After the release of Xiaomi SU7 on March 28, SAIC Group’s PR department organized a meeting to learn from Xiaomi’s marketing strategies and suggested that Zhi Ji PR team should invite a group of industry insiders to increase the exposure and traffic of the launch event on social media. On April 8, Zhi Ji Automotive launched its fourth mass-produced model, Zhi Ji L6, in Shanghai with a presale price between 230,000 and 330,000 yuan (45600$). However, the most discussed topic that night was not the pixel-level comparison between Zhi Ji L6 and Xiaomi SU7 at the launch event, nor the debut of the intelligent lizard digital chassis and the first-generation solid-state battery, but the incorrect labeling of a configuration of Xiaomi SU7 in Zhi Ji Automotive’s promotional materials. Zhi Ji Automotive CEO Liu Tao, when comparing Xiaomi SU7 Max version and Zhi Ji L6 high-performance version, said that the motor of Xiaomi SU7 Max version is front IGBT and rear SiC, while Zhi Ji L6 high-performance version is front and rear SiC. Xiaomi expressed strong dissatisfaction with this and did not accept Liu Tao’s personal apology on Weibo. Xiaomi’s official Weibo account “Xiaomi Company Spokesperson” issued three Weibo posts within 46 minutes demanding Zhi Ji Automotive to apologize officially and criticizing their “repeated harassment and smear behavior.” Even this Weibo and Wang Hua, SAIC Group’s PR department general manager, issued an “ultimatum.” Zhi Ji Automotive finally apologized officially. However, the impact of this incident has not been alleviated. For the new energy vehicle industry, Xiaomi’s entry is like a new catfish in the pond. When competitors’ similar products start to attract potential users of Tesla Model 3 like Xiaomi, comparisons with Xiaomi SU7 at the pixel level become unavoidable.
Why is Xiaomi so angry? In the field of new energy vehicles, IGBT and silicon carbide are not new technologies. Compared to IGBT, silicon carbide has higher thermal stability, temperature resistance, and pressure resistance. Therefore, silicon carbide has higher working frequency, lower conduction loss, faster response speed, and can enhance anti-electromagnetic interference ability and reduce costs in advanced power exchange and new energy vehicles. In fact, at Xiaomi’s car technology conference on December 28, 2023, Lei Jun clearly mentioned that Xiaomi SU7 series adopts silicon carbide high-voltage platform for all systems, including electronic control, on-board chargers, and compressors. After the launch of Xiaomi SU7 on March 28, Lei Jun promoted an article on his personal WeChat account, also mentioning the all-domain silicon carbide high-voltage platform of Xiaomi SU7. A person who has dealt with Lei Jun in the past said that Lei Jun explained to him why the first car was not an extended-range model but a more difficult pure electric model. This allows for core technology reserves through self-developed motors, without being limited by the supply chain for limited improvements to range extenders. For this reason, Xiaomi has always maintained huge investment in car research and development. In 2023, Xiaomi invested 67 billion yuan in research and development for innovative businesses including electric vehicles, while in 2022, it was 31 billion yuan. In March 2021, when announcing the car manufacturing plan, Xiaomi built a research and development team of over 1,000 people in less than a year. “At the technology conference and launch promotion of Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun specifically emphasized the all-domain silicon carbide, but Zhiji Auto mistakenly interpreted this as errors in product information research results and team content review. According to Xiaomi’s consistent style, this is obviously unacceptable,” a senior employee who has worked at Xiaomi’s car division said. Over the past three years, Xiaomi has formed a basic understanding that the car business is important to Lei Jun and even more important for Xiaomi’s long-term development. Therefore, Lei Jun’s involvement in Xiaomi’s car can be described as meticulous. He personally participates in long-distance road tests even when busy, or meets with car industry KOLs during lunch breaks to listen to external opinions about Xiaomi’s SU7. Xiaomi’s PR manager, Wang Huahui, continues to address minor issues about Xiaomi’s car, dispelling concerns about the SU7. For example, when the SU7 was delivered, he clarified the paint peeling issue. Before the SU7 was launched, he denied the existence of priority purchase codes to demonstrate fairness in delivery order, but they later provided some priority purchase codes after the SU7 was launched. With the premise of ensuring the success of the Xiaomi SU7, the actions and strong emotions displayed by Xiaomi are not surprising. The trigger for Xiaomi’s anger over the error in the motor configuration labeling on the Xiaomi SU7 was the initial surge in orders, which led to capacity and delivery issues. Xiaomi needed to use this as a typical example to warn competitors who adopt similar practices. If you buy a Xiaomi SU7 now, the longest delivery period can reach 6 months, meaning there are still a large number of orders waiting to be produced and delivered. Therefore, any more competitive and cost-effective products that appear on the market during this period may shake the determination of these waiting users who have not even placed an order yet, leading to user loss for Xiaomi’s car. “For competitors who want to learn from Xiaomi’s marketing methods and constantly magnify various details of the Xiaomi SU7 to consumers, this serves as a warning. The Xiaomi SU7 is not a perfect product, and under excessive scrutiny, it is more likely to expose issues and shake consumers’ purchasing decisions,” said a car reviewer who purchased the Xiaomi SU7.
Using SU7’s traffic, Zhiji snatched orders for Model 3. On social media, Xiaomi SU7’s attention is astonishing. This attention is the result of the combined influence of Xiaomi’s products, marketing, brand, and Lei Jun’s personal influence. In China’s automotive industry, there are not many people with equal influence and user recognition as Lei Jun among consumer groups. Therefore, after the launch of Xiaomi SU7, many new energy vehicle brands began to put a lot of effort into product marketing. The 20-30 million yuan new energy market where Xiaomi SU7 is located is one of the most competitive sub-markets. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that sales in this price range, including both new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles, exceeded 3.16 million units in 2021, reached 3.54 million units in 2022, and slightly increased to 3.73 million units in 2023, of which 56% are still fuel vehicles. In 2023, only 44% of the market share in this price range belongs to new energy vehicles. Among new energy vehicles, the proportion of hybrid and pure electric vehicles is similar, almost half and half. Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y are among the best-selling pure electric vehicles in this price range. At the Guangzhou Auto Show last November, Jike CEO An Conghui said at the listing ceremony of Jike 007 that after entering the electric era, the evolution speed of sedans has lagged significantly behind SUVs and MPVs, especially pure electric sedans priced above 200,000 yuan (27630$). The best-selling one is still an old car that has been released for nearly 8 years. Before the launch of Xiaomi SU7, Lei Jun received the most advice from the opinion leaders he met was to “compare Xiaomi SU7 with Tesla Model 3, and convert users who are interested in Model 3 as much as possible.” In fact, Lei Jun listened to these suggestions. He changed his approach by comparing Xiaomi SU7 with Model 3 instead of comparing Porsche Taycan and Model S at the technical conference, fully showcasing the product’s advantages. “The traffic and order growth that Xiaomi SU7 has received will impact the automotive industry. For subsequent models in the same category and price range, they should pay attention to the hot topic of Xiaomi SU7 and try to attract more attention by comparing with Xiaomi SU7,” said a product planning manager from a new force. Comparing products with Model 3, no one can do it better than Lei Jun; but comparing with Xiaomi SU7, you can ride this wave of traffic. Essentially, in the market of pure electric sedans priced between 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (41450$), the marketing logic has now become about capturing the traffic of Xiaomi SU7 and competing for Model 3 orders. It is understood that SAIC and Zhiji have not discussed the incident internally too much after the apology. After the apology, they plan to fully promote the sales of Zhiji L6. Another marketing master in the automotive industry, Li Xiang, said in June 2023, “Whether it’s praise or criticism, it can effectively increase sales.”