As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 203 Pricing
Compared with the first generation of new lithium battery technology that Zheng Li came up with, the one installed in the Rice Car is at best the 1.5 generation.

Kechuang Bio's upgrade of lithium battery technology has not yet been fully completed.

It only partially optimized the micro-distribution design of the lithium metal positive electrode and graphene coating, which achieved a certain improvement in battery capacity compared with before.

But this did not meet Zheng Li's expectations for product upgrades.

Upgrading a product cannot be achieved by simply improving one dimension.

Like Apple, changing the CPU every year and shrinking the bangs a little bit is considered an upgrade, but this kind of upgrade consumes fan loyalty.

"At the beginning of this year, the Rice Car had been finalized and was in the final testing and preparation stage for market launch."

"At that time, Tesla started to lower its prices in the market, and we all felt a lot of pressure internally."

"At that time, Tesla fired the first shot in price cuts, and then domestic new energy brands followed suit."

"Under this situation, can rice still move people's hearts and be reasonably priced?"

"Whether consumers will buy it or not, rice is entering a completely new field, a market where competition is even more intense than in the mobile phone field."

In the ten years after the rise of mobile Internet, competition in the mobile phone field was no less intense than that in the automobile market.

It is only in the last five years that the mobile phone market has gradually stabilized.

Among the domestic mobile phone brands, only OPPO, VIVO, Xiaomi and Honor survived.

There are no new players entering the market. Even after paying off his debts, Luo dares not and cannot find investors willing to take another gamble with him.

The current new energy market is just like the mobile phone market in 15 and 16. The old forces still have their power, while the emerging forces are competing fiercely.

"I was very confused at the time. When I'm confused, I like to chat with people."

"I basically talked to all my entrepreneur friends in Yanjing, and they all said that there would be no problem in making cars with rice."

"With more than ten years of experience in the electronics supply chain, I will definitely be able to create products that satisfy users."

"Everyone knows that Zheng Li is the richest man in China and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in recent years."

"I have a very good relationship with him. Even when he is in Singapore, we often exchange views on some issues."

"So before the Rice Car was launched on the market, I went to Zheng Li specifically to ask for his opinion."

"Although Zheng Li is very rich, he doesn't have his own car and doesn't like driving."

"At that time, Zheng Li told me in Singapore that it would be difficult to make Rice Car a success, and it would all depend on the product strength."

"The attention brought by the mobile phone field can provide the first batch of users for DaMi, but if the product strength of DaMi Automobile is not enough, it will be a one-time deal."

"Zheng Li said he thought the rice car could work, but he would have to experience it to know if it would work."

“So when he came back this time, I took him to the Rice branch in Jiangcheng to experience the Rice car.”

"After experiencing it, Zheng Li, from the perspective of someone who has never driven a car, feels that the product strength of Dami Automobile is sufficient."

In fact, Lei Jun really wanted Zheng Li to be the spokesperson for Rice Auto, but after he proposed this idea, Zheng Li rejected it without hesitation.

Zheng Li, Li Miaomiao and some senior executives of Kechuang Biotechnology were sitting in the audience.

Li Miaomiao asked curiously, "Have you really experienced the Rice Car?"

"That time, Senior Brother asked you to visit Rice. Did he mean to ask you to help him test the car?"

Every time Li Miaomiao met Lei Jun, he would ask him to call him senior brother instead of Mr. Lei.

The same is true for Zheng Li.

Zheng Li: “Yes.”

Li Miaomiao continued to ask in a low voice: "How do you feel about the experience?"

"Tell me the truth, do you really think that Rice's car is good, or were you just being perfunctory at the time?"

"DaMi Automobile has been polished for four years. Given DaMi's strength, it will definitely be no problem to make good products."

"But the problem is that if they want to go the cost-effective route, they will inevitably have to give up some things."

Zheng Li explained: "I have never driven a car, so I have no reference to compare with."

“The rice car drives OK.”

Li Miaomiao complained: "What's the difference between you saying it and not saying it."

"It seems that there is nothing special about the rice car."

"My senior wants to use you to help him market his rice car."

"The richest man in Asia said that rice cars are good, so you all should hurry up and buy them."

"Brother is too cunning. He asked you to be the spokesperson but you refused. So he used this method to indirectly let you be the spokesperson."

Zheng Li smiled and said, "Indirectly, then so be it."

"It's normal to mention me in interviews and press conferences."

"Didn't you always mention me at the Futureverse press conference?"

Li Miaomiao: "No, no, no, this is different."

"You are the one who made the biggest contribution to brain-computer VR. At best, you gave some suggestions."

"We are the largest shareholder of Kechuang Future, what does Rice Auto have to do with you?"

"These are two completely different things."

Zheng Li: "This is normal. If Kechuang Bio has any products in the future, you can bring it up. You can bring it up more often at the launch conference of the next generation of brain-computer interface VR."

The two were joking, and no one really cared that Lei Jun mentioned Zheng Li a few more times at the press conference, and they were even positive jokes.

Lei Jun had already started talking about the parameters, performance, and motor of the Rice car on the stage, but Li Miaomiao was not interested in it at all.

Although she still drives a BMW, she bought it for the brand, not the specifications.

Zheng Li is even less interested in cars.

"The Mi Auto 1s series is divided into two versions: the pro version and the regular version. The pro version is mainly improved in terms of autonomous driving and battery life."

"Let's see the selling price!"

The official range of the Rice Pro is 2000 kilometers, while the regular version only has 1200 kilometers. The autonomous driving of the Rice Pro version is also more advanced.

The moment Lei Jun announced the selling price on the stage, the barrage of comments on major live streaming platforms instantly reached a climax.

Because cost-effectiveness has always been the foundation of Dami, Dami was the first to call for the first smartphone for young people.

Consumers are looking forward to the price of the Rice car and whether it will become the first new energy vehicle for young people.

"The price of the pro version is 22 yuan, and the price of the regular version is 9999 yuan!"

“This is the price you get!”

As soon as the price was announced, the rice live broadcast rooms on major live broadcast platforms were filled with comments: "Mr. Lei is so generous!"

“This price is really good!”

"Order online now"

"It is well-deserved to be the first new energy vehicle for young people"

"Is this price really good? I might as well buy the latest Xiaopeng P5. Isn't it better than this at the same price?"

"With a range of 20 kilometers, what other bike do you want at this price?"

"It's better to buy a fuel car from Honda, Toyota or Volkswagen at this price"

Some people thought it was a good deal, while others thought it was a loss to buy rice and cars at this price. The voices of both sides filled the entire live broadcast room.

The main reason is that the price of the Rice Car is not as good as expected. People expected it to be between 10 and 15 yuan, while the ordinary version of the Rice Car costs yuan.

However, compared with domestic new energy vehicles, it is already a low price. Compared with the 500,000 yuan Weilai, the 400,000 yuan Ideal, and the 300,000 yuan Xiaopeng, the lowest price of the rice, which is 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, is completely cost-effective.

"Lei Jun's pricing is quite conservative. This price is not completely cost-effective. It is not the same as when he entered the mobile phone market."

"Yes, there is actually room for the price to go down. For example, the price of the Pro is set at 20, which is completely possible given DaMi's control over the supply chain."

"Could it be to reserve space for subsequent price cuts?"

“No, if the price of cars is reduced as recklessly as that of mobile phones, then what awaits Rice Cars is consumers voting with their feet and abandoning them.

It's very simple. The price of a car will drop by at least 10,000 yuan, while the price of a mobile phone will only drop by 300 to 500 yuan.

A price reduction of three to five hundred yuan has prevented Rice from establishing its own high-end brand.

Even the most loyal Mi fans would not accept this if cars were played like this.”

“If Daimi wants to lower its prices, it will have to wait at least a year. Although Daimi has cultivated a large number of users in the consumer electronics field, it is a completely new player in the automotive field.

Tesla's price cuts also took a long time and preparation, so it would be irrational for Xiaomi to cut prices even after a year."

In the audience were not only peers from the consumer electronics field, but also some executives from new energy vehicle companies, who had an accurate judgment on the cost and minimum selling price of Rice cars.

Although the price of 23 yuan is not high, with the development of new energy vehicles today, the industrial chain has become fully mature, and this price is definitely not the lowest that Da Mi can afford.

"I guess Lei Jun still doesn't want to set the price too low. Although the price is set below 20, it is very good based on the price-performance ratio.

But in the long run, it will be very difficult for rice to rise from the 10 yuan level to the 20 yuan level.

It is better to differentiate the product from the beginning, set the price of the highly differentiated product at more than 20 yuan, and then rely on the low-end version of 18 yuan to boost sales. "

Compared to the price of a mobile phone rising from three thousand to five thousand, it is more difficult for a car to rise from a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand.

Mobile phones can cross this gap with sufficient hardware, but cars cannot, because the brand perception of cars is more deeply rooted.

Why does NIO not cut prices despite declining sales? Because it is easy to cut prices, but it is difficult to rebuild the brand perception that was originally positioned at the high end.

"This is also the usual practice of mobile phone manufacturers,"

"But these alone are not enough to make a breakthrough in the new energy vehicle market."

"In theory, it took Lei Jun five years, but in fact, Dami must have started planning to build the car in 20 years, and invested so much money.

They definitely put in a lot of effort to get Ke Chuang Bio's second-generation super lithium battery technology.

Considering Lei Jun's personality, investing so much is definitely not a joke.

This should really be his last entrepreneurial venture. Da Mi definitely has a backup plan, but we don’t know what it is yet.”

"The Rice car is much more reliable than the Hengchi series of a certain brand. I have never seen a real Hengchi car."

"That's for sure. Hengchi is struggling to survive. Dami's financial situation is much healthier than that of some big car manufacturers. It would be strange if they couldn't produce the product after investing tens of billions in research and development."

"I just don't know what Xiaopeng will think when facing Lei Jun's massive entry. It's like a friend turning into an opponent."

“Haha, the fights between companies will not affect the private friendships between the bosses.

No matter how fiercely we fight with NIO and Xpeng, the bosses are always harmonious when attending events.

Not to mention that Lei Jun has done a great favor to Xiao Peng, which is much greater than his favor to Zheng Li."

He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, was the founder of UC Browser before founding Xiaopeng, and Lei Jun was one of the investors in the first round of investment in UC.

Later in 08, Lei Jun personally served as the chairman of UC. He did not step down as the chairman of UC until he founded Xiaomi Mobile.

When He Xiaopeng founded Xpeng Motors, Lei Jun participated in Xpeng Motors' Series C financing.

In addition, Dami has become a strategic partner of Xpeng Motors. Dami’s mobile phone can be used as a car key, and Dami will give Xpeng cars to its employees at the annual meeting.

But when Dami announced that it would build cars, and as Dami's cars were about to be launched, the relationship between Dami and Xiaopeng Motors became more and more subtle. They are direct competitors.

Later, the launch conference of Dami Auto also proved this point: the first to be threatened was Xiaopeng Motors, whose pricing was close to that of Dami.

After the press conference, the mainstream opinion online was that it smells good, but not that good.

I can definitely wait and see, and then make a decision after others have purchased it, but if I were to place an order now, I might not be so hasty in choosing Rice Auto.

Buy first and enjoy first, buy later and get discount. Most rice fans hold this mentality, waiting to buy will not hurt you or make you cheated.

Even the most loyal Mi fans would not easily choose Mi when faced with a large item like a car that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Lei Jun’s countermeasure is corporate group purchasing. He relies on his own entrepreneurial connections to promote group purchasing of Rice Automobile among different companies.

Lei Jun has had many years of entrepreneurial and investment career. He would personally talk to the big bosses and then follow up on the business of Rice Auto.

A large number of well-known companies that have no direct competitive relationship with them, such as Kechuang Biotechnology, Tencent, Ali, Taikang Life, Dami Group, and Kingsoft Software, have launched group purchases of Dami cars internally.

"Dami Auto is holding internal test drives and group purchases. Anyone interested can sign up first."

"The pro version has a coupon worth 30,000 yuan, while the regular version has a coupon worth 20,000 yuan." The internal union of Kechuang Bio issued a union notice in OA.

The internal group purchase price of the Rice Auto 1s Pro was set at 20 yuan, which instantly became a very attractive price.

"The MD is really good for less than 200,000 yuan. I am a little tempted to buy one. I will use the gasoline car for short trips and the electric car for daily commuting to work."

Oil prices are still running high, and electricity costs are much lower than refueling.

"It smells really good. I plan to sign up and go for a test drive."

"I'll sign up too and see how the test drive works."

Many people who originally did not plan to buy a car now want to give it a try.

Thanks to group buying price cuts, Dami Auto’s sales exceeded 30,000 units in the first month after its launch, surpassing Xiaopeng and ranking second on the new energy vehicle brand list, second only to Wuling Hongguang.

"Mr. Lei is too smart. His calculations are too precise."

"This move was executed in a flash. Rice Automobile was immediately revitalized by him. Rice Automobile is indeed not to be underestimated."

(End of this chapter)