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

Chapter 300 Refining
in the afternoon.

Li Yanhong posted a long article on his WeChat Moments, which was quickly quoted on Weibo.

The references are as follows:

“Recently, there have been some voices on the Internet saying that Baidu is ‘getting up early but arriving late,’ investing heavily in autonomous driving but not producing any results.”

This has caused us internal problems, and we have held some discussions regarding the short-term difficulties in the autonomous driving business.

Later, we learned some lessons, namely that Baidu does innovative work.

Since it is innovation, we cannot expect all attempts to succeed. The characteristic of innovation is that most of them will fail. The industry needs this kind of innovation to make continuous progress.

……

Take some car manufacturers in the industry as an example. Their innovation efforts are not as strong as Baidu's, but they have indirectly benefited from Baidu's innovative achievements.

Automatic parking, highway navigation and intelligent driving... the people leading these projects also came from Baidu, which had done research in this area beforehand.

I find this particularly regrettable. Users only experience the products that are first presented to them and the marketing efforts of the car manufacturers, attributing all the accumulated innovation to the car companies.

But they've overlooked the fact that Baidu has always been a technology company!

...

This article is published now.

This match instantly attracted more attention than He Xiaopeng's game against Faraday Future.

At this point, discussions on Weibo became apparent.

"What are you mumbling about?"

"This is using Jia Yueting's remarks to attack Xingchen Motors! Baidu can't sit still anymore."

"Huh? What grudge do Baidu and Xingchen Motors have?"

The onlookers were confused.

A prominent influencer used this opportunity to support Baidu: "Many people may not know that a few years ago, Baidu had the largest and most advanced autonomous driving R&D team in China, which was known as the Whampoa Military Academy of the industry. Later, due to business changes, personnel were poached by other companies, and the biggest beneficiary was Xingchen Motors."

And the fact that Xingchen Automotive now has such strong intelligent driving capabilities, and the amazing intelligent driving features you all talk about... actually originates from Baidu.

From this perspective, Xingchen Automotive's technological innovation capabilities are indeed questionable.

Its reputation is undeserved.

Baidu publicly accuses a certain car manufacturing company of lacking innovation and allegedly plagiarizing Baidu's technological achievements and talent.

This debate is even more intense than Faraday Future's bombardment of the stars!

After all, the former only addresses the company's business philosophy.

The latter, however, is implying that Star Auto is unethical!

The now-famous "Starry Sky Intelligent Driving" has an illegitimate origin.

The fans who were amazed by Xingchen's "super automatic parking" function a few days ago are now also in a state of astonishment!
confused!!
of course.

There are also quite a few people who support Star Auto.

For example, on the Yiche platform, a relatively unknown influencer posted about this.

"I think everyone knows what kind of company Baidu is. Perhaps Xingchen Automotive's intelligent driving department has core members from Baidu's former autonomous driving team. However, the results that these people couldn't achieve after years of hard work at Baidu, they have produced industry-renowned results after only half a year or a year of joining Xingchen Automotive. This shows the high value of Xingchen Automotive as a platform."

If Xingchen has indeed plagiarized any patents or technologies, the lawyers' letters and lawsuits from rival companies will arrive faster than public opinion.

If Xingchen Motors did indeed poach employees through improper means, violating the law and non-compete agreements, the court should issue a relevant ruling.

But none of this has happened yet, and Xingchen's treatment of its employees is highly regarded in the industry.

Autonomous driving researchers are also highly skilled employees. Choosing a better platform only means that Mingxingchen can offer them more, allowing them to maximize their talents.

...

A marketing manager from GAC Toyota also joined the fray, accusing Xingchen Auto of maliciously competing with its peers, using new energy vehicle subsidies to grab customers, and engaging in malicious benchmarking at its press conferences. It may have temporarily achieved sales success, but it has exposed a trend of short-sightedness and damage to the industry ecosystem. When new energy vehicle subsidies are fully phased out, time will prove what a good operating model is.

Many companies in the car manufacturing industry have been swept up by Xingchen.

GAC Toyota was the first to step forward. Internally, they suffered heavy losses due to declining sales, with their customers being plundered by Xingchen at a ratio of almost two to one. Now, they are venting their anger and trying to win public opinion.

Shortly after, the offensive Weibo post was deleted.

The screenshot was preserved, however.

-

the other side.

Star Technology Building.

Xu Yi was on the phone with the organizers of the auto show.

To coordinate with the Kyoto International Motor Show at the end of the month.

The Kyoto International Motor Show was held in Kyoto from April 25 to May 4.

There are two venues in total:

—The new venue of China International Exhibition Center.

—The old venue of the China International Exhibition Center.

The new hall is the main exhibition hall and the main stage for the launch of major passenger vehicles, luxury cars, and global models.

The old museum is located in Jing'anzhuang and mainly showcases new energy vehicles, components, and a special pavilion for new energy.

This global auto show is quite large in scale.

There were more than 1,000 vehicles on display, including 105 global debuts and a large number of new energy vehicles.

Globally renowned luxury brands such as Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Aston Martin are all on the list of exhibitors in the main pavilions.

To maximize exposure, Xingchen Automotive made reservations with the organizers three to five months in advance and arranged matters such as showroom layout, lighting area, and media shooting locations.

The release is imminent.

It's just a matter of going through the final process details once again.

"Mr. Xu, the main stage launch area and core passageways of the new venue have all been equipped with Starry Sky's large LCD advertising screens. The venue traffic coordinator and exposure resources have also been coordinated. There will be a transition event during the media day. I will have someone send the materials over later..."

"Wang Yongqing, the executive vice president of the Automotive Branch, said very politely."

He personally took charge of arranging the showroom resources for Xingchen Automotive this time.

The communication and coordination between the two parties went smoothly.

At auto shows and during prime media hours where global debuts are held, prime exhibition spaces are not something that can be won by simply bidding with money. Automakers that can secure a place in the main exhibition hall are all well-funded.

The organizers value the resources and traffic brought by the car companies more.

In terms of popularity, Xingchen Automotive has proven its worth at previous auto shows.

In addition, Xingchen also brought together a group of Tier 1 suppliers to hold a joint supply chain exhibition.

This is quite large.

It includes both emerging companies like Konghui Technology and Hesai, as well as heavyweights like Baosteel and Lijing... a total of twenty or thirty supply chain manufacturers.

From a certain perspective, these are a "showcase of advanced technology ecosystem" of the domestic supply chain.

At such international exhibitions, the organizers set both international brand metrics and domestic brand metrics.

Otherwise, if you only have foreign luxury brands while domestic car companies are completely squeezed out, what kind of logic is that?

What do the higher-ups think when they see this?
The scale of resources available to companies like Xingchen Automotive is just right.

What's even more valuable is that it's made in China!
It is also advanced enough.

This is because the organizers are willing to give it full attention.

Besides.

Xingchen Automotive also gave the organizing committee another compelling reason: it would be debuting a globally significant model at the auto show.

A completely domestically produced new energy supercar!

(End of this chapter)