Li Bin: NIO’s future competitor is Apple to find the final product form as soon as possible_Automotive



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Original title: Li Bin: Weilai’s future competitor is Apple to find the final product form as soon as possible

On January 9, 2007, Apple officially launched the first generation iPhone, a smart product that completely changed the development trajectory of the mobile phone industry. 14 years later, NIO also chose to celebrate Children’s Day on January 9 and introduced its first ET7 smart electric car.

“Eleven 8 megapixel high definition cameras are required, high precision ultra long distance lidar, lidar for autonomous driving.”

“Equipped with NIO autonomous driving technology, computing power performance is seven times that of Tesla’s FSD.”

“Frameless Smart Electric Suction Door, Standard Configuration. 23 Speakers, Standard Configuration. Front and Rear Massage Seats, Standard Configuration.”

At the press conference, Li Bin, the founder of NIO, almost won the cheers of the audience every time he said a word. And every “point” hit Tesla. The press conference is not over yet, some user groups and media have released screenshots of 5,000 yuan spent to reserve a new car. According to the plan, they will wait more than a year to pick up the car.

The Weilai ET7, which will be released on January 9, 2021, will be delivered in the first quarter of 2022. The lead time this time is longer than that of the first two NIO models. Among them, the 150kWh solid-state battery that can provide a battery life of more than 1000km has to wait until the fourth quarter of 2022 to be delivered, and the vehicle installation time has not yet been determined. This reservation method, called “futures”, also reflects a kind of strength and helplessness.

Qin Lihong, president of Weilai, said that the new car’s hardware, especially hardware related to autonomous driving, has high requirements. Some of the hardware has not been mass produced before. They need to work with vendors to make hardware expected mass production time before premise. , To be delivered on time in the first quarter of next year. “But the price of the car will not change if it is established.”

Even if Weilai officially said that the number of new car reservations has reached expectations, how to guarantee the reservation rate in more than one year is a challenge. “It’s still a concept, the space. What can be done really has to wait and see. After all, Weilai is on the list and he needs to take some action to meet the needs of the capital market.” On the second day of the press conference, a senior car The commentator said.

Find the ultimate product shape

NAD is an important message at the Nio Day press conference, based on the Aquila Weilai NIO Super Detection System and the Adam Weilai NIO Supercomputing Platform. This is different from the autopilot technology of the existing NIO models.

Li Bin believes that autonomous driving has entered a period of great computing power explosion. In the next 3-5 years, the computing power of self-driving chips should increase quite quickly. ET7 chooses one step and uses four newer chips to fully utilize the computing power under a more reasonable algorithm architecture. “The period from 2017 to 2025 will be the process in which the cars of the future will gradually find the ultimate product shape. In fact, we give the whole industry a very clear signal, from assisted driving to autonomous driving, what kind of standards are required and we let you know which way autonomous driving should go. “

Li Bin has repeatedly emphasized that “automatic driving, high-precision, high-distance lidar is indispensable.” This determines that, compared to the Tesla body design, the Weilai body needs more hardware devices. In the official NIO blurb, ET7 is called “Born for Autonomous Driving”. In their product design form, some autonomous driving detection equipment is integrated into the body line, such as roof-mounted sensors. “Although there is a sense of contradiction, it is like the ‘bang’ shape designed by Apple mobile phones. People may not be used to it at first, but it is actually the best way.”

“As cars are constantly moving closer to fully autonomous driving, a host of technologies and parts will be integrated outside of traditional cars. Some electronic products, such as sensors, have shorter iteration cycles than mechanical hardware. Design Simple enables automotive products. Better compatibility with these electronic products and increased life cycle. ” Qin Lihong said that the current results are the result of numerous disputes and disputes between the reviewers. Subject to some existing technical levels, there will be more room for imagination in the future.

Faced with the future product shape, a small change in the shape of ET7 will not be the final shape, but at least a try.

Long-term competitor is Apple

In Weilai car owner APP, Qin Lihong said ET7 compares with BMW7“If the brand is removed, the ET7 score should be higher than that of the BMW 7 Series, and the power of the brand should be developed over a long period of time.”

BBA Benchmarking-Recently, the Weilai team has expressed its brand positioning on more than one occasion. Li Bin believes that NIO will evaluate BBA in the short term, but in the long term the main competitor is Apple. Even if many people consider Tesla as NIO’s biggest competitor.

“Will Apple make 100,000 cars? (No). A company’s genes and what it believes are closely related to the founder.” Li Bin believes that Apple will definitely make cars and make technology and humanities. This is similar to Weilai’s idea. “We better have a firm foothold before Apple produces the final product. Otherwise, with the loyalty of Apple users, few companies can resist, and they still have so much cash.”

In terms of positioning, Li Bin believes that Weilai and Tesla are different. “NIO has never thought of popularizing electric vehicles in all market segments and will not produce a particularly cheap car in the future.” However, some media said that Li Bin said that after ET7, NIO will plan a slightly smaller one. Model ET5. However, Weilai’s official car did not confirm this.

Li Bin gave 50 points to Weilai’s user service

“Car Owner Service” is one of NIO’s proudest labels. In Weilai’s worst days, the owner of the car was even said to have flown to Weilai. Without the support of car owners from financing to action, NIO will not be able to go today. If you participate in Nio Day, you will definitely feel the importance of car owners to NIO.

I rarely come across such a car conference – a lively concert comparable to that of a traffic star. From the place where there are two intersections from the place, there is no need to ask for directions. You can find the place by following the flow of people and ticket sellers. The press conference has not yet started, the brand’s peripheral products placed off-site have been sold out, and even the samples were stolen by car owners; the entire press conference, from the host city to the filming of the promotional video, except Li Bin’s personal speech, Other links are directed and performed by the owner.

Children’s Day has been celebrated four times so far and some things are changing.

In 2017, NIO will provide all users with airline tickets and hotels; in 2018, users will have to spend 1,000 points to redeem the hotel; in 2019, users will have to pay for the wine from the machine from their pockets, NIO will offer a small discount for the hotel; in 2020, NIO will not. Then provide any machine wine service to car owners participating in Nio Day. However, some car owners in Shenzhen participated in the charter flights, some car owners in Chengdu organized volunteers to pick up the plane, and some provided local food, drink and fun strategies.

The “expensive” Wei Lai learned to save money, but the adherence of car owners to the brand did not diminish.

How did Weilai do it?

The Qin Lihong passage can provide some answers. “For events like Nio Day, from a financial point of view, there are too many companies that can afford to run in China. But the difference is that we really leave the preparation to the users to do it. “My” opinion is not as important as the user’s opinion. We renounce the final decision-making power of the leader and give the power to the user. “

But the negative voice has always been there: when the number of users is large, can the service keep up?

“When there are more users and more scenarios, the absolute number of dissatisfied users will increase. This is our pressure.” Li Bin is very clear about the challenges Weilai will face on the user side. In internal meetings, he used to say that the current customer service “failed, just 50 points.” His partner Qin Lihong gave the team 60 points, “The pressure on staff in Weilai’s user experience department is still quite high. It is not humble to say that they are not doing well. The outside world thinks that our customer service user has characteristics, which can only be explained as high. In the value-added consumer goods industry, the entire automotive industry has failed in its service for many years. “

The point system behind carbon trading

In the field of user operations, NIO is no match for auto companies. You treat users as an asset and are trying to increase the empowerment of assets.

For example, the “Blue Dot Plan” published by Weilai Automobile, a plan related to the trading of carbon emissions from users.

Carbon emissions from electric vehicles can be redeemed. However, this transaction has always been on the B end. It started in the United States and then Europe. China entered the practical stage of carbon trading last year. But who contributes to carbon emissions? It is the user. But so far, there is no room for carbon emissions trading from the C end.

Based on this, NIO cooperates with the China Classification Society Quality Certification Company and the Shanghai Energy Exchange to authenticate the user’s mileage under the user’s authorization and entrust NIO to act as an agent for the transaction. . The proceeds of the transaction will be redeemed through the NIO point system.

Qin Lihong announced that the first transaction will take place in a few months.

Just understand that users can earn points and spend in the community by driving the Weilai car. Digitizing the value generated by the users in the brand’s own point system is becoming more and more a game.Return to Sohu to see more

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