Chapter 109 Take off directly
Lei Jun has always hoped to further cooperate with Chen Yuanguang, or in other words in-depth bundling, to increase the chips for the future launch of Xiaomi cars.
Chen Yuanguang may not have such plans.
He has always had the idea of building a car, not because he is interested in cars, but because he feels that when asteroid mining will have huge upfront costs in the future, if he wants to reduce losses as much as possible, he must sell luxury goods.
What luxury goods can use minerals from the universe? And it can be used in a large number of applications, probably only in cars.
A luxury brand from China, made of minerals from the universe, it is instantly popular.
So he also wants to find in-depth cooperation with automobile manufacturers.
This does not mean that Chen Yuanguang has chosen Xiaomi now, but he feels that he can test the waters by cooperating with Xiaomi this time to see whether Xiaomi cars can stand the price of 500,000 yuan as Lei Jun said.
A car priced at 500,000 yuan is definitely considered the threshold for luxury cars in China. Before, Chen Yuanguang found it hard to imagine that Xiaomi’s brand power would allow consumers to pay for it.
Now there is a brand-new technology called the whole-vehicle constant temperature system, which makes it possible for Xiaomi Motors to break through into a high-end brand.
At least we have the technology. Although this technology still comes from the supply chain, after Xiaomi succeeds, other manufacturers will soon follow.
At least there is a one-year window period, and technological innovation will also have dividends in terms of brand image.
Chen Yuanguang wants to help Xiaomi and make it more likely.
"Brother, no problem, that's what I meant.
You just said that Xiaomi is going to make a breakthrough, and we hope to set the price of the pro version at 500,000." Chen Yuanguang was eating. explain.
He took this as an experiment.
When Guangjia Technology cooperates with Huawei, it is difficult for the outside world to correctly understand his appeal.
But when he cooperated with Xiaomi and helped Xiaomi cars break the inherent impression of cost-effectiveness, the outside world would attribute all the credit to him.
At the same time, after the asteroid mining is successful in the future, when discussing cooperation, there is a completely different difference between having proven the bargaining chip in hand and not proving yourself.
When Lei Jun heard Chen Yuanguang say that he had this intention, his eyes lit up, thinking that his eagerness to fly to Shen Haifeng was not in vain.
"Yes, our initial pricing target was 350,000.
Now with the blessing of an all-weather constant temperature system, we think we can raise it even higher.
Can it be raised to 500,000? , This still needs to be fully verified internally.”
Chen Yuanguang actually fully understands what Lei Jun and Xiaomi Auto’s senior management think and why there is such a pricing.
One is cost. The cost of the first batch of cars must be the highest. The costs of personnel, design, supply chain, etc. are not evened out by sales volume.
The second is that the price is high, the price can be reduced slowly, and there is enough depth when selling. The maximum price of 350,000 can be gradually reduced to 250,000, or even 200,000.
After the new models come out, old cars can be fully sincere at once and still make some money.
If the price is too low, you will lose money if you sell the old car at a reduced price after the new model comes out.
Building a high-end brand can only be one of many reasons.
This is how merchants make their calculations. Whether consumers will buy it is another matter.
Chen Yuanguang thought for a while: "We have a new technology used in the aerospace field that we can use for you.
We have made some breakthroughs in materials and developed a series of piezoelectric crystals, some of which can be used As the driver unit of the speaker, the speaker made with this piezoelectric crystal will have excellent sound performance
It is stronger than any speaker currently on the market, especially in the performance of human voice.
It is best to cooperate with some singers, use recording equipment made of this kind of crystal, and record some records separately, so that you can feel like you are at a concert in the car.
At the same time, another piezoelectric crystal has a unique silencing effect and can isolate external noise
Brother, are you interested in these two technologies? ”
Chen Yuanguang himself also plans to develop piezoelectric crystals. The previous speaker drive units were very rough, and major speaker manufacturers used multiple units to achieve excellent treble performance.
But no matter what None of them can match the requirements of human hibernation for ultrasonic signal transmission, so speakers built using this type of piezoelectric crystal can bring a qualitative leap in consumers' experience.
Lei Jun was very happy after listening to it. I was so excited that I just wanted to take a nap on the pillow.
Ten years ago, this technology was not that important. After all, cars did not pay much attention to the performance of audio and video entertainment.
Now China's automobile consumer market has been taken to another path by new energy manufacturers led by Ideal, and audio and video entertainment has become an important reference factor for consumers to purchase.
The best speakers and sound insulation effect, coupled with an all-weather constant temperature system, Lei Jun feels that it is stable. With such an excellent product, but it still sells for less than 500,000 yuan, then this is a problem with Xiaomi's marketing capabilities.
As a player who fought his way out of the smartphone war and survived to the end, Lei Jun never believed that Xiaomi would be bad at marketing.
“Very interested, this is a huge boost for us.
I feel more confident about Xiaomi pro version.
Junior brother, you have posed a difficult problem for me. We have to completely overthrow the previous design plan and start over. "Lei Jun smiled bitterly.
Chen Yuanguang was puzzled: "Why? Isn’t the current design solution pretty good? "
Lei Jun feels that we have to be more honest: "When we have no outstanding advantages compared with other products, we need to benchmark against an absolute benchmark in the industry.
Xiaomi’s previous digital series every year imitated the appearance of Apple, which made us achieve great success. In those years, Apple’s pricing started at 5,000, and Xiaomi’s pricing started at 2,500.
Consumers can buy an experience that is comparable to Apple at half the price.
When it comes to cars, we want to follow the past style. Xiaomi’s first car is very much like a Porsche, and in terms of power adjustment, we also hope to imitate the handling feel of a Porsche as much as possible.
Even better than Porsche.
This is the idea of an imitator. We should do this when we position ourselves as a pursuer.
But with the blessing of these two new technologies, combined with Xiaomi’s own smart cabin and smart driving, we can definitely play the role of the leader of domestic new energy cars.
Leaders cannot be imitated. ”
Chen Yuanguang thought to himself, let me tell you, how could you not know that this design looks like a Porsche during the internal meeting.
Lei Jun continued: "So we need to change the design. We have to redesign, make molds, and test.
Of course this also gives us new challenges."
This is sweet trouble.
It is not easy to buy domestic new energy vehicles at a price of 500,000 yuan. No one has done it so far.
This has always been BBA's main source of profit and also their area of strength.
As a new player, Xiaomi can make this breakthrough with its first car, which will help boost investor confidence and reshape consumers’ minds.
Xiaomi Auto’s success in high-end positioning can completely feed back Xiaomi mobile phones.
Chen Yuanguang said, "We still have to discuss the cooperation method."
Lei Jun was very decisive: "In this way, we have currently invested 10 billion in Xiaomi Motors.
Of course it hasn't been used up yet. What I think is that you adopt the method of adding technology and cash to invest a symbolic investment of 100 million, and the new technology will only be licensed to Xiaomi Motors.
What do you think of this? ”
This cooperation method seems to be a profit for Chen Yuanguang, but it is actually a big profit for Xiaomi Motors.
Because the sound-generating unit made of piezoelectric crystals as raw materials can not only be used in the automotive field, but also In many fields such as headphones, speakers, and mobile phones.
Although the cost is high, this market cannot be bought with only 2 billion.
After hearing this, Chen Yuanguang said decisively: "Piezoelectric crystals will be used in the aviation field in the future.
In the automotive field, we only license these two technologies to Xiaomi Motors.
I spent an extra 400 million yuan or 500 million yuan to invest in Xiaomi Motors and take 20% of the shares.”
Lei Jun did not hesitate, the new energy vehicle track has already become a hot topic. , can increase the chance of winning a little bit.
Not to mention, it's not even a chance of winning.
The technical significance is second. The joint efforts of Lei Jun and Chen Yuanguang to build a car have created a buzz in public opinion and brought a sense of expectation to consumers, which is more valuable.
"Okay! Then we have made an agreement.
Originally, we said we would not drink. But this time our brothers and sisters have reached a cooperation, I think it is impossible not to drink.
Junior brother, you If you don’t want to drink, you can use tea instead of wine, I must drink some!”
Lei Jun was so happy that he first drank Moutai from a wine dispenser, then took a photo with Chen Yuanguang, and then posted on Weibo:
"I just had dinner with my junior brother. We talked a lot. Junior brother is here He also has a lot of insights into car building and has given Xiaomi a lot of valuable suggestions. I have more confidence in Xiaomi’s car building.”
As soon as this Weibo was posted, self-media bloggers in the car circle. Everyone began to speculate:
"Will Mr. Lei reach a cooperation with Guangshen?"
"It's rare to see Mr. Lei so happy. I'm curious what advice Guangshen gave?"
"Could it be that the spokesperson of Xiaomi Motors is Guangshen? Mr. Lei is so famous?"
There are all kinds of guesses, and some have guessed it. Netizens are watching the excitement and don't think it's a big deal. They are very interested in Xiaomi Motors. The only requirement is that it is cheap.
If you are cheap enough, we can be friends. If 99,000 can buy the same experience as Model 3, then you will be the God of Thunder.
Xpeng and Lei Jun have a good personal relationship. Previously, Lei Jun acquired the Cheetah browser founded by Xpeng. Later, when Xpeng built cars, Lei Jun was also one of the first investors.
So after Xiaopeng saw it, he immediately asked on WeChat: "Brother Lei, Xiaomi Motors wants to cooperate with Guangjia Technology?"
Lei Jun replied: "Keep it secret."
Xiao Peng could guess from the confidentiality that this was the truth.
Xpeng Motors also received perovskite batteries for testing. He is very aware of the great role this technology plays in new energy vehicles.
If Chen Yuanguang still has perovskite cells with better photoelectric conversion efficiency and uses them in Xiaomi cars, he will feel huge pressure.
“Junior brother, come, this is Leehom, the big star I specially found. Let’s try the effect.”
The next day, before reaching cooperation, we had to see whether the technology was as good as Chen Yuanguang said, commonly known as inspection.
Lei Jun specially found a professional singer in the entertainment industry. His investment portfolio includes many film and television companies and platforms such as iQiyi, so it is easy to find a singer to cooperate.
Lehom was at a low point in his life, and there was no announcement. I heard it was an experiment, and the two people involved were the top rich men in China, so he agreed simply.
At first, Lei Jun wanted to find a female singer, and she had to be a young and beautiful female singer. But then he thought about it, this might offend Lin Jia and cause trouble for Chen Yuanguang, so he should not do such a thing.
Chen Yuanguang is not star-chasing, so he doesn’t feel anything. After shaking hands, he said: “Welcome, please Mr. Wang.
Our main purpose this time is to record a few songs and then listen to the results.
It’s very simple, because this is a laboratory, so the recording conditions are simple, please forgive me. ”
Not feeling it does not mean you are rude, Chen Yuanguang is very considerate.
Lehom signed an extremely strict confidentiality agreement before coming. He was curious about what kind of technology is so strict. requirements.
As an American, he has a very high pursuit of music. What he has learned before is that in the past ten years, progress in sound equipment technology has been slow.
The most recent technological breakthrough should be considered bone conduction technology.
Led by Chen Yuanguang, they came to a room where a simple microphone was connected to a strange device with exposed wires. The device was then connected to a computer through wires.
"Mr. Wang, you need to sing a cappella first, and then add a few songs with accompaniment." Chen Yuanguang said.
A group of people were sitting in a room, waiting for Leehom to record. There was no soundproof glass in the middle.
This is Leehom’s first time recording a song in this environment, “Please keep quiet when recording.”
Everyone present said: "Okay."
Lehom then asked: "Then what do I want to sing?"
Chen Yuanguang said: "Anything is fine, there is no requirement for this."
< br>Lehom cleared his throat and started singing.
After recording two songs, Chen Yuanguang signaled that it was OK, "Thank you, okay, we can go to the side to listen to the effect first."
It is also a very simple piece of equipment without any packaging. At first glance, you can tell that it is a temporary piece of equipment assembled from laboratory materials.
“.
Your tears are like a downpour
Broken all over the ground and clear in my heart
”
Leehom's unique voice came from the device. Lei Jun and Xiaomi Motors executives felt that it was almost the same as what they had just heard in another room.
If it is in the confined space of a car, this vocal effect will definitely be top-notch.
But they don’t know exactly what’s good about it.
Leehom knows that as a top singer in the Chinese music scene, no matter how he simulates it after recording, he can only achieve seven points at most.
This realistic effect is even better than a live concert. The characteristics of his voice's mellow sound and wide resonance cavity are perfectly expressed.
Even the subtle changes in his singing were perfectly recorded.
He only has one thought. The concert industry will face a huge blow in the future. At the same time, with this equipment, when he practices again, he will know more clearly how to improve.
As a singer who is passionate about music, he knows that his singing skills can reach a higher level with the help of this technology.
Seeing that everyone here was silent, Leehom stood up and said:
"Mr. Chen, this set of equipment is simply perfect. It is more expressive than the speaker equipment I built at home with a cost of 600,000 yuan. To be more perfect.
Different devices have their own preferences, and it feels extremely emulated to me. ”
(End of this chapter)