Emir BardakçıLei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, in his most anticipated annual speech, shared how the remarkable journey of Xiaomi could be replicated in an automotive enterprise such as SU7. He inspired technology innovation, set audacious goals, united binding for the team, and demonstrated leadership by example.
The Bold Leap into Automotive Manufacturing Lei Jun suddenly remembered the scene on March 30, 2021, when Xiaomi announced it would formally enter car manufacturing. The bold action met skepticism and great expectations. Although once valued at ten billion dollars, Xiaomi Auto decided that Lei Jun must be personally liable and “pay all the money and bear all the risks”. It was more than financial; he toned a commitment and courage call within Xiaomi.
Design Philosophy and Development Process
Lei Jun, therefore, described the Xiaomi SU7 as “a car that engineers want to drive.” His own attendance at the R&D phase may provide meaning: it is a philosophy of the creators having to love their creation.
Lei Jun even borrowed a lot of cars for the team to drive themselves and wrote over 200,000 words in detailed reports. The logic is very simple: “The first step in building a car is to drive it yourself.” By deciding to develop a purely electric car first, Xiaomi wanted to create an “unconventional path” right from the core technology itself.
Executive Involvement and Real-Car Road Tests
The relentless executive testing was proof enough of the business prowess of Xiaomi in proving the vehicle’s quality. When one netizen quipped that the quality would be determined by whether executives would drive, turning a blind eye toward it was not on Lei Jun’s agenda. Every single executive at Xiaomi was involved in testing, racking up over 100,000 kilometers with Lei Jun himself clocking more than 5,000 kilometers, which included one long drive from Beijing to Shanghai.
Challenges and Innovations in Battery Technology
On the technical side, Lei Jun has focused on developing a battery for Xiaomi SU7. Xiaomi has developed more than ten battery packs, investing tens of millions of yuan while pushing every supplier involved, like CATL, to their limits. Only through this proactive pushing took Xiaomi to establish a self-owned battery pack factory,. focusing on innovation and high quality.
Unity and Consensus
Among the Team Lei Jun talked about the cohesiveness of the car team, especially after a marathon meeting post-Spring Festival in 2022, which lasted 21 days—such discussions sometimes starting from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., reaching crucial consensus that turned this team into real comrades-in-arms. This has then been refined further at another level during the pandemic, when one R&D engineer developed super motor software from home, adequately describing the team’s power and commitment.
Rigorous Testing and Market Reception
The Xiaomi SU7 went through testing on the two extremes: winter tests in Heihe and summer trials in Turpan, Xinjiang. Actually, as designed, these tests exposed the car to all sorts of harsh challenges and had to bear them—speaking more towards the vehicle’s strength.
Contrary to early market doubts expressed over the sales potential of the Xiaomi SU7—some even estimating 3,000 units per month—Lei Jun boldly set his target at 76,000. This goal obviously showed two major concerns on his mind: poor sales on one hand and failure to satisfy high demand on the other. Quite the contrary to the doubts, its huge success made this just an initial stage of what Lei Jun referred to as “the real long march.”
Lei Jun’s speech in 2024 was more of a review of the journey that Xiaomi had gone through to enter the automotive industry; it spoke of the power of vision, unity, and perseverance. The development of the Xiaomi SU7 is then evidence that Xiaomi is not only going into the automotive market but is here to redefine it. Lei Jun’s leadership, with veins of commitment from his team, would set a completely different benchmark for innovation and excellence in the industry. Farther ahead in this journey, while it unfolds, the world would very keenly witness how much higher an ambitious voyage that is going to be.
Xiaomi deserves the greatest respect, in my purest opinion.
If you try to put obstacles in the way of the Asians, they build a Chinese wall out of it, that is phenomenal and unique.
80 years ago they were just peasants living in straw huts, now they have modern skyscrapers in super metropolises.
Proof of an absolutely industrious and willing people.
Communism does weld people together.
Unthinkable in Germany, here envy has priority.
Instead of helping a neighbor, we would rather spy on them and be happy if their project fails.
In any case, Xiaomi works extremely cleverly and extremely consciously, as well as innovatively and purposefully, like no other company in the world.
If Apple had succeeded in such a coup, their share price would be as high as the moon…fact.
The global market has extreme fears that China will overrun the globe, and they already have, will, would or would have.
I believe very strongly in this company, even if their margins are still kept low.
Xiaomi researches, invests, invents, produces and distributes at its best…they have the best people around them, which is very indicative of the company’s future policy.
It is also incredible what this company produces.
A fantastic company, ingenious and unrivaled speed of development from their short past.
Innovative, one step ahead and constantly new and productive ideas, I am extremely excited about the future of Xiaomi.
I grant this creator the right to live forever…I really celebrate this unbridled courage, will and success…on a brutal business basis and in this short time on an intercontinental level.
I wish my mind was as determined, but unfortunately it’s wandering around somewhere naked with a whisky coke 🫣🥳.
I’m sure that Xiaomi will create a colonizable 2nd planet for us in less than 50 years.
In any case, it would be really nice if their shares finally exploded upwards.
I have been a loyal shareholder for 5 years and will continue to be for another 5 years…I really advise everyone to add this share to their portfolio.
There is no comparable company value in my opinion, which enjoys such global rank and power and at the same time their share value is extremely low compared to other monopolies.
I believe that no matter what the future brings, Xiaomi will definitely continue to do the absolutely right thing.
And that’s exactly the point, with many of its own researched production possibilities, Xiaomi will always be flexible…and that with very smart and prudent, yet risky visionaries.
If you can read the future and adapt quickly, then you are absolutely competitive…!!!!
Xia Rule 😎
Very Strong buy….it will be legendary in Future Time