After Xiaomi's car went viral, Tesla raised its prices

On April 1st, Tesla's official website in China showed that the price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version has been raised to 263,900 yuan, the long-range version to 304,900 yuan, and the high-performance version to 368,900 yuan, with an increase of 5,000 yuan each. In addition, Tesla's official Weibo announced that the previously priced at 12,000 yuan star gray paint for Tesla Model 3/Y is now free to choose.

Some automotive industry analysts told the Shanghai Securities News that Lei Jun's benchmarking of Tesla in new car configurations, features, research and development, and pricing is more of a marketing tactic. In fact, there is a significant difference in user groups between Tesla and Xiaomi.

On the evening of March 28th, Lei Jun unveiled Xiaomi's first new car, the Xiaomi SU7.

"Eventually, we will surpass Porsche." On the evening of March 28th, at the launch event of Xiaomi's car in Beijing, Lei Jun, the founder and chairman of Xiaomi Group, said. At the same time, Lei Jun also announced the prices of Xiaomi's first new car, the Xiaomi SU7 - the standard version, Pro version, and Max version are priced at 215,900 yuan, 245,900 yuan, and 299,900 yuan respectively.

Industry insiders pointed out that although Lei Jun set Porsche as the target to surpass, in fact, throughout the entire launch event, Lei Jun has been benchmarking against Tesla, the global leader in new energy vehicles. Lei Jun tirelessly showcased detailed data on various aspects such as new car configurations, features, and research and development to demonstrate that the Xiaomi SU7 surpasses the Tesla Model 3.

Lei Jun stated that the standard configuration of Xiaomi SU7 far exceeds that of the Model 3, using solid materials, and the initial procurement cost of the product is also very high.

Lei Jun previously mentioned that in recent years, integrated die-casting has become the mainstream solution in the industry, with Tesla being the first to use it and leading the trend. Therefore, when deciding to make cars, they chose this path. The latest "Xiaomi Super Die-Casting" used in Xiaomi's factory has a capacity of 9,100 tons, which is not only larger than Tesla's Shanghai Super Factory of 6,000 tons but also 100 tons larger than Tesla's most advanced 9,000-ton integrated die-casting in the United States.

Regarding the range that users are concerned about, Lei Jun said that the Xiaomi car SU7 has a range of 700 kilometers, which is 133 kilometers more than the Tesla Model 3, with 11.3 kWh more battery capacity. Lei Jun mentioned that according to Xiaomi staff's actual test on the highway at a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour, "there is no problem driving for four to five hours on the highway at high speed, and usually, you can charge once a week for commuting.""

Lei Jun even showcased the sun protection test results of Xiaomi SU7 at the Xiaomi car listing conference: after being exposed to 38°C sunlight for 1.5 hours, the temperature inside the car was 12°C lower than the refreshed version of Tesla Model 3.

After the conference, Lei Jun also revealed that in the pure electric vehicle industry, apart from Tesla, he doesn't know which other company is making money. The pricing of Xiaomi SU7 needs to make consumers feel sincere, and at the same time, Xiaomi must be able to bear the losses. The original price of Xiaomi was 229,000 yuan, and the top version was originally priced at 350,000 yuan. However, due to the price reduction trend in the automotive industry, Xiaomi decided to price the standard version 30,000 yuan lower than Tesla Model 3, with the MAX version priced at 299,000 yuan.

Tesla's Rapid Response to Competitors

In response to the unconventional approach of Lei Jun and his Xiaomi car, both domestic and foreign car industry peers, including Tesla, quickly responded.

On the day before the Xiaomi SU7 conference, Tesla's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, said on his personal social account: "The correct way to evaluate any technology should not be to compare it with competitors (because that's too easy), but to compare it with its physical limits."

On March 29th, Tao Lin, Vice President of External Affairs at Tesla, stated on social media: "We compare our R&D underlying logic and physical limits, not with existing products." At the same time, Tao Lin also included a screenshot of Musk's statement.

On April 1st, the Hongmeng Intelligent Driving App under Huawei displayed that the entry-level model M7 Plus of Aito, a collaboration between Huawei and Saleen, reduced its price by 20,000 yuan to 229,800 yuan, making it closer to the standard version of Xiaomi SU7.

On April 1st, Nio announced the launch of a maximum of 1 billion yuan subsidy for oil car replacement. Starting today, oil car users who replace with a new Nio 2024 car will receive an additional 10,000 yuan subsidy for optional equipment. Combining other preferential policies, oil car users who switch to Nio can receive up to 15,000 yuan in optional equipment funds, a NIO Phone voucher worth 6,498 yuan, approximately 36 vouchers worth 3,600 yuan for battery swapping, and a one-year usage right of the full-domain navigation assistance (NOP+) worth 4,560 yuan.

On the evening of March 31st, it was reported that as of the afternoon of March 31st, Xiaomi car's locked order volume (non-refundable quantity) had reached 20,000. Several institutions have released research reports stating that the delivery volume of Xiaomi cars in 2024 is expected to be between 60,000 and 80,000 units.

""Those who make phones are marketing masters, setting the atmosphere and rhythm well." An automotive industry analyst told reporters that Lei Jun deliberately benchmarked Tesla in terms of pricing, which is more of a marketing tactic. In fact, there is a significant difference between Tesla's core users and Xiaomi's Mi Fans, and in the future, there will also be a significant difference between Tesla and Xiaomi car users.

Author: Yu Liyan, Source: Shanghai Securities News, Original Title: "After Xiaomi Cars Go Viral, Tesla Raises Prices"