How the Protagonist of an Uplifting Story is Forged

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Author | Liu Yajie

"The idea to make cars originated from Xiaomi's sudden sanctions by the US."

"At that time, Xiaomi was going through a tumultuous period, and the departure of Zhou Shouzi, a young executive we had nurtured for years and placed high hopes on, dealt me a heavy blow."

"The risks of starting a business are so high, what if I lose? Will my life end in disgrace?"

Who would have thought that Lei Jun, the protagonist of an uplifting story, has also suffered greatly along the way.

On the evening of July 19th, Lei Jun delivered his fifth annual speech, sharing the stories behind Xiaomi's three years of car making and spawning many memorable quotes.

Over the past three years, to bring Xiaomi Automobile to the table, Lei Jun personally dove into the fray, borrowing test drive cars, taking racing licenses, and learning to drift. This seasoned entrepreneur, past his half-century mark, once again proved that when he does something, he excels at it.

01 Learning to Drift for Car Making

Why make cars?

Visiting over 10 cities in 70 days, conducting 85 surveys, interviewing over 200 people, and holding 4 executive meetings. Li Bin and He Xiaopeng also urged Xiaomi to make cars, and Lei Jun felt that the trend of smart electric vehicles was unstoppable.

The survey concluded that Xiaomi Automobile's goal was to rank among the top five globally, investing at least $10 billion in car making, and the board required Lei Jun to personally lead the team.

After thinking for an entire week about the board's request, Lei Jun made up his mind to embark on his final entrepreneurial venture.

The first step of action was to become familiar with cars.

Since Lei Jun had a personal driver, he hadn't driven for over a decade. Add to that the fact that his comrades from automotive companies were all knowledgeable about cars. Lei Jun said, "When I first started working with them, I didn't understand a lot of things, and the pressure was immense."

He began driving again, borrowing cars from friends and colleagues for test drives; fully equipped with a hat and sunglasses, he visited various brand 4S stores to view and test drive cars; he asked his assistant to borrow cars from the company parking lot that he hadn't driven before...

Due to unfamiliarity with the car models, Lei Jun sometimes took several minutes to start the car, leaving him sweating profusely.

In this way, over three years, Lei Jun test drove over 170 cars, accumulating over 200,000 words of test drive notes and materials.

Later, influenced by the owners of Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota, and other automotive companies, Lei Jun also had the idea to learn how to drive race cars.

One summer, Lei Jun began learning to obtain a racing license, with temperatures inside the race car reaching 50-60 degrees Celsius. Lei Jun said, "It looks cool, but after running for dozens of laps, you'll be drenched in sweat, feeling completely exhausted."

Despite the hardships, Lei Jun thankfully obtained his racing license as desired. Currently, over 100 Xiaomi Automobile staff members have obtained racing licenses. "I believe that a team that truly loves cars will have the ability to make great cars."

Later, as Xiaomi Automobile transformed from a blank sheet of paper to a real car, Lei Jun personally participated in winter and summer testing. Even the head of winter testing, who had been in the field for over 20 years, said that it was the first time he had seen the chairman of an automotive company personally come for winter testing.

"Whether Xiaomi Automobile is good or not depends on whether your executives dare to drive it." This was a comment made online by someone who saw Xiaomi's SU7 test fleet earlier this year.

After being tagged by an engineer, Lei Jun immediately forwarded the comment to the executive group. Xiaomi's executives all responded by participating in the tests with Lei Jun. Lei Jun himself participated in over 10 tests, accumulating over 5,000 kilometers of driving, with the longest being a Beijing-Shanghai long-distance test, which he drove for 15 hours himself.

"My PR colleagues were very worried because even the slightest scratch while I was driving could turn into a huge public relations crisis, but I insisted on driving myself."

Although the road tests were flawless, almost everyone believed that Xiaomi SU7 wouldn't sell well. During that time, many people said Lei Jun looked haggard...

However, Lei Jun believed in the significance of the Dream Car. No matter how many people were skeptical, he was convinced that Xiaomi SU7 would be a bestseller.

02 Overcoming Difficulties

"Xiaomi Automobile is the last entrepreneurial project of my life. I'm willing to bet all my reputation and achievements on fighting for Xiaomi Automobile!"

On the evening of March 30, 2021, Lei Jun said these words at a press conference. At that time, he had a severe cold and could barely speak.

That night, the live broadcast's chat was filled with "Take down Tesla," and many car enthusiasts stayed up all night, reaching out to Lei Jun hoping to join Xiaomi's car-making plan.

Not just car enthusiasts, but many entrepreneurs were also impressed by Lei Jun's courage and visited Xiaomi Group. Several investment institutions also valued Xiaomi Automobile, which had not yet started, at $10 billion, helping to boost its financing and listing.

Using other people's money to make cars is almost risk-free. But taking other people's money often leads to disagreements in the long run.

"In the end, we made up our minds not to raise funds and do it ourselves, paying for everything ourselves and taking on all the risks, as long as we can make good cars!"

That day, Wang Chuanfu, Li Bin, He Xiaopeng, and Li Xiang were all present. Wang Chuanfu was even worried about Xiaomi at the time.

What kind of car should we make?

Seeing his comrades clustering in research reports to find a foothold, Lei Jun decided to change direction and communicate with real users, going to the company parking lot to see what kind of cars everyone was driving.

The final conclusion was: "It's easier to make SUVs than sedans," and many automakers start with SUVs.

Therefore, Xiaomi decided to start with pure electric sedans.

China's automotive supply chain is already very mature, and initially, many people advised Lei Jun to quickly release a car by finding a contract manufacturer instead of doing everything himself.

But Lei Jun was determined to start from the bottom with core technologies, taking no shortcuts, making no acquisitions, and not using contract manufacturers.

Developing a battery pack takes about ten months and tens of millions of R&D costs. Most automakers only make two or three battery packs per vehicle. Xiaomi SU7, however, developed over a dozen, and even built its own battery pack factory, causing quite a stir among suppliers. For this reason, Lei Jun had to awkwardly call Zeng Yuqun, the CEO of CATL, to explain.

Who would have thought that the project review meeting before the 2022 Spring Festival was highly divisive, and the plan had to be scrapped and restarted. After the Spring Festival, Lei Jun gathered Xiaomi Automobile's core dozen or so people for an impromptu meeting, which lasted an entire 21 days.

The final conclusion was to adhere to the fundamentals first before seeking innovation, avoiding blindly pursuing disruption.

On August 16, 2023, Xiaomi Automobile's first trial production car rolled off the line. After the offline ceremony, Lei Jun walked slowly around the trial production car for several circles, sitting inside for a long time. "I can't believe our car is really made!"

03 "Jun'er, Stop"

At the end of December 2023, Xiaomi Automobile "emerged out of nowhere," receiving various doubts and slanders behind the trending topics.

"Jun'er, stop, it's all chaos outside" also became a popular joke.

Not just a joke, almost everyone genuinely believed that Xiaomi SU7 wouldn't sell well at the time.

Multiple industry media outlets also told Lei Jun that "selling 3,000 pure electric sedans per month would be a blessing."

During that time, "Lei Jun looks haggard" became a new trending topic.

Despite the despair, the production capacity targets and pricing schedule couldn't be delayed.

Many people suggested setting a target of 30,000 units, but Lei Jun finally set a sales target of 76,000 units for 2024. This number is comparable to Tesla Model 3's sales, and if it doesn't sell, it will be disastrous.

An even bigger challenge was pricing.

"If the pricing is wrong, it could lead to tens of billions of losses, and three years of effort would be wasted." Rumors circulated online that SU7 would be priced at 149,000 yuan or even 99,000 yuan, but ultra-low prices are essentially a desperate measure.

The greater pressure actually came from within, as Xiaomi's sales team lacked confidence.

The night before the press conference, Xiaomi Automobile was still holding its final pricing decision meeting. Lei Jun spoke at the meeting, stating that Xiaomi SU7's configuration and experience far surpassed that of Model 3, and they should have the courage to set the price at 215,900 yuan.

In the end, this price didn't convince everyone. It was merely an internal compromise, "No matter how many are sold, we accept it."

After going through countless difficulties, the bitter end finally yielded sweet results.

When the pricing was announced at the press conference, the entire venue erupted. Xiaomi SU7 received over 10,000 pre-orders in 4 minutes and over 50,000 in 27 minutes.

Xiaomi SU7 was in high demand, and the old joke "Don't compare marketing with Lei Jun" was dusted off again.

Especially at the Beijing Auto Show, Lei Jun became a walking traffic generator, envied by countless automotive industry leaders.

To this day, Xiaomi SU7's popularity remains undiminished, and Lei Jun has set a guaranteed sales target of 100,000 units and an ambitious target of 120,000 units for the full year. This month, four new cities – Jinan, Guiyang, Changchun, and Changzhou – were added, with 13 new stores opening.

To date, Xiaomi SU7 has delivered over 30,000 units, and it is expected to complete the annual delivery target of 100,000 units ahead of schedule in November. It is anticipated that by December, there will be 220 sales stores in 59 cities nationwide.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Prototype was also officially unveiled during this speech. It is a peak-performance pure electric vehicle based on the Xiaomi SU7. For the first time, it is equipped with Xiaomi's self-developed V8s motor and adopts a V8s+V8s+V6s three-motor design, boasting a powerful 1,548PS horsepower in a four-door car, with a 0-100km/h acceleration time of just 1.97 seconds (including start-up time) and a top speed exceeding 350km/h. Paired with a 1,330kW high-power battery pack designed for racing tracks, it can still output high power even at low battery levels.

This car will officially challenge the Nürburgring Nordschleife in October this year. In 2025, the mass-produced version will officially compete in the Nürburgring production car lap time rankings.

At the end of the speech, Lei Jun said that the past three years have been a transformative experience for him and Xiaomi.

Although Xiaomi SU7 has made it to the table, it's still a long way from true success, and the long march has just begun.