From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 122 Star Mini welcomes its first black!

next month.

With the recruitment and expansion of the in-vehicle infotainment department, the last piece of the technology puzzle has finally been completed.

Xingchen Automotive's massive R&D department is already beginning to take shape.

The total R&D team has officially exceeded 1,000 people, including 400+ people in the vehicle R&D department, 500+ people in the battery R&D team, and the newly established intelligent vehicle system department. The total size of the R&D team is approaching 1300 people.

This number already exceeds the 600-800-person team size of new energy vehicle companies that have been established through financing in the past two years.

Of course, the main reason is the merger of the Weineng Battery R&D team, which makes Xingchen Technology's R&D team seem much larger than that of other emerging companies. However, compared to the distributed R&D centers of traditional car companies with more than 5,000 or even tens of thousands of people, it is still just a beginner level.

High-tech Zone.

The original Guojin Building has been officially renamed Xingchen Technology Building. All twenty floors of space are now rented out as a whole, averaging 1000 square meters per floor, and include workstations, meeting rooms, and lounge areas for various departments of the company.

The vehicle R&D center, located near the factory, includes a "prototype workshop + laboratory + testing site", while the battery R&D center laboratory includes "materials R&D, PACK design, and BMS testing".

After a round of expansion, the intelligent vehicle system department has reached a total of 22 people.

At the same time, the company that had been in contact with Xu Yi finally responded, sending the head of its intelligent device R&D team to the Xingchen Technology Building to negotiate a joint development of an in-vehicle infotainment system under favorable conditions.

Currently, the R&D priority in the mobile phone industry is still centered on mobile phones.

However, the growth of the mobile phone business has basically reached a bottleneck.

In order to seek business breakthroughs, the development of peripheral smart devices and multi-device linkage projects has become the preferred choice for the second growth curve.

in fact.

Jointly developing vehicle infotainment systems is not a new concept in the current industry.

For example, at the beginning of the year, Geely took the lead in launching the "Intelligent Ecosystem Strategy" and invited the Geely team to cooperate in developing the GKUI intelligent ecosystem.

As for Xingchen Motors, it can only be considered to be closely following behind.

The clan is naturally happy to see this kind of business.

For mobile phone companies, developing in-vehicle infotainment systems is a high-value project because the cooperation cost is low and the short-term returns are high.

……

"Mr. Xu, as per your requirements, we will assist in developing a customized Linux kernel, optimizing and driving the vehicle's UI interface, and adapting it to the vehicle's hardware, but we will not embed any Flyme ecosystem components or retain any brand logos..."

By paying a one-time customization fee and receiving the technology package, you will have the right to conduct secondary development, add ecosystem functions, or optimize interactions at your own discretion.

"The 'Technical Support Agreement' provides ongoing maintenance rights for one year, covering basic bug fixes for the vehicle infotainment system kernel, but does not include secondary development content..."

The middle-aged R&D manager was confirming the details of the cooperation between the two parties.

to be frank.

He seemed somewhat surprised after learning about the details of the collaboration.

Because this car company invited them here, but they didn't want ecosystem development? Nor did they want brand integration?
It's simply a customized version of the Linux car infotainment kernel.

This collaborative development model is somewhat rare.

Currently, when car companies commission mobile phone companies to customize operating systems, it's all about "system IP empowerment."

What does "empowerment" mean? To put it bluntly, it means using the name of a mobile phone company.

For chestnut:

Some domestically produced cars have high configurations, but their in-car infotainment systems are not intelligent enough, which is like a muscular man with big limbs but a simple mind.

They brought in the software teams from mobile phone manufacturers to jointly develop a car infotainment system, giving this well-developed body a "super brain".

Then we can announce to the market that from today onwards, I not only have high-end configuration, but also "super intelligence" transplanted from the mobile phone company team!
At the same time, the mobile phone system's ecosystem and voice system will be ported over.

This creates an overlap in the ecosystem among mobile phone users, so users of the Flyme system on their phones can naturally and seamlessly integrate with this type of in-vehicle system.

This served as a promotional advertisement for this group.

of course.

If the system ecosystem is to be ported, then the long-term profit sharing from the mobile phone company will be indispensable.

This is perfectly reasonable in the eyes of the tribe.

Other companies in the industry are doing the same thing.

This includes the collaboration between Baidu and Chery, and the collaboration between certain emerging companies and Alibaba.

After all, completing the first version of the in-vehicle infotainment system does not mean the end.

Subsequent updates were mostly handled by the mobile phone team, which is essentially an outsourcing model, as car manufacturers themselves are not good at this.

……

Xingchen Motors, on the other hand, acted decisively.

All you need is a customized, clean Linux kernel, plus an independent system that optimizes and drives the vehicle's UI, requiring neither an ecosystem nor subsequent updates and development.

So you've hired us as laborers?

but.

Looking at the offer of 450 million yuan for a one-time payment on the contract, he couldn't bring himself to speak.

In a development cycle of just two or three months, they only need to deploy a core development team of ten people.

Hmm... this premium will be paid in full at once.

There's nothing wrong with being a manual laborer.

At least the head office agreed very readily.

They didn't even try much to integrate the brand into their ecosystem.

If it were a large automaker, it might bring some growth to the subsequent ecosystem revenue, but this kind of startup automaker is still in the new energy vehicle sector, and it is still uncertain whether the new cars it develops can achieve mass production.

If a large-scale scandal were to occur, wouldn't that tarnish their brand image?
Therefore, a one-time collaboration, without being credited or having its IP integrated into the ecosystem, is actually a good option.

"Yes, Xingchen Automotive internally prefers a fully self-developed approach, but as a newcomer to the intelligent vehicle market, we inevitably lack the necessary foundation and experience to complete the vehicle system rollout in a short period of time. In this regard, we can only hope for cooperation between the two parties."

Xu Yi replied with a smile.

He invited the team over mainly to lay a solid foundation and further shorten the development cycle.

Even with the full system buff, completing it in a short period of time is still very challenging due to a lack of personnel and experience. It may not be possible to finish it in just a few months.

However, hiring a strong external partner would be more stable, and during the cooperation period, their team could grow rapidly without conflicting with independent research and development.

"Of course, we have mature experience in developing automotive-grade cores, and we can also provide technical guidance and share solutions during the R&D process. This is all part of the cooperation." The middle-aged R&D manager nodded and then smiled.

That's what it says.

He wasn't actually optimistic about the car company's so-called "in-house development" and its independent development of a "secondary ecosystem." If ordinary car companies truly had this system development capability, what would be the point of having mobile phone manufacturers?
Perhaps they're just going to release a mid-to-low-end model, and a basic smart infotainment system will suffice.

then.

The two parties discussed the details of the customized vehicle infotainment system for half an hour in the office, confirming all the details and signing a contract.

Subsequently, Xingchen's vehicle intelligence team, led by Zhao Yang, engaged in in-depth development exchanges with the Zu team, with several core technical personnel in charge.

……

After discussing the car infotainment system cooperation, the marketing department sent Xu Yi another piece of good news.

"Mr. Xu, our sales in cities with license plate restrictions have reached a new high in the past two weeks. In Shanghai and Shenzhen alone, two cities that offer free green license plates, our orders have exceeded 5,000 units, which is 30 to 40 percent higher than the same period last month!"

Yu Nian sent some good news.

In just two weeks, sales in cities with license plate restrictions exceeded 5,000 units. What does that mean?
If this continues, the monthly sales volume in cities with license plate restrictions will approach nine thousand or even ten thousand units.

With sales outlets in other cities added, the total number of units sold in the month is likely to exceed 22,000, or even approach 25,000!

At this scale, it can be considered a true blockbuster!
“Very good, keep it up,” Xu Yi replied.

Upon hearing this news, he smiled slightly.

This is good news that was expected.

As time goes on, more and more people in cities with license plate restrictions will realize this.

How valuable is it to buy a Mini car for daily commuting?

In his memory.

The Wuling Mini EV sold 7,000 units in its first month on the market, 15,000 units in its second month, and over 20,000 units in its third month.

Compared to this growth rate, their development is actually a bit slow.

This is also because their Star Auto had too few sales outlets in the early days, which was insufficient to cover the whole country.

Its true power has only now been revealed.

Therefore, Xu Yi is not worried about market sales.

What they need to worry about is that if this growth continues, they may reach the capacity limit of their factories.

...

On the market side...

According to the "law of conservation of sales," for every increase in sales, there is a decrease in sales.

The immense popularity of the Star Mini has squeezed out many other small cars in the 50,000 to 60,000 yuan price range, leaving them with almost no sales space and forcing them to follow suit by offering discounts and price reductions.

But what's baffling is...

Even after these brands lowered their prices, their sales did not show a significant increase.

Let's not even talk about entry-level gasoline cars that cost 50,000 to 60,000 yuan.

In cities with license plate restrictions, gasoline-powered cars are not the first choice for transportation. They cannot obtain license plates in these cities. However, the emergence of the Star Mini has taken away their sales share.

Those small cars that originally focused on being entry-level new energy vehicles are now in a rather awkward position after the price reduction.

Because their designs are outdated, to put it bluntly, they're ugly. Even with price reductions, they're not as rounded and attractive as the Starry Night Mini.

Especially with Xingchen Automotive also facing attacks on its ecosystem, its popularity has inexplicably soared.

The original sales-driven groups are furious with the Star Mini.

...

Yu Hu is a freelance car reviewer.

He became famous in his early years as a host on a traffic radio station. In the following years of his career, he transitioned to creating a "Zoo Talking About Cars" IP on various video platforms.

The past two years have been the period from the emergence of short videos to their rapid development.

Although he lacks professional skills, he has gained a considerable number of fans thanks to his humorous style.

Yu Hu's video style is to say whatever you pay for; as long as you're willing to pay, he can turn black into white and white into black.

What video is touting that three-cylinder engines "don't vibrate at high speeds"?

As a result, after the consumer bought the product and went home, the high-speed shaking stopped, but the low-speed shaking was so bad it felt like their eggs were going to break.

When discussing domestically produced cars, people never talk about the three major components (engine, transmission, and chassis). Instead, they focus on the unimportant exterior and interior design, and then launch into a long, rambling praises.

Most car reviewers have some limits when praising a car.

For Yu Hu, his integrity depended solely on how high the commission for a business deal was.

Yu Hu leaned back on the sofa, squinting as he scrolled through pictures of beautiful women's legs on a certain app. He had recently noticed that the traffic on short video platforms was growing rapidly, and the user activity was also extremely high, even showing a trend of surpassing the current car forums in some respects.

This made him somewhat tempted to focus his account's content on short video platforms.

Just as he was thinking.

"Brother Tiger, there's a new business order."

The assistant walked in.

"Which company is it? How much did you recharge? Which car do you want to advertise?" Yu Hu asked.

"The recharge amount is even higher than our previous videos, but it's not about promoting any particular car; it's about criticizing it." The assistant handed over the materials, which clearly showed the relevant manuscript requirements and an image.

Upon closer inspection, this picture shows the recently popular mini car – the Star Mini.

"Publishing smear articles, that's not my style."

Yu Hu frowned, then spoke.

As a car reviewer, he knew that posting critical content to bash a car could easily lead to lawsuits, and his account might even suffer backlash.

There are car reviewers in the industry who are both controversial and popular, but his style has always been mainly humorous and lighthearted.

"Then... should I just reply and cancel this order for you?" the assistant hesitated.

Yu Hu stared at the car in the document, as well as the emerging brand Xingchen Motors.

He glanced at the agreed-upon payment again.

"What I mean is, the content of this business deal is difficult... we'll have to pay more."

……

　The next chapter will be a little later... Lately, I've been feeling increasingly tired during the day, but I'm more energetic at night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)