Daily revenue exceeds 60 billion, Lei Jun can't handle the automotive business anymore

The group of people who once scrambled for iPhones is now scrambling for cars.

This is the Xiaomi YU7, which has a starting price of 253,500 yuan. On the evening of June 26, 2025, just 3 minutes after its official launch, the SUV's pre-orders surpassed 200,000 units; within 1 hour, the number of pre-orders surged to over 289,000 units.

At 4:16 PM the next day, Xiaomi Auto officially announced that after 18 hours of sales, the locked order quantity for the Xiaomi YU7 had exceeded 240,000 units. If calculated at an average price, Xiaomi has sold over 60 billion yuan.

Isn't buying a car supposed to cost money? Don't you need to sit in the car and try it out? Has the car really become a fast-moving consumer good? What happened to the promised consumption downgrade? Am I the only one in the world who is poor?

Netizens are just joking around, but the ones truly affected are other car manufacturers.

The day after Xiaomi's press conference, Leapmotor founder and CEO Zhu Jiangming expressed his feelings at a forum in Suzhou, saying, "I was feeling great these days because of the many orders, but after seeing Lei Jun manage to get 300,000 vehicles in just one hour last night, the pressure on us is immense..."

He said it with a smile, but those who understand the underlying pain know what he means. Since 2018, the Chinese automotive market has ended decades of continuous growth and entered a stage of saturation, meaning that if you sell one more car today, someone else will sell one less tomorrow.

During the Xiaomi press conference, an editor from Automotive Business Review was with a group of friends from the automotive industry. A veteran with 20 years of experience in the industry lamented pessimistically, "The automotive elimination round is about to accelerate," to which another person sighed in response.

It is said that before Xiaomi Auto entered the automotive industry, there was a forum specifically discussing "why Xiaomi Auto would not succeed"; before the launch of the Xiaomi YU7, others were analyzing "why the Xiaomi YU7 would not have explosive orders." The current results may have even surprised Lei Jun himself.

During the interview segment after the press conference that evening, when the host handed Lei Jun the order poster on his phone, he paused for a few seconds, possibly counting the zeros.

I don't know what he was thinking at that moment, but competitors were shaken. Huang Zhaokun, head of electric drive and power development at Dongfeng Nissan, stated on social media that such a large order volume could mean users might have to wait over a year for their cars. He even remarked that it is rare to find such "blind loyalty" among brand fans and believed this phenomenon reflects how "groups can lower intelligence." He also pointed out that increasing automotive production capacity involves synchronizing the expansion of thousands of component supply chains, which is far more complex than the mobile phone industry, while Xiaomi seems to be using mobile industry tactics to drive emotions.

Although Huang Zhaokun quickly issued an apology, it was clear that the Chinese automotive industry was stunned.

That evening, Chery also held a press conference titled "Answer," announcing that the first flagship model of the Fengyun series, the Fengyun A9L, was officially available for pre-sale, with a price range of 159,900 - 229,900 yuan. In the face of the massive orders for the Xiaomi SU7, Chery released a poster stating: "Sorry, since the small orders began at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 23, we have only secured 51,971 units. Thank you for your support." Cars are still cars, but is everything about Xiaomi cars a reflection of traditional wisdom or common sense?

Lei Jun "Not relying on marketing"

"An ordinary person might simply say, 'I cooked a bowl of noodles at home this morning,' but in a food company, say a company called Xiaomi, is Xiaomi a food company? I'm not quite sure, but let's just say it is."

On June 15, during the third day of the 2025 17th Xuanyuan Automotive Blue Book Forum, business thinker and head of the New Species Research Institute, Wu Bofan, engaged in an impromptu dialogue with Dr. Jia Ke from Automotive Business Review. They discussed excessive verbal inflation and how simple matters can be made extremely complex.

"The owner of this company said: Through continuous big data research conducted by Xiaomi employees over 300 days and nights, it was astonishingly discovered that 97% of humans experience a strong sense of hunger at exactly 7:03:56 AM, which is a 57% increase compared to 7:00 AM. To properly address this issue, we delved into the differences between flour and rice in providing satiety, and found that flour has a distinct advantage.

We immediately traveled to the crescent land of the Middle East, investing heavily to meticulously develop Xiaomi Air Noodles, which can provide a sense of fullness. Even more impressively, we collaborated with Nongfu Spring to launch Nongfu Ancient Spring, specifically designed for instant noodles. Using this water to prepare noodles can increase satiety by 11%. Xiaomi Air Noodles, dedicated to this era, dedicated to everyone who wakes up early and works hard every day."

This is a joke generated by AI, and the Xiaomi in this story is certainly not the same as the Xiaomi we know.

However, for many years, Lei Jun has been known as the "God of Marketing." During the press conference, after speaking for over two hours, Lei Jun posed a question: "Who is the Xiaomi YU7 designed for?"

His answer was: It is for those who cannot tolerate mediocrity, for those who are always at the forefront of the times; it is also for those who carry responsibilities on their shoulders while still having dreams; for those mothers who send their children to school in the morning and also buy themselves a bouquet of flowers on the way; for those fathers who take their families camping on weekends and still leave a set of fishing gear in the trunk for themselves; it is for those who, amidst the mundane realities of life, still have stars and the sea in their hearts. The Xiaomi YU7 is the most heartfelt and hardcore love letter written by Xiaomi engineers to all those who love life."

In response to a perfect score essay in the college entrance examination, industry insiders commented: "Lei Jun is the founder who understands content marketing the most in today's Chinese business world, ranking higher than his peers." Netizens commented: "In establishing external consensus and creating emotional value, Li Xiang and Li Bin are still elementary school students in front of Lei Jun." Yet Li Xiang and Li Bin are already the top speakers in the automotive circle.

Despite having reached a state of mastery, Lei Jun has expressed on multiple occasions that he does not want to be associated with marketing. After the Xiaomi press conference, Lei Jun responded to the doubts about "relying on marketing," stating, "Opportunities are important, but abilities are even more important."

"After our success this time, some peers packaged it as Xiaomi relying on marketing. Every indicator you assess me on today, every capability, in any dimension, the vast majority of Xiaomi is leading, whether in product research and development, quality, or design." "He said.

Others think you understand marketing, but Lei Jun said I don't rely on marketing. So the question arises, how is Xiaomi's car marketing? Zhang Zheng, founder and CEO of Guangzhou Afanti, told Automotive Industry Review that Xiaomi's car marketing is not Lei Jun's marketing and should be viewed from a larger system.

"The shipment volume of Xiaomi's mobile phones is 180 million units, and he has gained a large customer base that recognizes the brand, which is the first stage rocket; the second stage rocket is the Xiaomi ecological chain; under this large premise, Xiaomi further provides more surprises for fans, and the third stage rocket is the car."

He believes that Xiaomi's victory is a victory of ecology, not a victory of marketing.

"Falami" Surpassing Users

In the adult world, appearance is the primary productive force.

So far, both of Xiaomi's car models have been questioned for alleged "plagiarism." Xiaomi's first model, the SU7, has been dubbed "Porsche Mi" for being too similar to the Porsche Taycan; the Xiaomi YU7 has been mocked as "Falami" for its appearance resembling the Ferrari Purosangue.

The Porsche Taycan is priced at 900,000 yuan; the Ferrari Purosangue is a luxury imported SUV priced at 4.988 million yuan.

Of course, the industry does not call this "plagiarism," but rather "paying tribute to classics." Some designers have expressed their deep concern that the success of the Xiaomi YU7 has sounded the death knell for original design in China, marking a carnival of "paying tribute to classics + original details."

Starting from the results, Xiaomi, which has paid tribute to a circle of classic cars, understands Chinese users. Lei Jun has accurately captured the aspirations of ordinary consumers for the aesthetic design of luxury brands and their pursuit of high cost performance.

"Lei Jun has insight into the growing desire of ordinary consumers for quality. Through the method of paying tribute to classics, note that this is not simple imitation, but innovation combined with local needs," Jia Ke once provided insights at the Xuanyuan Automotive Blue Book Forum, where one of the ten decisions about Chinese cars was: surpassing user expectations is a hard rule. He cited Lei Jun as an example.

In fact, before Xiaomi, the most famous "tribute" brand was Zotye. Many may have forgotten that Zotye had its moments of glory. In 2016, sales exceeded 330,000 units, and its market value once surpassed 40 billion yuan, ranking among the top ten independent brands.

However, Zotye was born at the wrong time. In the era of fuel vehicles, Zotye lacked core technology, its power performance was inadequate, and the automotive supply chain was far from developed, leading to a brief existence.

With the arrival of new energy vehicles, the technological barriers of engines and gearboxes have diminished, battery suppliers have replaced traditional three-electric systems, and Xiaomi cars have the opportunity to redo classic cars along the path of Porsche. Thus, Xiaomi cars understand Zotye, become Zotye, and surpass Zotye.

"In a cutthroat market, the desire for real commercial success surpasses the demand for original design. Achieving originality is too difficult; it’s better to pay tribute to classics. In an era of universal alternatives, many brands have figured this out," explained an automotive designer regarding this phenomenon. "As a netizen said, would you mind if your wife looks like Liu Yifei?" He also gave an example, the ZEEKR 9X is referred to as the "Hangzhou Bay Cullinan" by the outside world. This flagship model of ZEEKR, priced close to one million, elegantly "replaces" the 7 million yuan Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

It can be confirmed that the users of the "Hangzhou Bay Cullinan" and Xiaomi YU7 are not the same group of people. Consumption is descending from top to bottom, but this does not hinder the Chinese people's yearning for beautiful cars.

However, a design leader from a top new force told Automotive Business Review that he believes there will still be brands that firmly believe in the charm of originality and the power of design.

Squeezing Out Order Excess

In just 3 minutes, orders surpassed 200,000, and after the explosive orders for Xiaomi YU7, the biggest controversy lies in the authenticity of the orders. This is a concern for competitors more than the media, as they are all competing for the same market.

Some have questioned scalpers' speculation, as there have indeed been a large number of YU7 order transfers on second-hand trading platforms, with prices ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 yuan, promoting quick locking of orders and early delivery as selling points. One seller wrote in the promotion: "The first batch of car delivery orders, do self-media or videos, recoup the cost in a month, and sell at the original price after a year!"

Others questioned the large deposit. After the press conference, Zhang Xiaoliang, founder and CEO of SoCar Product Strategy Consulting, shared some thoughts on social media: whether to use "large deposit" completely depends on the specific context. For example, this Arabic numeral refers to large deposits, small deposits, attention, or browsing, and does not need to be overly clarified. However, when it comes to sales rankings, sufficient constraints must be added.

Regarding this "implied" text, Zhang Xiaoliang bluntly stated that the traditional large deposit in the automotive industry refers to paying a deposit and locking the order, while Xiaomi refers to refundable and non-locked deposits as large deposits.

"In fact, it is equivalent to Xiaomi Motors mobilizing a group of Mi fans, placing a large deposit, and after posting on social media, many people can directly refund it." He laughed, saying that Xiaomi has redefined the large deposit, "This way of playing, how to put it, is actually a bit of a conceptual shift." He chuckled.

Xiaomi's official website shows that the large deposit amount for YU7 on the night of its launch was 5,000 yuan, which automatically locks the order after 7 days.

"Of course, excluding scalpers and refunds, it cannot be denied that the sales of Xiaomi YU7 will not be too bad, and there should be about twice as many orders as SU7." Zhang Xiaoliang shifted his tone. On June 16, Lei Jun talked about the successful first battle of Xiaomi SU7, stating that in 14 months since its launch, Xiaomi SU7 sold 250,000 units.

In his view, the essence of purchasing a Xiaomi car is instant gratification, stimulating users' dopamine, making them feel they can easily obtain a car similar to products worth millions. From a short-term marketing perspective, this will definitely stimulate the market, but in the long term, it needs to be reconsidered.

"Xiaomi is not simply repeating the tactics of Zhongtai; Zhongtai is purely copying. Xiaomi has many of its own moats, with core capabilities in intelligence and ecology, while packaging the product's appeal. On the basis of attractive design, it adds a sense of satisfaction, helping users realize their dream of owning a luxury car within reach." Zhang Xiaoliang said: "This is better than the high-end models of Zotye back in the day, after all, Zotye only managed to replicate, without any innovation."

Author of this article: Windsor, source: Automotive Business Review, original title: "Earning over 60 billion in a day, Lei Jun has made it impossible for car makers."

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