Before Lei Jun even appeared, the online audience exceeded 100,000, with millions of people in the live stream room grabbing gifts.
Just now, Lei Jun showed the automotive industry what true "top-tier" means.
At four o'clock this afternoon, Lei Jun's live stream started on time, lasting for two hours. The number of likes exceeded 190 million, and he even connected with Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors.
The live event addressed several topics that many netizens were concerned about, such as:
"No hair dye."
"Not allowing netizens to send gifts, to avoid cluttered scenes."
"The future car model planning is confidential, focusing on SU7."
"There are currently no plans to produce off-road vehicles. Great Wall Motors is doing a great job."
"Don't compare me to Musk, as what we do is not exactly the same."
Since the release of the Xiaomi SU7 less than 20 days ago, Xiaomi's venture into the automotive industry has become almost universally known, with everyone eyeing Lei Jun's influence. Even Lei Jun himself expressed his feelings: "Less than 20 days after the release of Xiaomi SU7, there have been many 'unexpected surprises', and the orders have indeed far exceeded our most optimistic expectations."
According to NewRank statistics, Lei Jun's personal social media accounts on Douyin (TikTok), Xiaohongshu (RED), and Bilibili gained 4.05 million, 200,000, and 260,000 followers respectively in the past 30 days, with a total net increase of over 4.51 million followers across all platforms, demonstrating the phenomenal success of Xiaomi's foray into car manufacturing.
Lei Jun Responds to Everything
As the livestream began, Lei Jun officially unveiled the Xiaomi SU7, with the livestream set at Xiaomi's car delivery center in Beijing.
The purpose of the livestream was straightforward: to chat with netizens.
So, instead of promoting products and sharing links at the beginning of the livestream, Lei Jun first showed netizens around the Xiaomi car delivery center, during which he also encountered car owners who came to inspect and take delivery of their vehicles.
When discussing production capacity issues, Lei Jun mentioned, "Many people urge me to go to the factory and screw bolts, but Xiaomi's automobile factory is a modernized plant predominantly operated by machines. My involvement would just cause chaos."
However, regarding delivery issues, Lei Jun also indicated that they are speeding up the production ramp-up. The delivery of the initial Xiaomi SU7 Founder's Edition is nearing completion, with regular editions already starting deliveries ahead of schedule in areas like Beijing and Shenzhen.
The reason for the lengthy delivery cycle, according to Lei Jun, is somewhat Versailles-like: "The core issue is that current sales are three to five times higher than expected. We have recently held a major supplier conference to expedite production scheduling."
With the Xiaomi SU7's overwhelming popularity, a netizen asked Lei Jun whether this counts as a successful startup venture. Lei Jun responded that it's a bit too early to declare success, as the situation has become incredibly tense, almost to a nerve-wracking extent.
"We are under a public beta, scrutinized 360 degrees with no blind spots, as everyone is examining us through a magnifying glass. It's very stressful, so we've come up with a solution — answering netizens' questions every evening."
Furthermore, Lei Jun took to the internet to debunk rumors, clarifying that he was not the top scorer of the college entrance exam as the rumors suggested, nor did he score 700 points. He also denied having a cold 4 billion yuan in his bank account during his lowest times, and he is certainly not the leading male protagonist of a fantasy novel.
Lei also addressed the claims about him imitating the dress styles of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, expressing his frustration by saying it was merely a coincidence that they wore similar blue suits. "Actually, I just wear what engineers wear: jeans and a shirt. If I were trying to imitate, I could have done a much better job. It's an unjust accusation."
When talking about Musk, Lei mentioned that over a decade ago, he visited Tesla in Silicon Valley and was one of the first Tesla car owners. He praised Tesla as a revolutionary company in the history of the automotive industry and Musk as an extraordinary entrepreneur. "I think it's not quite appropriate to compare me with Musk; we are involved in different endeavors, and it's not a very good comparison."
Lei pointed out a similarity: "Perhaps what we have in common is that we both have contributed to the popularization of technology and the advancement of society."
Discussing potential future entrepreneurial ventures, Lei stated that creating Xiaomi's car is his last ambition in life, and he is determined to excel in it. Nevertheless, he will still devote a third of his efforts to overseeing Xiaomi's smartphones.
When responding to questions from netizens, Lei Jun also revealed a lot about Xiaomi's future plans for its cars. For instance, Carplay functionality is expected to go online in early May with OTA updates. The super engine of the V8s model is set to be available in vehicles by the end of this year.
Lei Jun also reminded everyone to drive safely. The original plan for the Max version wasn't for it to hit the racetrack; it's meant to be a civilian vehicle with excellent performance. However, for those interested in racing, Xiaomi's internal team is currently developing a high-performance racing kit specifically designed for the racetrack.
Regarding the rollout of autonomous driving features, Lei Jun mentioned that testing for urban NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) in ten cities is expected to begin at the end of April, with direct user access to NOA in ten cities by the end of May. The plan is to launch NOA nationwide in August, with detailed plans to be further announced at the Beijing Auto Show.
Currently, Xiaomi's car delivery centers cover 29 cities nationwide, targeting the main markets for new energy vehicles. By the end of this year, the plan is to expand coverage to 40 cities.
Xiaomi's SU7 faces fierce competition. Despite being on the market for close to a month and having completed two weeks of deliveries, the SU7's popularity remains high.
Driven by Lei Jun's extraordinary marketing prowess, various industry leaders who typically operate behind the scenes have stepped into the spotlight, appearing like livestreaming hosts to promote their own products.
Xiaomi's car division has rapidly outpaced its competitors with a weekly delivery growth rate of 119%.
According to the latest weekly sales rankings (April 8-14) for domestic new-energy vehicle brands released by Bitauto, the Xiaomi SU7 ranked sixth with a total delivery of 2,407 vehicles, surpassing automakers like Denza, XPeng, and Singulato.
Compared to the first week of April, which saw 1,095 units sold, there has been a doubling in sales, with a sequential growth rate exceeding 119%.
Xiaomi, with just one model, surpassed both XPeng, which delivered 1,611 units, and Denza, with 2,222 units, and is now close to catching up with NIO and Zeekr, which delivered 2,529 and 2,677 units respectively.
Interestingly, Bitauto released a chart of the main competitors of the Xiaomi SU7, titled "Xiaomi's Counter-Encirclement Battle," which also reviewed the sales of mainstream pure electric sedans for the second week of April.
In this list, the Xiaomi SU7 not only outsold the closely competing Tesla Model 3 but also surpassed the newly launched popular models, Zeekr 001 and Weltmeister S7, securing the top spot.
As a main competitor to the Xiaomi SU7, the new Zeekr 001 boosted its product appeal by increasing volume without raising prices. Its total orders have now exceeded 40,000 units, with 2,400 units delivered last week, closely trailing Xiaomi by less than 100 units.
The third spot goes to the Tesla Model 3, with a weekly delivery of 16,000 units. It must be said that Tesla's allure has indeed waned significantly, especially after the launch of the fully competitive SU7, which directly targets the Model 3.
The NIO ET5 takes fourth place with a delivery of 12,000 units, while the recently revamped Zhiji S7 and Avita 12 delivered 9,000 and 6,000 units respectively, ranking sixth and seventh.
Even the dark horse Jike 007 suffered a setback after the official launch of the Xiaomi SU7, with weekly sales plummeting from over a thousand to around 300 units.
However, Xiaomi SU7 is currently mainly delivering the Founder's Edition, totaling 5,000 units. Lei Jun revealed during a live broadcast that the Founder's Edition of Xiaomi SU7 has been delivered, and starting from April 18th, the official version of Xiaomi SU7 will begin deliveries in Beijing and Shenzhen.
This also means that the true market performance of Xiaomi's cars will take another month or two to fully manifest.
According to renowned automotive blogger Sun Shaojun, as of the 17th, pre-orders for Xiaomi's SU7 have exceeded 60,000. However, the cancellation rate for confirmed orders has also reached around 55%, indicating that despite strong growth in sales orders, there have been more cancellations as well.
However, the majority of users are canceling their orders due to the long wait for delivery.
As of April 18th, the Xiaomi Car App shows that some orders placed are already scheduled for delivery in about six months. The standard version is expected to be delivered in 27 to 30 weeks, while the longest wait is for the Max version, which requires 28 to 31 weeks.
Although there is certainly no shortage of orders for Xiaomi's SU7 this year, the challenge that follows is whether production capacity can keep up.
In terms of production capacity layout, according to public information from Xiaomi's automotive division, the factory is being constructed in two phases. The first phase, which has been completed and put into operation, has an annual production capacity plan of 150,000 vehicles. The second-phase factory is still under construction and is expected to be completed next year. Meanwhile, Xiaomi's production capacity is noticeably accelerating, with deliveries of the official version already starting ahead of schedule in some regions.
With this in mind, compared to the best-selling models of domestic new energy vehicle rivals, "Weixiaoli" (likely referring to NIO) boasts its top-selling model ES6 with an annual sales volume of 56,000 units; while Xiaopeng's (likely referring to XPeng) best-selling model P7 has an annual sales volume of 45,000 units. Xiaomi's SU7 has exceeded 60,000 locked orders, essentially surpassing the annual sales of the single-model vehicles of NIO and Xiaopeng last year.
Lei Jun plans to make Xiaomi's automotive division the fifth largest globally within 15 to 20 years. At least according to the current trend, the first step has been quite successful.
