What are people actually expecting when they are expecting Li Yinan?

This article was reproduced from the Auto Car Weekly public account.

Author: Karakush

In contemporary China, a middle-aged man who is unfamiliar with electric cars is not a successful businessman.

This seems to have become the standard for self-examination among contemporary Chinese entrepreneurs. Anyone who is not proficient in this area is lacking in knowledge.

Yesterday, a new car company called “NIO Inno” officially appeared. The founder, 51-year-old Li Yinan, previously worked on a noble electric two-wheeler called Little Bull.

If this is the only point, it is self-evident that Li also has many other important identities. He is the rumored successor of Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Guangwan Network, the man who took a beating for Huawei’s Hong Kong office, one of the only three people in the world who could replace Baidu’s CTO Li Yanhong, operator of China Mobile’s 12580, venture capitalist, and former prisoner in Guangdong Province.

Regardless of the ups and downs, he is a man of great talent. People naturally look forward to what kind of company he will lead, what kind of products he will produce, and how he will overturn the automotive industry.

Don’t ask, because there is none yet.

“Three Nos” Car Production

The car brand launched by NIO Inno is called “Zi You Jia”, which implies effortless and free driving. Combined with Li Yinan’s personal experience, this name expresses the desire for freedom and is also an expression of life that is too difficult to bear. So please stop criticizing it.

The first product, NV, is a medium-to-large-sized high-end SUV that can accommodate up to five people. It offers both pure electric and extended-range power.

Designed based on the concept of urban exploring, as explained by Li Yinan, it means that it is primarily designed for urban transportation rather than off-road vehicles; it must meet all needs and have a certain level of exploring ability. This also “answers all performance-related questions”.

It is probably enough, and there are some highlights. For example, the off-road performance is said to be “better than most cars on the market, and customers can clearly perceive this feature based on a few specific parameters”.

But the parameters haven’t been released, and there are no pictures either.

As for what it looks like, only privileged media who have been to the Changzhou factory have seen it. Two models of the early design were displayed there, which are said to be 100% identical to the production car. According to various descriptions, the appearance is square and similar to the Ford Bronco or Rivian R1S; the interior layout is similar to the XPeng, with a large central touch screen.

As it is a high-end car, it will use some embroidery and tightening techniques, as well as “black chrome plating technology that most luxury brands use” on some buttons, handles, and switches.

As for the intelligent configuration, the intelligent cockpit is self-developed, and the intelligent driving is defined by the company and developed by suppliers, with the ability reportedly reaching level L2. Therefore, the car does not have the current noisy hardware of a laser radar and uses horizontal dominance to defeat excessive competition, making Li the first person in the industry to be anti-excessive competition.”New technologies must be based on improving user experience and absolute safety,” said Li Yinan. “There are many reasons why there is no configuration, and I don’t want to explain them one by one. I just think it’s a good choice for us at this stage.”

Regarding the product itself, or the information about it, there seems to be no clear answers to many key questions, leading to a hidden anti-climax for the high expectations from the outside world.

Firstly, there is no positioning. It is undoubtedly high-end, but there is no price (rumors suggest 200,000 or 300,000), and there is no defined target group, and they “don’t want” to define it. In the words of Li Yinan, “I don’t want to define our target group, I don’t want to define our age range, and we don’t want to compete with anyone. The most important thing is whether customers who buy our Ziyoujia NV can feel proud.” In Li’s opinion, whether it’s a single man, a mistress, a family of three, or a family of four, they’re all suitable for Ziyoujia NV.

This idea is pretty good. Having one or two more children does not change your needs or taste. How can a label frame people as middle-class, otaku, or a dad? Is it polite?

However, if you have one more child, you may be out. Li Yinan is also very straightforward. Our car only has a large five-seater, and this size is chosen to give customers a more comfortable and relaxed feeling. If you are a family with three children, you may not be suitable for us, unless you have multiple cars; otherwise, we will not be able to meet their requirements.

“We’re not trying to meet everyone’s needs.”

This sentence reflects many aspects very bluntly. For example, the previously mentioned LiDAR, Li Yinan also pointed out that if it is necessary, Ziyoujia may not be able to meet customers’ requirements.

Of course, whether we want it or not, it seems to have a lot of attitude, and in terms of car models, it actually cuts to the lowest common denominator.

Secondly, there is no competitiveness. At least from the revealed level of face, such as launching a new car in 2022 with this level of smart driving, it seems a bit rural. However, Li Yinan believes that “the least important thing is competitiveness, and the most important thing is what we can bring to customers.”

What is that thing? – Pride. “Can we make the vast majority of users feel proud just by owning or driving this product? This is what we care about most, and we don’t care about competing with anyone.”

“Pride is the starting point for everything we do.”

This is a bit like magic. After all, according to popular understanding, pride must also have a basis; otherwise, it is just knocking your head against the mirror.However, it seems that the product is not very luxurious. “We want to give customers a luxurious feeling, but we are not actually luxury because everyone knows that luxury goods require history.”

The mode seems to be “unclear”, only knowing that the user operation team has been formed, working on user content, points, and grading.

In addition, they also honestly admitted their unreliability. “We cannot guarantee that the car will have no problems. There are always problems with complex industrial products like cars during the production process. There will inevitably be recalls for various reasons, although we are trying our best, they will occur.”

They still have to release more product information and brand building to be proud.

Thirdly, there is no relationship with Xiaoniu. The outside world always wants to associate Li Yinan with Xiaoniu Electric and use one success to prove the success of the other. Some people always ask if there is any experience, team, or technology that can be transferred from Xiaoniu to Ziyuejia.

Li Yinan is very honest that he has no experience and that the complexity of the automobile industry is at least three orders of magnitude higher than that of two-wheelers. “I also want to borrow, but I really can’t do it.”

The one who can benefit the most is probably just good financing. Ziyuejia has received investments from institutions such as IDG Capital and COATUE, with a total of $500 million in Series A financing. Li Yinan also said that they did not build cars in the past because they felt they could not raise $3 billion to do this in 2014; now they are building cars, and they feel they have a good chance of raising this money.

Even with many adverbs, it is still confidence.

In addition to raising money, he also needs to participate in various aspects of the company and learn a lot of things he does not understand. This project started in November 2018.

Li Yinan said that in the past three years, he has not taken a day off, nor has he been short of money. Some people feel that we are quite slow, and I also feel that we are not fast enough, but I think good products are polished out. Cars need to be balanced in many aspects and have countless details, involving a lot of work. I think our time is very tight, but maybe others are much stronger than us.

They are not really slow. According to a 36Kr report in September 2020, the team had only just over 100 people during the sample car phase. Within a year, the core R&D team had grown to nearly 1,000 people, reportedly from mainstream domestic and foreign first-tier automakers, with an average of more than 10 years of experience; the car has also completed three rounds of engineering trial production, and completed the first round of winter and summer tests, and is currently undergoing the second round of winter testing.They have acquired the factory of Domy Motors, formerly under Zotye Auto, and are currently renovating and calibrating it to increase capacity to 180,000 vehicles per year. It is expected to begin small-scale production in March 2022, with delivery to the first batch of users scheduled for September.

To many, it appears that the intelligent electric vehicle (EV) battlefield of 2021 is moving slowly, with timing being the issue. As with ride-hailing software in 2016 and bike-sharing in 2018, retail competition has ended, and the state and traditional giants are starting to take the lead, scammers have taken advantage of investors, and subsidies have been collected to the fullest.

What are the benefits right now, and what does XPeng Motors have going for it?

Beware of Idolization

All things considered, Li Xiang is still the greatest and maybe the only advantage. Even though there is not much substantive communication with the outside world during this phase, everyone still gives him encouragement and admiration. This is a privilege that only Lei Jun enjoyed when he announced his car-building plans, and everyone else was met with rotten eggs.

He embodies traits that the media loves: genius, ups and downs, an unfortunate fate, and frequently saying things that reflect low emotional intelligence. This makes for a good story, but it may not necessarily prove that he has good ideas, is capable of making good cars, or is a good carmaker.

In this respect, Li Xiang and Lei Jun are similar. They both yearn for a grand success. One month before building their cars, Li Xiang stood in the corner of Nasdaq, watching BitAuto ring the bell at its IPO. Due to his imprisonment for insider trading, which was less than five years ago, he was unable to serve as a senior executive at XPeng. This was supposed to be his last attempt at starting a business. Perhaps during that moment, he decided to leap into the era again.

For them, entrepreneurship is a gamble that involves their lives and personal reputations. Therefore, the racecourse and business must be adequate; otherwise, it might as well not exist. Except for cars, there is nothing else they can do. Before flattering them, it is still critical to remain calm.

Compared to making absurd praises, Li Xiang is relatively low-key. When he established his previous start-up, he gave a very passionate speech; this time, he rarely speaks.

When asked by the media if he has any new insights into entrepreneurship, he replies, “Honestly, no, sorry.”

Naturally, there is always some temperament under humility. For instance, when asked how he perceives the possibility that there may only be five to ten carmakers left globally, he responds that he has no opinion since his car isn’t out yet, and he’s not qualified to discuss it — the third-ranked person declares that only three will remain, and the fifth-ranked person declares that only five will remain. He also declines to engage in that discussion.To Li Yinan, China’s unique supply chain environment provides the earliest conditions for any start-up company to survive. There are countless supply chain companies in China, including local and international, state-owned and private, and informal and formal. Under such a rich supply chain system, companies such as Niu could be established, and even quickly grow to 200,000 units, achieving a relatively large scale effect. This opportunity is not just limited to China, but is present in any corner of the world.

This is the opportunity of our time.

As he said in his last entrepreneurial speech, “No matter how disappointed we are with many things, there is no reason to be disappointed with the best era.” Although he is in his fifties, we wish him to do something interesting like a young man, leaving his marks on the passage of time.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.