After a deadly crash, do Xiaomi cars still have a future? | Impulso E116

In this episode, we dive into Xiaomi’s bold leap from consumer electronics into the electric vehicle space. What sparked the buzz around the SU7 launch? How did Xiaomi manage to sell over 200,000 cars in a market dominated by giants like BYD and Tesla? And will a recent accident impact future sales?

Tune in as we unpack what makes Xiaomi stand out in China’s crowded EV market—and why its founder’s loyal fan base and focus on design are key parts of the story.

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcast

Featured materials: 

A Chinese EV manufacturer’s deep trouble, livestreamed

Live-selling cars in malls? China’s EV retail strategy | Impulso E111

[AI-generated Transcript] 

[00:00:10] Sabrina: welcome to the Impulso Podcast by Momentum Works. Today we’re going to talk about, today we are talking about Xiaomi. I cannot pronounce it today. So, so, 

[00:00:21] Jianggan: so, so we had, uh, we had this big debate before, before this recording. How to pronounce the name of this car brand 

[00:00:28] Sabrina: Xiaomi. Xiaomi 

[00:00:30] Jianggan: Xiaomi. Okay. Alright. Anyway, 

[00:00:32] Sabrina: so today’s topic is going to be sell me and specifically Xiaomi’s new car.

[00:00:36] Sabrina: They’re ev right? So the reason why we are talking about Xiaomi’s ev. It’s because two or three weeks ago, there was actually an incident that happened with three, I think there were university students in three university students, China, right? So what happened? 

[00:00:52] Phyllis: So what happened was, um, they were in the car and then they were traveling about 120 kilometers per hour.

[00:00:58] Phyllis: And then I think, it was an autonomous driving and it detected a barrier, like the cones, the R barrier. And then after that, the autonomous driving was turned off like three seconds before it hit the barrier. But I think when it got disengaged, the driver probably like reacted immediately on the spot and swerved the car so that they hit the, the concrete wall at 97 kilometers per hour.

[00:01:24] Phyllis: And unfortunately, the car caught on fire and they all passed away. So this caused quite a bit, uh, a bit of, in the EV space. 

[00:01:33] Sabrina: I think there was a lot of speculation online right after the whole thing happened. 

[00:01:36] Jianggan: Of, of course, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a tragedy incident, right? Mm-hmm. So. 

[00:01:40] Sabrina: So I think people online were saying, for example, like, um, there was a possibility that the door couldn’t be unlocked.

[00:01:46] Sabrina: Mm-hmm. Which is why the drivers were caught inside the vehicle that was on fire. And then of course, um, some of them, most of the speculation is that the driver made a really sharp turn. Yeah. Which is why they kind of crashed into that concrete barrier.

[00:02:00] But of course, the official investigation results are not out yet.

[00:02:03] Sabrina: But of course, this whole situation kind of brought Xiaomi. New Ev into the limelight, right? Mm-hmm. But I mean, today we’re not here to speculate further about the accident. What we’re here to talk about today is Xiaomi’s latest car. Mm-hmm. So, like we said, the, this car actually launched a year before, so it launched 28 March mm-hmm.

[00:02:22] Sabrina: In last year. And it was a very successful launch. Right. So there’s sold almost 200,000 units within, within the first year, yeah. Yeah. Within the first year and even more than 29,000 in a month. So what’s interesting about this new car is that it looks very, very similar to a Porsche, right? A Porsche.

[00:02:41] Sabrina: Porsche. 

[00:02:42] Phyllis: The take, right? 

[00:02:43] Sabrina: Taken. 

[00:02:44] Jianggan: Yeah. 

[00:02:45] Sabrina: Which is kind of, I’m not sure if that was the intention that they had when they launched the car. 

[00:02:49] Jianggan: I’m pretty sure that was the intention they had. Um, so, and, and of course I, I think, uh, I think the founder showing me, uh, le he specifically mentioned about the, okay, we need to design a car that, uh, young people like the programmers in our company.

[00:03:03] Jianggan: I mean, they would like to drive. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and of course tech has this very nice, slick design. Um. And, but not everybody, uh, there would be able to, or would be willing to pay such a price for, for that end. So it’s a car which is sleek, that people want to drive and uh, and it’s affordable to lots of people, lots of middle class.

[00:03:23] Jianggan: Yeah. 

[00:03:24] Sabrina: So I think that’s kind of why the big appeal. But actually it’s interesting ’cause when this car was launched. The sort of like ideation to design the manufacturing process was quite fast, right? Yeah. How many years did it take them? It 

[00:03:35] Phyllis: was in total, from the ideation to the car coming out was three years and it took, I think Apple.

[00:03:43] Jianggan: it took them 10 years to, to decide that, uh, that, uh, uh, they can’t do a car. I mean, in Apple, like car is something exploratory, so we might do it or might do it, but there are probably many other things that, that they were exploring.

[00:03:59] Jianggan: So if you read the history of Apple, so, um, but I think, um. The, the situations that the founder said, okay, we want to do a car. And he actually led the team to, to focus like almost full time, um, on, onto the car project. I think three years. Were not like straightforward three years, but they managed to pull it through 

[00:04:19] Sabrina: and he was very invested.

[00:04:21] Sabrina: The founder, Lei Jun was very invested himself in the whole sort of process right as well. 

[00:04:26] Phyllis: When, when he came out to announce the launch, he actually said that this would be his biggest venture of his life and also will be the last one. 

[00:04:35] Jianggan: Well, I mean, sure, 

[00:04:38] Sabrina: one car, or like, do they plan because I think Xiaomi only has one car.

[00:04:42] Jianggan: they’ve, they’ve revealed a few other sort of, uh, models, uh, recently. So, uh, I think there’s a luxury version of, uh, which is still similar to that, but with very high configuration. So I don’t think that, uh, objectivity is to, to, to stick with one car model. Um, that’s also the reality of the, the market in China, right?

[00:05:00] Jianggan: Because many, many brands would have like multiple models launched within a year. But uh, but for, show me, I think with one model, 200,000 sales within a year and especially after the market had already become so competitive, they still entered the market and achieved this. I think it’s a pretty amazing 

[00:05:16] Sabrina: Why do you think they were a bit.

[00:05:17] Sabrina: Able to achieve this or able to do so because obviously they’re not, they’re known for consumer electronics, right? Yeah. They’re not a very well known car brand. Mm. This is the first car product that they’ve managed to launch, but yet they managed to do pretty well in sales. 

[00:05:29] Jianggan: So I, I have a good friend who, um, who, who basically became very rich because of Web3 and, uh, he lives outside China now.

[00:05:37] Jianggan: But, but, but one thing he was telling me, um, for the last few years when he, uh, kept going back to China is that once you get used to driving EV in China. You can’t go back to oil cars anymore. You can’t go back to petrol cars. And um. And the thing is, um, there’s just so many things you could design into a ev and, uh, he said he particularly liked the the cars from companies which had not built cars before.

[00:06:02] Jianggan: I said, what do you mean? Um, he said, um, the car, the cars built by auto manufacturers, their mindset is, uh, how do I add a computer to a car? Mm. And uh, and for the consumer electronics guys, I mean, or or internet guys, their natural thinking is that, okay, how do I build a, how to turn this device into something which is also a car.

[00:06:24] Jianggan: Oh, 

[00:06:25] Sabrina: so the starting the way you approach the sort of design is very different. 

[00:06:28] Jianggan: Yeah. Yeah. The way you design the whole customer experience, et cetera, et cetera. Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:32] Sabrina: Do you think that’s something that makes the Xiaomi car stand out compared to other competitors like BYD or 

[00:06:39] Jianggan: BYD is? Um. Is unique in a way that it has a scale, right?

[00:06:44] Jianggan: I mean, every, every month it sells like half million cars or something. 

[00:06:47] Sabrina: They’re the biggest ev they have the highest sales in China, I think, 

[00:06:52] Jianggan: and also I think they’re the biggest seller in Singapore as well nowadays. 

[00:06:56] Sabrina: Now they over Toyota. Over 

[00:06:57] Jianggan: to Toyota, right? So, so next time we ask people about, okay, what’s the price of a car instead of Toyota?

[00:07:03] Jianggan: You say BYD, right? 

[00:07:05] Sabrina: The new benchmark. 

[00:07:06] Jianggan: Yeah. But, um, but. I spoke with, uh, uh, somebody who’s CTO of a major like EV manufacturer in China, uh, I think two years ago. And he was saying that, uh, uh, back, back then, two years ago, he was saying that in China you should, you, you can already forget about, I mean, competing against BYD for scale.

[00:07:23] Jianggan: Mm-hmm. Because they will always have lots of models covering different areas and that they will always have, um, uh, um, production cost advantage because of the scale. So what you need to compete, compete against them is that, uh, there will be group of people, actually groups of people who don’t want to drive a DD mm-hmm.

[00:07:40] Jianggan: Who because of whatever reason, uh, they don’t like to be in the same category as the masses, or they have like some specific needs. So Xiaomi, uh, happened to have a good fan base, right? Hmm. And, uh, the founder himself is a KOL. Yes. He’s a, 

[00:07:55] Sabrina: he has quite a strong online presence. Mm. 

[00:07:58] Phyllis: He’s also very close to, um, his fans.

[00:08:02] Phyllis: So I think I mentioned this before, but, uh, when he, before he decided to launch the EV, I think, to hold a survey. And 97% of our respondents said that yes, they’re in, they’re in support of Xiaomi actually coming up with an ev. So I think that’s quite an impress. And he also is known to like, have quite close communications with fans during like these 

[00:08:25] Jianggan: families.

[00:08:26] Jianggan: Yeah, he does a lot of, uh,communications. He does, uh, he does annual sort of live telecast, uh, uh, sort of presentation where he shares about his journey. Uh, there’s one which he did last year. We specific talk about courage. He, he basically talked the whole journey for him to launch the car and all the difficulties.

[00:08:44] Jianggan: I think that’s one day they had like. Like 25 hour meeting just to make sure that the team’s aligned on a certain design objective. So, so I think that earned him a lot of fans and, uh, and I mean that’s how, how Xiaomi started, right? Mm-hmm. Because before that, he was doing software. He was not a hardware manufacturer.

[00:09:01] Jianggan: So 

[00:09:01] Sabrina: I guess this is kind of how Xiaomi ended the market, right? Mm-hmm. They kind of leverage their fan base, and then of course they target a more niche kind of audience. Mm-hmm. As opposed to just people who want an ev. ’cause like we said, the EV space in China is very, very competitive. 

[00:09:15] Jianggan: Yeah. The thing is that in China, if you do a niche and it is big enough.

[00:09:18] Sabrina: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:18] Jianggan: Yeah. 

[00:09:19] Sabrina: But so what’s interesting is this whole incident kind of brought about the question of whether or not EVs are really a lot more dangerous than traditional cars, right? Mm-hmm. Because obviously, like we are saying just now. Um, people who go from like software and consumer tech into cars, the way that they approach the sort of design or manufacturing process is also different as well.

[00:09:39] Sabrina: And something that they might not consider or might not have as much knowledge of is the safety features and regulations in terms of building a traditional car. 

[00:09:49] Jianggan: Hmm. So for this, I mean, whose responsibility is that? Is the regulators responsibility? Because I’m pretty sure they have set some standards before they allow cars to be on the road.

[00:09:58] Jianggan: Um, but on the other hand, I mean, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s safe to acknowledge that, I mean, because many of these car models, many of these designs have been only on the road for like a few years. Mm-hmm. Less than 10 years. Um, compared to internal combustion engine cars, which have been around for like one a hundred years.

[00:10:13] Jianggan: And of course there, I think there are things which people aren’t, people aren’t. Uh, not sure about, I mean, what are the consequences and I mean, what are the, some implications of certain design elements. Um, but I think, I think catching fire is, uh, is something which is, um, which gets lots of attention.

[00:10:31] Jianggan: Right. Especially for, for this kind of battery. Yeah. And you can’t just simply put water over it and, uh, and dust the fire. 

[00:10:38] Sabrina: I feel like that’s something, um, as well as that, obviously EV are very new, right? They’ve only been around for a few years, so obviously any accidents that have been happening. Or any of these kind of fire are kind of, yeah.

[00:10:48] Sabrina: It’s something that’s very sensationalized. ’cause it’s new. Yeah. And there are people who have a lot of doubts. I mean, 

[00:10:55] Phyllis: I think another thing that people are, um, speaking online about, which I can quote the video later, is that they’re saying because of the, of the evolution of the EV market in China, so people are.

[00:11:08] Phyllis: Like EV sellers are constantly pushing out EV models, so the speed at which they’re pushing out is actually, it becomes a double sword because people are wondering, how can you constantly push out so many at such a fast rate? Is it really safe? Like, is it, are you like cost cutting or are you like, um, cutting some.

[00:11:27] Phyllis: Ingredients. I 

[00:11:27] Sabrina: mean, I think that’s not speculation that Xiaomi face. All right. Because obviously the timing took them to 

[00:11:33] Jianggan: Yes. I think the cow, I think it’s up to the, to the, to the manufacturer as well as the regulator to come out and, uh, actually show people so. Uh, I do remember when Charman House launched, uh, Xiaomi and a few other car manufacturers were so live casting on the production process.

[00:11:49] Jianggan: Mm-hmm. Making can show people, said, Hey, this is how we do things. Mm-hmm. And just last month I actually visited a, uh, manufacturing plant of, uh, of EVs. Uh, but that’s for different brands. Uh, not on me. Uh, when I look at that and, uh, and I think the person was explain, explained to me saying that, look, there are state standards for everything, so, and he actually showed me a car which didn’t pass the test, so, so basically.

[00:12:15] Jianggan: You see the manufacturing line, there’s lots of automation, et cetera, et cetera. Towards the end, there are actually a bunch of, uh, uh, like, uh, quality, sort of quality checks and uh, and I can see, I mean, which are the things they were testing about this, this is all mandated by the state. 

[00:12:30] Sabrina: I mean, it still, I mean definitely costs or automotive is still a very heavily regulated industry for sure.

[00:12:36] Sabrina: It is, it is. I think another thing about EVs as well that people speculate a lot about, obviously is the auto autonomous driving function, right? Mm. Because that’s something that. Didn’t exist a couple years ago and now it’s in a lot of the EVs. Uh, I, 

[00:12:48] Jianggan: yeah, so go ahead. ‘

[00:12:49] Phyllis: cause render, um, people like complacent, so like, for example, if you put on the autonomous driving, some people think that they can just take their hands completely off.

[00:12:56] Phyllis: Dead, dead. I, I wouldn’t, uh, personally, yeah, I wouldn’t, were you [00:13:00] dare do it. Just let the car,

[00:13:01] Jianggan: uh, I mean, I have a car which has a pretty low standard of, of, uh, sort of automation. So, uh, if I don’t put my hands on well for like 10 seconds, it will, it will something very, very noisy. Uh, alarms, and there’s no way to turn it off.

[00:13:15] Jianggan: So aside from putting your hands back on the wheel, um, but, but I think you see in this incident, right? I mean the, the three people in the car, they were students, right? So. Uh, I think in China, so many of the manufacturer manufacturers have been telling people that, Hey, we have, so it’s a selling point that they’re autonomous driving, et cetera.

[00:13:34] Jianggan: So, um, I, I’m sure that they function in sort of normal circumstances, but just like if you drive, like if you’re speeding in normal circumstances will be fine. Yeah. But there will be some cases where, okay. You are, you, you, I mean, you are taking too much risk and there are situations where you don’t have enough time to react to.

[00:13:52] Jianggan: So, so I do think that, um, I do think that, that there’s responsibility for the manufacturers to educate the customers, because I think now everything’s done by fine print, right? Mm-hmm. They say, okay, this is very smart. Okay? By the way, you should put your, your hands on the wheel. The car 

[00:14:09] Sabrina: can drive for you, by the way.

[00:14:11] Sabrina: Um, stay away and keep your hands on the wheel. 

[00:14:13] Jianggan: But you see which message does people get? I mean, especially young people who, uh, who are not to, I mean, people who are sort of driving for like 30, 40 years and they’ll probably not feel comfortable not having their hands on wheel. 

[00:14:23] Sabrina: Yeah. But if you’re a new driver, like you just got your license and you feel the car can drive automatically, I feel like it’s easier for you to get used to not having to pay attention.

[00:14:31] Jianggan: Yes. Yes. Yes. Exactly. So, so if you are like first class already autonomous and you, you don’t have that level of sort of training and attention to the wheels. Yeah. 

[00:14:43] Sabrina: So I think that’s all for today’s episode. That was fast too podcast. We hope that you guys enjoyed today’s episode, and if you guys are interested, we do have a couple more videos about ev, where we talk about Chinese, EV companies, et cetera.

[00:14:55] Sabrina: That will be linked in the show notes below. If you guys enjoyed today’s episode, do like this video as well as subscribe to our channel. So stay up to date on the latest happenings and trends in tech, new retail, and the broader digital economy. Thank you and bye-bye. 

[00:15:08] Jianggan: Uh, put your hands on wheel please.