She still drives a BMW, but she bought it because of the brand, not because of its specifications.
Zheng Li was even less interested in cars.
"The Dami Auto 1s series is divided into two versions: a pro version and a regular version. The pro version mainly improves autonomous driving and range."
"Let's look at the price!"
The official range of the Mi Pro is 2000 kilometers, while the regular version only has a range of 1200 kilometers. The Mi Pro also boasts a more advanced autonomous driving system.
The moment Lei Jun announced the price on stage, the barrage comments on major live streaming platforms instantly reached a fever pitch.
Because cost-effectiveness has always been the foundation of rice, rice was the first brand to promote the idea of a smartphone for young people.
Consumers are eagerly anticipating the price of the MiCar and whether it will become the first new energy vehicle for young people.
"The Pro version is priced at 229,999 yuan, and the standard version is priced at 179,999 yuan!"
"This price is the final price!"
As soon as this price was announced, the live stream rooms on various platforms were flooded with comments:
"Mr. Lei is too kind."
"This price is amazing!"
Order offline now!
"Undoubtedly the first new energy vehicle for young people"
"Is this price really a good deal? I might as well buy the latest XPeng P5; isn't it a better deal for the same price?"
"With a range of 200,000 kilometers, what more could you ask for at this price?"
"At this price, you might as well buy a gasoline-powered Honda, Toyota, or Volkswagen."
The live stream chat was filled with comments from both sides: some thought it smelled good, while others felt that buying rice and a car at this price was a waste.
The main reason is that the price of the Mi Car is not as expected. People expected it to be between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan, but the regular version of the Mi Car costs 180,000 yuan.
However, compared to domestic new energy vehicles, it's already considered low-priced. NIO is around 500,000 yuan, Li Auto is around 400,000 yuan, and XPeng is around 300,000 yuan. In comparison, the Xiaomi, with its lowest price dropping to between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan, can definitely be considered cost-effective.
"Lei Jun's pricing is relatively conservative. This price is not a perfect value for money, and it is not the same strategy he used when he first entered the mobile phone market."
"That's right. Actually, there's still room for the price to drop. For example, the Pro version could be priced at 200,000 yuan, which is entirely possible given DaMi's control over the supply chain."
"Could it be to leave room for future price reductions?"
"No, if car prices were to drop as arbitrarily as mobile phone prices, then consumers would vote with their feet and abandon the car."
It's very simple. Car price reductions start at least at 10,000 yuan, while mobile phone price reductions are only 300 to 500 yuan.
Price reductions of three to five hundred yuan have prevented rice from establishing itself as a high-end brand.
Even the most loyal Xiaomi fans wouldn't accept this kind of approach to car manufacturing.
"It will take at least a year for rice prices to drop, and while rice has cultivated a large user base in the consumer electronics sector, it is a completely new player in the automotive sector."
Tesla's price cuts also involved a long process and preparation; it would be quite unwise for rice to lower its price a year later.
The audience included not only industry peers but also executives from some new energy vehicle companies, who had an accurate assessment of the cost and minimum selling price of DaMi Auto.
Although the price of 230,000 yuan is not high, with the development of new energy vehicles to this point, the industrial chain is fully mature, and this price is definitely not the lowest that Da Mi can afford.
"I guess Lei Jun still doesn't want to set the price too low. Although setting the price below 200,000 would be great purely based on cost-effectiveness."
However, in the long run, it will be very difficult for rice to rise from the 100,000 yuan level to the 200,000 yuan level.
Instead of focusing on differentiation from the start, price the highly differentiated product above 200,000 yuan, and rely on the lower-spec version at 180,000 yuan to drive sales volume.
Compared to a mobile phone going from a price of 3,000 to 5,000, it is much more difficult for a car to go from a price of 100,000 to 200,000.
While smartphones can easily bridge this gap by piling on features, cars cannot. This is because brand perception in the automotive industry is much more deeply ingrained.
Why are NIO's sales declining but they still not lowering prices? Because it's easy to lower prices, but it's much harder to rebuild the brand's perception of being positioned as high-end.
"This is a common practice among mobile phone manufacturers,"
"But these alone are not enough to break through in the new energy vehicle market."
"Logically speaking, Lei Jun spent five years, but in reality, Da Mi definitely started preparing to build cars as early as 2020, investing so much money in succession."
They must have put in a lot of effort to acquire the second-generation super lithium battery technology from Kechuang Biotechnology.
Given Lei Jun's personality, investing so much is definitely not just a hobby.
This should truly be his last entrepreneurial venture. He definitely has a backup plan, but we don't know what it is yet.
"Dami Auto is much more reliable than Hengchi's series. I haven't even seen a real Hengchi car yet."
"That's for sure. Hengchi is in a death throes situation. Da Mi's financial situation is much healthier than that of a certain major car manufacturer. They've invested billions in R&D, it would be strange if they couldn't produce it."
"I just don't know what Xiaopeng will think about Lei Jun's big entry into the market. It's like friends turning into rivals."
"Haha, the infighting between companies doesn't affect the private friendships between the bosses."
No matter how fiercely we compete with NIO and XPeng, our bosses always appear harmonious and amicable at events.
Not to mention, Lei Jun has done Xiao Peng a great favor, a favor far greater than that he did to Zheng Li.
Before founding XPeng Motors, He Xiaopeng was the founder of UC Browser, and Lei Jun was one of the investors in UC's first round of funding.
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