AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/26 Report--

On March 25, foreign media reported that Xiaomi Group was negotiating with Great Wall Motor to use its factory to produce cars.

In fact, Xiaomi has been reported to build cars many times before. According to 36 Krypton, it has been learned from investors and executives close to Lei Jun that Xiaomi Group is rapidly promoting car-building and is expected to set up a project within 1-2 months at the earliest. The brand positioning discussed initially is similar to that of Xiaopeng Automobile. It focuses on the middle and high-end markets with strong technological attributes, and the direct person in charge of the project is Xiaomi veteran Wang Chuan.

In response to today's report, Fu Xiaokang, vice president of Great Wall Automobile, said: "We have no comment on this matter." For a long time, Great Wall Motor is committed to working with the relevant parties of the industrial chain to create an open ecological platform based on the industrial Internet and to establish a more powerful ecological circle. We welcome the partners of all related industries to seek common development and meet the future together. " Xiaomi responded that everything is subject to the announcement.

Obviously, the response of Great Wall Motor and Xiaomi Group is somewhat "intriguing". Neither Great Wall Motor nor Xiaomi Group responded positively, but it is easy to see that they are not so resolute in denying the phrase "We welcome the partners of all related industries to seek common development and face the future together." Great Wall has not previously provided similar manufacturing services to other carmakers, and the partnership with Xiaomi, in addition to providing factories, will also play an engineering consultant role to speed up the project, according to people familiar with the matter. The two companies are expected to announce their plans for cooperation as soon as next week.

Although Xiaomi is a well-known mobile phone manufacturer in China, it has a lot of layout in cars. In 2013, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Group, flew to the United States twice to visit Musk. In 2014, Xiaomi invested in Carede, a manufacturer of in-car intelligent terminal equipment, and Ruimi, a developer of in-vehicle intelligent products; in 2015, Xiaomi Group began to apply for patents for inventions related to constant-speed cruising and vehicle handling related to cars and IOT; and in 2015 and 2016, Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital invested in domestic car-building new forces Lai Lai and Xiaopeng. In 2019, Xiaomi Group invested in Xiaopeng Motor again. Of course, these layouts are only a fraction of the calf for the auto industry, but at least they represent the relevant layout of Xiaomi Group.

In fact, the combination of "millet + Great Wall" is very common in the current market. Geely Holdings and Baidu announced in January that they would form a smart car company, and Baidu CEO Robin Li said in February that "plans to launch a new smart electric vehicle product in the next three years and discuss the possibility of future product development based on Geely's" SEA vastness "architecture." On March 2, Geely established Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture company with Baidu. Li Yanhong said recently that the first volume production car of Jidu Automobile will be on the market in 2024.

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