Chapter 119 Lin Jia's Opinion

"Brother, I think you have thought very clearly about SU7, including positioning, pricing, and even subsequent marketing strategies. I think you should have thought it through."

After coming out of Ultra, Chen Yuanguang and Lei Jun came to the conference room of Xiaomi's production base, while Lin Jia stayed at the test track as she also wanted to try Xiaomi's new car.

Lin Jia has much more driving experience than Chen Yuanguang, and has handled many more luxury cars. As a shareholder of Guangjia Technology, she is also a shareholder of Xiaomi Auto after the equity penetration. She is also curious about what the cars made by Xiaomi are like.

After arriving at the conference room, Chen Yuanguang became serious from his relaxed expression. He was not sure whether Xiaomi SU7 could be successful, and he could not change the design and positioning of the car because it was too late.

However, Ultra may still undergo major adjustments. It is still just an engineering vehicle and there is still some time before it can be officially put into production.

"Yuanguang, you are welcome to give us your suggestions, and we will seriously consider them." Seeing Chen Yuanguang become serious, Lei Jun also pretended to listen attentively.

Whether Chen Yuanguang is a shareholder, a core supplier, or a successful entrepreneur, any of these identities alone is worthy of Lei Jun's serious listening to his opinions, not to mention that so many identities overlap.

Chen Yuanguang said: “I think Ultra is very good, but it is still lacking some elements.

I think it remains to be seen whether the car's full-car constant temperature system and borderless audio and video system can support its price of 500,000 yuan, and whether consumers will buy it.

Can we add some unique technologies or elements to it?"

Chen Yuanguang wanted to add more ingredients, as he always felt it was not stable enough without them.

Lei Jun was helpless after hearing this. “If possible, we would also like to add exclusive technologies, but the problem is that Xiaomi’s exclusive technologies in the automotive field are still under self-development.

What is more impressive is the connection between Xiaomi Auto and Xiaomi's previous smart ecosystem. The entire smart ecosystem of Xiaomi Auto, Xiaomi home appliances and Xiaomi mobile phones is fully covered, which is the biggest feature of Xiaomi Auto.

As for automotive technology, we have not made any major breakthroughs yet. Most of our internal projects are still in the research and development stage, and if we purchase from outside, the technology we can purchase will not be exclusive.”

This is not a press conference, and Chen Yuanguang is not a potential consumer. Lei Jun is very frank.

Lei Jun continued: "Have you seen I, Robot starring Will Smith? It is a movie adapted from Asimov's novel, in which the futuristic cars

Spherical tires are used.

When we were brainstorming internally, we also considered whether we could build a car with spherical tires, even just a concept car, but we found it too difficult.

Spherical tires involve more complex rotation control devices, and their contact surface is smaller than that of cylindrical tires, so their friction is greater.

It's a completely impractical design.

The automobile industry has been developing for more than 200 years, and electric vehicles have a 20-year history. If we want to do something technical, Xiaomi’s accumulation is not enough.”

Chen Yuanguang thought that in the future, luxury sports cars would use spherical tires. Magnetic levitation materials and room-temperature superconducting materials would solve the problem of spherical tires controlling steering, while new rubber materials would solve the problem of friction.

Spherical tires provide a dramatic improvement in control sensitivity, so luxury sports cars all use spherical tires.

However, only a few of these sports cars are sold in a year.

For ordinary people, it is better to spend one twentieth of the money to buy a virtual helmet and drive however they want.

Chen Yuanguang said: "OK, I understand that it is indeed difficult to make a breakthrough in technology in the short term, and innovation in application is also innovation.

We have talked about this before. In order to maximize the solar energy absorption rate, the entire top is made of a plane, which is an openable skylight.

Is it possible to turn this plane into a screen, divided into two layers, the outer layer is solar cells, and the inner layer is a whole screen. This screen can be controlled by a mobile phone, and pictures or even GIF animations on the phone can be projected onto it.

This is also a manifestation of intelligence. In addition to this, more intelligent modules can be added to the interaction between people and vehicles. For example, a weight sensor can be added to the main driving seat to automatically adjust the steering wheel and seat position according to the driver's weight and past driving habits?
Many new energy vehicles now do not emphasize what can record the driver's status, but they need to choose and control the recording themselves. Xiaomi can automatically adjust according to weight.

The degree of intelligence is immediately reflected.

When it is difficult to make breakthroughs in technology, we focus on the intelligence of the vehicle system and the cockpit. I think this is also a direction for breakthrough.

Of course, these are just some of my temporary ideas. The specific feasibility depends on your specific schedule and launch time. "

Lei Jun was obviously thinking about the feasibility of the points mentioned by Chen Yuanguang, such as making a whole screen inside the roof. If it is a curved roof, it will be difficult and costly, but there will be no problem with a flat roof.

As for intelligence, they are all very basic. It just depends on who can think of so many details and whether there are enough engineers and programmers to do the development.

Lei Jun's expression relaxed a little, he looked at Chen Yuanguang and said firmly: "Junior brother, we will definitely seriously consider your suggestion.

Work on making improvements on these.

Our current plan is to launch Xiaomi su7 and release Ultra at the beginning of next year, then open pre-orders for Ultra in the third quarter of next year and officially release it in the fourth quarter.

This is a preliminary schedule, and Ultra has enough time to make adjustments according to your suggestions."

On the way out of Xiaomi Auto after chatting with Lei Jun, Lin Jia drove the old S-Class Mercedes-Benz left by his father in Yanjing and said with emotion: "After driving a new energy vehicle, even a Mercedes-Benz, I feel uncomfortable in some places."

Lin Jia flew directly from Yantai to Yanjing with Chen Yuanguang. The gray suit he wore at the signing ceremony with the Aviation Science and Technology Group was also made temporarily by a clothing store that Lin Jia found.

Lin Jia has never liked Yenching. She felt that the atmosphere at Yenching was too depressing. With the score she had in Zhejiang Province, she could have gone to Yenching Normal University or Yenching University of Science and Technology, but she did not choose these two schools simply because she did not like Yenching.

Normally, when the two of them go out, Lin Jia drives, while Chen Yuanguang would not drive unless he can avoid it: "This is because the electric cars you drive are more expensive.

These more expensive electric vehicles use an integrated casting method to integrate the body and battery.

Doing so can lower the vehicle's center of gravity while increasing the body's torsional rigidity to reduce deformation when turning, thereby improving handling.

On the other hand, the electric drive platform of electric vehicles is much simpler than that of gasoline vehicles, which makes many electric vehicles priced at 200,000 yuan have better controllability than gasoline vehicles priced at 600,000 or 700,000 yuan.”

After Chen Yuanguang finished speaking, he was surprised to find that his way of thinking had changed.

When he was admitted to Jiangnan University, he was a science student and studied in the School of Chemistry during his undergraduate years. His thinking was mainly rational. Later, after he started writing online articles, rationality was gradually replaced by sentimentality and emotional expression.

In recent years, he felt that his sensibility was almost gone, and whenever he discussed any issue, he tried to give a reasonable explanation based on the principles behind it.

Chen Yuanguang placed too much emphasis on rationality and logic, and thought that if he went back to write Tokyo romance novels now, there would probably not be a single reader.

Lin Jia was overwhelmed by what she heard, so she changed the subject directly: "Yuan Guang, do you think Xiaomi Automobile can succeed?"

Chen Yuanguang said: "There are many factors that contribute to its success, including Xiaomi's long-term offline channels, supply chain management accumulated over the years, and strong reserves of its own funds. I have also invested in new energy vehicle companies such as Xiaopeng, so I am not completely inexperienced in starting to build cars.

Xiaomi’s own brand image is still recognizable in the minds of consumers, so I think it has a high probability of success.”

This is also the unanimous opinion of the outside world after Xiaomi decided to build cars. Compared with LeTV and Evergrande, Xiaomi has great talents to start building cars.

Lin Jia shook her head. The open car window messed up her hair. She drove seriously and said, "When giants start businesses across fields, all the advantages they seemed to have in the past are nothing but clouds. Their past successful experiences will become shackles instead.

If these so-called success factors of Xiaomi really work, then Microsoft would not be so focused on promoting their browser, but their market share has not been able to increase.

Facebook's success in social media cannot be replicated in the field of short videos, and it cannot defeat Tik Tok no matter what it tries.

These are at the software level. In terms of hardware, Sony has accumulated a lot of experience in consumer electronics, semiconductors and games in the past. Their predecessor, Ericsson, made mobile phones, but in the era of smartphones, they could only be others in the global market, barely relying on the support of their parent company, with a market share of less than 1%.

Traditional car companies always have more factors for success, so why are they being suppressed when they move from gasoline vehicles to new energy vehicles, and the brand reputation they have accumulated before has even become a burden?
With so many examples before us, can Xiaomi really make a car? I doubt it. Geely needs to use a new brand to enter the new energy market, just like Changan and Great Wall. Xiaomi just went ahead on its own. If it fails, will it have room for maneuver?
Moreover, Xiaomi’s brand image may not really have a positive effect on Xiaomi’s car manufacturing. Just like traditional car companies, the brand image accumulated in the mobile phone field may become a burden instead.

I took it for a test drive and the handling is pretty good. I think it still depends on the pricing. If it goes for the high cost-performance route, it can still be saved. Let's increase the volume first. If it wants to go for the high-end route like Xiaomi's flagship phones in recent years, I think it will most likely fail."

Lin Jia's views are completely different from Chen Yuanguang's. Her understanding comes from the cases she had studied in the School of Economics and Management, including her pessimism about the Xiaomi brand.

Chen Yuanguang asked: "Why didn't you raise any objections to cooperating with Xiaomi at that time?"

"If you had raised objections at that time, we could have changed our partners." Chen Yuanguang said indignantly.

He was not really unhappy with Lin Jia for this reason, but he simply wanted to question Lin Jia and see him panic.

Lin Jia covered his mouth and laughed, "Because when I found out, you had already finished talking to Lei Jun. If I give you advice now, wouldn't that be a slap in your face?"

Chen Yuanguang leaned close to Lin Jia's ear and said, "I can't hear you clearly."

Lin Jia rolled down the car window, repeated what he had just said, and continued: "We only spent 500 million to get 20% of Xiaomi Auto's equity.

Even if Xiaomi Auto fails, this deal is still very profitable, especially considering that you plan to use the ore as a gimmick to build luxury cars after mining asteroids.

If this plan is implemented, it is definitely not possible to use the Xiaomi brand. In the future, it will either cooperate with luxury car companies or create a brand of its own.

Based on this consideration, the experience gained from investing in Xiaomi is valuable. Besides, 500 million is not a lot, and the liquidity on Guangjia Technology’s books is more than enough.”

After Lin Jia finished speaking, Chen Yuanguang asked: "Why can't Xiaomi make luxury cars?

BYD can be admired by over one million people, and Xiaomi may become a luxury brand with the support of light armor and aerospace derivative technology. "

Lin Jia shook his head: "I didn't say it's impossible, it's just a matter of probability. The probability of it becoming a luxury brand is too low. Businesses cannot pin their hopes on low-probability events.

It would be better to acquire a second-tier luxury brand from abroad, just like Geely acquired Volvo, and then we will inject new technological genes into it.

This is how I think about it.

So investing in Xiaomi is a way of exploring the way forward.

Besides, the failure of Xiaomi Auto does not mean that Ultra, which is equipped with light armor technology, will fail. The success of Ultra means your success.

Once Ultra is successful, Xiaomi Auto will rely more on Guangjia Technology and Guangjia Aerospace. We can send some executives to Xiaomi Auto to prepare for the subsequent self-made cars.”

Chen Yuanguang asked again, "Didn't you just say that you would cooperate with other luxury brands?"

Lin Jia continued to explain: "Because space ore is a gimmick, it is not fundamentally different from the ore on Earth. It is not that because you use space ore, the car will accelerate faster or brake more sensitively.

It's just a gimmick you use to build a luxury brand and make consumers pay an excess premium. Since it's a gimmick, if you cooperate with other luxury brands and everyone uses it, then does this gimmick still have value?

Moreover, the excess profits you can enjoy from the cooperation are extremely limited, and are a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of recovering the initial asteroid mining costs.

Porsche's annual profit is about 70 billion euros. It is the most profitable luxury brand. If it uses your ore, how much profit can it give you? Five percent at most, which is meaningless to Light Armor Aerospace.

In order to ensure the gimmick is valuable, you can only authorize one or two luxury car companies at most, but the profit is too little. In the end, we will definitely take the path of building our own luxury brand, whether it is through acquisition or starting from scratch."

Lin Jia saw it very clearly. Chen Yuanguang only put forward an idea, but Lin Jia made this idea concrete.

Chen Yuanguang would not think about such details. When they started to do this thing, the executives would naturally come up with several solutions for him to choose from.

Chen Yuanguang felt that it was a bit difficult: "If we were to make cars, we would need at least several thousand people, which would be a huge challenge to our organizational management capabilities."

Lin Jia felt that Chen Yuanguang simply lived in his own world and never stepped out. She lamented, "Do you know how many people there are at Light Armor Technology now?"

Chen Yuanguang thought for a long time but could not come up with any result. He could only see that the number of departments and local branches in the company's OA was increasing, and there were more and more unfamiliar faces in each executive meeting. The frequency of his meetings with Sun Renjie dropped from once a week to once a month.

"do not know."

Lin Jia said: "There are 1761 people in the headquarters of the company in China, 963 people in the provincial branches, and 758 people overseas, which means there are more than people in total.

Not to mention the future of light armor aerospace. According to the expansion rate of our current organizational structure and the vision of light armor aerospace, we need a scale of 20,000 people to achieve the goal of asteroid mining.

If you manage an organization of 20,000 people, how difficult is it to make cars? "

Space engineering is definitely a much more difficult systematic project than car manufacturing, not just because it requires more people to manage. Historically, it took more than 40,000 scientists and engineers eight years to land on the moon in America.

It's a long and arduous journey.

Although with the advancement of computer technology, we don't need so many people now, but asteroid mining is still a huge project, and Guangjia Aerospace has just taken the first step on reusable rockets.

Therefore, Lin Jia felt that Chen Yuanguang had not considered the difficulty of this matter and how many people were needed. When she went to Shenhai Jiaotong University to take a public elective course, the professor assigned them an assignment:
"Today I'm going to give you a homework question. With the recent successful recovery of the Pioneer rocket, Dr. Chen's Light Armor Aerospace has made another step forward in asteroid mining. When you go back, please calculate how many people it will take for Light Armor Aerospace to achieve their goal.

If you have some time, you can count the number of graduates majoring in aerospace every year, so that you can have a preliminary estimate of the employment situation when you graduate in the future, whether you are optimistic or pessimistic. "

Later, the professor used quantitative analysis to calculate the number of 20,000 engineers and R&D personnel, excluding blue-collar workers in manufacturing.

Chen Yuanguang said: "This is an estimate based on current technology. With the advancement of AI technology, we won't need so many people."

He thought that in the future Alpha would take care of all of this by himself and there would be no need for humans at all.

Seeing Chen Yuanguang's explanation, Lin Jia said calmly, "Then the number of people needed to build cars should decrease more than that required for asteroid mining."

Chen Yuanguang heard the sarcasm in Lin Jia's tone and said, "I understand what you mean. It was just an idea before. There is a long way to go from this idea to whether we will personally build cars and build a brand in the future.

My focus is not on that.

But now it seems that your thinking makes sense, so have you ever considered becoming a senior executive at Xiaomi Auto?"

　First attempt at illustration
　　
　
(End of this chapter)