sell your kidney, but to buy a Xiaomi with the same appearance, you only had to work at McDonald’s for an extra month.”

Chen Yuanguang understood what Lei Jun meant. He felt that Xiaomi remained true to its original intention even if it sold the product for 200,000 or 300,000 yuan. It was not just selling the product for 99,000 yuan that meant it remained true to its original intention. Selling a product worth one million yuan at one-third of the price also meant it remained true to its original intention.

This is the product strategy that has been continued from Xiaomi mobile phones to Xiaomi cars.

Chen Yuanguang said: “I roughly understand.

Ultra has no counterparts, and it will bring a completely different experience to users, so it has a brand new look.”

Lei Jun nodded: "That's right, buckets look at the shortcomings, and high-end cars look at the strengths.

BMW's control, Mercedes-Benz's luxury, Audi's comprehensiveness, BBA has its own focus, and Xiaomi Ultra focuses on comfort.

I want to use Huawei's slogan, which will be the car with the best user experience within 5 million yuan."

After Chen Yuanguang drove back to the starting point, he asked, "Then let's try Ultra?"

Lei Jun said, "Let's go. I also want to hear your suggestions."

Sitting in the Ultra, the interior is more advanced than that of the su7pro. Unlike the su7, the Ultra only has two seats.

Two seats are standard in sports cars.

Chen Yuanguang waited for Lei Jun to sit next to him and asked, "The audience for a two-seater sports car should be very narrow, right?"

Lei Jun said: "It's very narrow, the total sales volume of sports cars in China fluctuates around 20,000 units per year.

The best-selling model is the Porsche 718, because of its brand effect and low enough price among sports cars.

He went on to say: “So like Ultra, it’s also mainly to grab the market share of Porsche.

The only difference between Ultra and Porsche is brand power.

But I believe that with your presence, in the minds of Chinese people, its brand appeal will not be inferior to that of Porsche.”

However, for newly established new energy vehicle companies, they can only make profits by operating in this niche field. If they make cars in the 10 to 20 yuan range, they will never be able to compete with BYD and traditional car companies such as Volkswagen, Honda, and Nissan.

They can reduce costs to an extremely low level by selling in large volumes. If you go into close combat with others in the areas where they are best at, you are tantamount to seeking death.

Therefore, new energy vehicle companies all competed in the price range of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan at the beginning, and later began to compete in niche areas, such as SUVs, MPVs, etc.

Xiaomi initially chose a coupe, and later Ultra simply became a sports car.

In recent years, the Chinese people have shown visibly strong support for domestic products. Xiaomi itself has nothing to do with patriotism or technology.

Chen Yuanguang is different. Guangjia Aerospace has just become the only civilian cooperation partner of China's Tiangong space station. This is really patriotic.

If Huawei were to do this, could it deliver cargo to the Chinese space station? Chen Yuanguang said yes.

Lei Jun has already thought about how Mi-series KOLs will launch a direct marketing attack in the future.

The new generation of solar energy technology, human hibernation technology, reusable rockets, etc. of the Light Armor Enterprises are also extremely valuable.

Lei Jun said that with the support of Chen Yuanguang, the brand power of Xiaomi Ultra will not be weaker than that of Porsche.

At least in the target consumer group, it is not weaker than Porsche.

Female consumers also don't like this sharp appearance.

Chen Yuanguang felt that he was being tricked. He figured it out and decided that talking about his feelings at the press conference was just to help Xiaomi.

Car reviewers from all walks of life will definitely link him with Xiaomi Ultra and even Xiaomi Auto, and use his reputation to bless Xiaomi Auto.

Chen Yuanguang thought to himself, MD was losing money, so he only asked for 20% of the shares, which was a huge loss.

However, this is a blind box. Lei Jun feels that it will greatly enhance the brand power of Xiaomi Auto, but whether the market will buy it is another matter.

Chen Yuanguang was also open-minded and thought that these gains and losses were not that important to him.

Suffering a loss may not be a real loss. As long as he has proved his appeal, he will be able to sell the extraterrestrial minerals collected by Guangjia Aerospace at a high price during the subsequent negotiations with car companies.

Build a positive cycle industrial chain of space mining and high-end domestic electric vehicles.

"Brother, I think it might be more effective if you personally stand on the platform than I can," said Chen Yuanguang.

Lei Jun said: "I will definitely help promote Xiaomi Auto, as Xiaomi Auto and I are highly connected.

I endorsed Xiaomi's high-end mobile phones, but sales were mediocre and consumers did not buy into my endorsement.

That’s why we need to ask for external help.”

Chen Yuanguang didn't say anything and drove quietly. Ultra could feel the warmth as soon as he entered.

It's still a bit cold in Yanjing in early spring, but in the Ultra, from the steering wheel to the seats to the entire car, it feels like there is heating.

The tilt angle of the seat and the wrapping feeling give people a very comfortable feeling.

Ultra is more sensitive than pro in acceleration and deceleration, and accelerates faster.

Chen Yuanguang asked: "What is the battery life of Ultra?"

Lei Jun said: "820 kilometers, because Ultra only has two seats, its battery is larger and uses the best 100-degree battery on the market."

After a lap, Chen Yuanguang said: "I don't know how other sports cars drive, but the Ultra is really good.

After using piezoelectric materials for sound insulation, the whole car is also very quiet, giving me the feeling of playing a racing game in a warm room. "

Lei Jun said: "I think it will be a classic in the history of automobiles and a good product, but I am not sure whether consumers will buy it."

“I think Ultra has enough features, and su7 also has its own advantages, but the more important thing is the pricing.

Can Xiaomi's target consumer groups accept the pricing of Xiaomi cars?" Chen Yuanguang said.

He felt that Lei Jun and his friends' idea seemed to make sense. I gave you a Porsche worth more than 200,000 yuan. Isn't that cost-effective? But something was wrong.

Fortunately, Ultra made him feel at ease.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　I'm really not a Mi fan. I've always used Apple and I won't buy a Xiaomi car. This can't even be considered verbal support, it's purely a plot design requirement.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)