On August 23, according to foreign media reports, Xiaomi has obtained the qualification to produce new energy vehicles. Xiaomi has won approval from China's state planning authority to produce electric vehicles (EVs), a person familiar with the matter said, marking a major step toward the smartphone maker's goal of producing cars "early next year".
Separately, the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees new investment and production capacity in China's auto industry, earlier this month gave Beijing-based company Xiaomi the green light to produce electric cars. Xiaomi's joint venture is the fourth to be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission since late 2017.
In March 2021, Xiaomi Group announced its official entry into the automotive industry. At the press conference, Lei Jun said: "Xiaomi Auto is the last major entrepreneurial project in my life. In September 2021, Xiaomi Auto officially registered as "Xiaomi Auto Co., Ltd.", with Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, serving as the legal representative. On November 27, 2021, Xiaomi Motors officially settled in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. According to the plan, Xiaomi will build a vehicle factory in two phases to achieve an annual output of 300,000 vehicles, of which the first and second phases will have a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles respectively.
Since then, there has been a lot of news about Xiaomi's car manufacturing in the market, especially after entering 2023, but there has been no definite news about Xiaomi's production qualifications. There is news in the market that Xiaomi will obtain qualifications through acquisitions, but this news has not been officially confirmed. In June of this year, Beijing Baowo Automobile applied for the cancellation of its automobile production qualification. After the news was released, industry opinion said that it might mean that Xiaomi could not directly obtain qualification cooperation from Baowo. One of the topics of concern to the industry.
According to the plan, the first model of Xiaomi car is expected to be officially mass-produced in the first half of 2024, and with the mass production of the first model on the agenda, the mystery of Xiaomi's car manufacturing is being lifted little by little. On August 19, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, and Lu Weibing, partner and president, and other senior executives participated in the Xiaomi car road test in Xinjiang. Hu Zhengnan, an investment partner of Shunwei Capital, revealed on his social media Energy consumption of Xiaomi cars.
According to the latest news, insiders of Xiaomi revealed that this year, the first-tier and second-tier battery suppliers of Xiaomi cars have been finalized in Zhongxinhang (formerly known as Zhongchuang Lithium Battery) and Ningde Times. Xiaomi insiders said that Xiaomi has made it clear that software rather than hardware will be the main profit strategy. In order to maintain Xiaomi's consistent cost-effective advantages, the profit margin of Xiaomi's auto parts will remain at about 1%, and future profits will mainly depend on software services and ecological services.
Judging from the current progress of Xiaomi's car manufacturing, it has been two and a half years since Lei Jun announced for the first time that Xiaomi entered the smart electric vehicle industry. Although the progress of Xiaomi's car is not fast, it is advancing in an orderly manner. If the news that Xiaomi has obtained the production qualification for making cars this time is true, Xiaomi may make great progress in making cars.
In the second half of 2023, the new energy vehicle market will continue to be reshuffled, and the stage of competition among auto companies is no longer relying on one or two explosive models to survive. knockout. Although technology companies such as Xiaomi and Baidu have Internet advantages in the field of car manufacturing, the threshold for car manufacturing is high and the competition is fierce. It is not easy to succeed in the market.
Since Xiaomi joined the car-making field, it has been questioned by the outside world. Lei Jun has also talked about Xiaomi's car-making matters through social platforms many times, including whether Xiaomi's mass production time is too late. Lei Jun once said that some people think that Tesla entered the electric vehicle industry more than 10 years earlier than Xiaomi, and that Xiaomi has missed the time window to enter the electric vehicle industry. However, Lei Jun denied that he missed the car-making window, saying that "the race has just begun." Lei Jun believes: "The car is a century-old track. As long as you are optimistic about the car industry, it is never too late."