Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 391 Hailan Overseas Factory Construction Plan
May 19th, Shenzhen HaiLan Automobile Headquarters.

HaiLan Automobile held its annual new product launch conference. As HaiLan Automobile continued to expand in scale and influence, coupled with the fact that the electric vehicle wave has already formed, sales of various electric vehicles have gradually increased around the world.

Therefore, the launch of Hailan Automobile has attracted more and more attention.

After all, last year, due to the strong stimulation of Hailan Automobile on the global new energy vehicle market, the total sales of new energy passenger vehicles worldwide exceeded two million units, of which Hailan Automobile's sales reached 980,000 units, accounting for nearly 50% of the global market share.

More importantly, the average selling price of HaiLan Automobile's cars is still very high. The cheapest one costs more than 350,000 yuan, and the main sales volume is around 400,000 yuan. Then there are also two luxury models, HaiLan SEC and HaiLan SEV, with an average sales price of around 600,000 yuan.

In addition to HaiLan Automobile, the sales of other new energy vehicle manufacturers have also been boosted by the rapid rise of HaiLan Automobile and the resulting explosion in the overall new energy vehicle market.

For example, Tesla sells about 100,000 vehicles a year, and its growth rate is very obvious.

BYD has sold nearly 200,000 new energy vehicle models, with an equally astonishing growth rate.

Domestic manufacturers such as BAIC, GAC, FAW, and SAIC have also successively launched new energy vehicle models, with good sales ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of units.

Foreign automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, and Renault have also sold tens of thousands of new energy vehicles.

The entire new energy vehicle market worldwide has been driven by HaiLan Automobile... Mainly because HaiLan Automobile's performance is too dazzling, making all car companies jealous, and then they think that new energy vehicles are the future... Then major car companies began to invest huge sums of money in research and development in the field of new energy vehicles. At the same time, many countries have also begun to introduce policies to support new energy vehicles.

Some charging pile companies have also begun to expand on a large scale and are actively deploying public charging piles...The current development of public charging piles is actually very rapid.

In the beginning, Hailan Automobile had to work hard to build charging piles on its own. Later, in order to expand rapidly and popularize the electric vehicle market, Hailan Automobile decided to open source its own super-fast charging technology, allowing any company to use Hailan Automobile's super-fast charging technology standards and corresponding patents free of charge.

This move also makes Hailan Automobile's charging standard directly the unified electric vehicle charging standard in the country... If all electric vehicles want to be sold in the country, they must adopt or be compatible with this charging standard.

As a result, a lot of domestic capital and even the power grid have begun to enter the large-scale construction of charging piles... The charging piles used are all of the Hailan Automobile standard.

At the same time, electric vehicles produced by other car companies can also use any public charging pile in the country, including Hailan Automobile’s own charging piles.

Relying on its initial technological and market advantages, Hailan Automobile forcibly promoted the unified domestic charging technology standards, laying the foundation for the subsequent large-scale development of domestic electric vehicles and its own development.

Now, even Tesla or other imported electric cars from foreign brands that want to enter the domestic market for sale must be compatible with this unified charging standard, otherwise they will not be able to obtain a sales license.

Overseas companies, such as Tesla, want to enter the domestic market to build charging stations, and their charging stations must also be compatible with this unified charging standard.

Overseas, HaiLian Automobile has also made a large-scale layout in the charging pile market, building charging piles on a large scale in several major overseas markets such as the United States, Europe, ASEAN, and Brazil.

By the way, Hailan Automobile's charging pile business also has the widest coverage in the world. It has charging pile businesses in more than 50 countries around the world. The number of charging piles has exceeded 80,000 and is still growing rapidly... It has even become the only charging pile technical standard in many countries.

Of course, the reason why HaiLan Automobile's charging pile standard can become a unified standard in China and even other countries... is largely because HaiLan Automobile has opened up the technical standard and abandoned all patents. Any company or individual can use the technical standard for free... Otherwise, how could other countries use HaiLan Automobile's technical standard.

Of course, HaiLan Auto is not the company with the most charging piles. In fact, there are several companies in China that have more charging piles than HaiLan Auto, and some even have more than 100,000.

The rapid development of public charging piles around the world is an important factor supporting the continued rapid growth in global sales of new energy vehicles.

This is also the core purpose of Hailan Automobile...to further promote electric vehicles!

After all, Hailan Automobile is the largest electric vehicle company in the world with a market share of nearly 50%. Expanding the entire electric vehicle market will drive the growth of its own car sales.

Such Hailan cars have already had a huge influence around the world, and the release of each generation of its models will attract attention and a lot of analysis in the automotive industry.

This year, news has already been announced that Hailan Automobile will release a mid-size SUV this year to further expand its product line.

This has made many people look forward to it. Many people like HaiLan Automobile, but they want to buy SUV models... However, the current SUV model of HaiLan Automobile, that is, HaiLan SEV, is very expensive, with an average price of 600,000 yuan. The price of a high-configuration model can even reach 800,000 or 900,000 yuan.

This means that Hailan Automobile's large SUV models are not available to ordinary middle-class families.

Even middle-class families in developed countries would find it very difficult to buy the Hailan SEV... Hailan car models are more expensive in overseas countries.

The entry-level Hailan SEV is priced at RMB 550,000 in the country.

However, in the United States, after paying tariffs and other additional local costs, the price of the car will reach 700,000... and this is not counting the different consumption taxes in each state.

The price of Hailan Automobile's vehicles has always been cheaper in China and more expensive abroad. As for how expensive it is abroad, it depends on local tariffs and other types of taxes, marketing, after-sales and other costs!

Hailan Automobile often sets the purchase price based on the offshore wholesale price by directly adding various costs in different countries' markets.

Anyway, Hailan Automobile only makes money at the offshore wholesale price... This is also the reason why the price difference of Hailan Automobile in markets around the world is often very large. This has nothing to do with Hailan Automobile itself, and it mainly depends on local conditions.

Whether in China or abroad, the price of Hailan cars is very expensive...especially large SUV models.

This also leads to a situation where many people want to buy Hailan Automobile's SUV models but cannot afford it.

This further limits the overall sales of Hailan Automobile.

In response to this situation, Hailan Automobile launched a more affordable mid-size SUV: Hailan MEV!

When Bao Yongyan officially announced the model at the press conference, potential consumers were naturally very happy, because the car looked as sci-fi as ever, with all kinds of intelligent driving and internal black technology configurations.

However, the starting price is only 3 yuan. At the same time, this starting price is also equipped with a standard intelligent driving solution like the Hailan SLMC, providing basic assisted driving combining the ordinary version of laser radar and pure vision solution, which can achieve L level assisted driving.

As for the more advanced ones, which can even achieve L4 level 'advanced intelligent assisted driving' to a certain extent, it needs to be purchased separately, and the price has remained unchanged for many years: !

Of course, few owners of the Hailan SLMC model would choose the advanced plan of one hundred thousand... It is too expensive and not cost-effective. The basic plan is not unusable.

The Hailan MEV, with a starting price of RMB 350,000, is a mid-size SUV that is aimed directly at middle-class families. It competes in the market as a daily means of transportation in the city and a family car.

Therefore, we referred a lot to Hailan SLMC in many details and made a lot of targeted optimizations for home use.

But the most eye-catching thing is the new generation of semi-solid-state batteries equipped in this model.

At the press conference, Bao Yongyan praised this semi-solid-state battery to a great extent, from its energy density to its service life to its safety.

For ordinary consumers, this kind of boasting is just for fun and at most they pay some attention to it. The Hailan MEV equipped with this battery has an amazing range of 650 kilometers in its top-end pure electric long-range version... This is a very amazing range that is enough to alleviate the mileage anxiety of many people.

If it still doesn’t work... don’t worry, there is an extended-range version... The extended-range version of the Hailan MEV, when fully charged and fully fueled, coupled with Hailan Automobile’s excellent power management, energy recovery and other technologies, the comprehensive range can reach an astonishing 1,200 kilometers, and the pure electric range can also reach 300 kilometers.

Quite exaggerated.

Such exaggerated battery life is due to the high energy density, low weight and small size brought by semi-solid batteries!
The energy density of 350 watt-hours per kilogram is no joke... It is a full 40% increase over the 250 watt-hours per kilogram of the most advanced ternary lithium battery.

At the same time, Bao Yongyan also announced at the press conference that the new generation of other models under Hailan Company, such as the 17 Hailan SLMC, the 17 Hailan SEC series two-door convertible sports car, the 17 Hailan SEV, the 17 Hailan SLC and other models, will all be replaced with semi-solid-state batteries, and the old models will be discontinued.

The top-of-the-line cruising range of many of the above-mentioned models has basically reached more than 650 kilometers. Among them, the large luxury sedan Hailan SLC is even more exaggerated. Because of its large size, the pure electric range is directly increased to more than 700 kilometers.

Therefore, the shock or excitement that this battery has brought to many automobile manufacturers is far greater than that of the simple Hailan MEV mid-size SUV model.

Many technology media also quickly reported on the news of Hailan Automobile's semi-solid-state battery on the same day...

"Hai Lan Automobile launches battery black technology: semi-solid-state battery, pure electric range exceeds 700 kilometers!"

"Unveiling the secrets of Hailan Automobile's semi-solid-state battery, what makes it so excellent?"

"Comparison between semi-solid batteries and traditional liquid batteries!"

"Would you sell the Hailan MEV with a range of 650 kilometers?"

Among the many news... there is one piece of news that is not very eye-catching. That is that Bao Yongyan of Hailan Automobile actually released the new generation of Hailan SEC two-door sports car models at the press conference. There are hardtop models: Hailan SEC-8 and convertible models: Hailan SEC-9.

The sports car is built on the Hailan SEC platform. It has a very dazzling appearance and a starting price of 700,000 yuan. It is positioned as an entry-level sports car. The maximum acceleration is very good, reaching 2.25 seconds during professional testing.

However, after the car was released on the same day, it did not cause much heated discussion. People were all discussing semi-solid-state batteries and Hailan MEV.

As for sports cars...this thing is still too niche. Apart from some young people who like sports cars, not many people pay attention to this car.

Hailan Automobile had anticipated this situation... Hailan Automobile had never intended to make money from sports cars.

Making sports cars is more about enhancing brand value... It doesn't matter how many are sold, what matters is that people know that Hailan Automobile has sports cars.

In addition to this entry-level sports car, Hailan Automobile even plans to launch an electric supercar next year... and then the initial model will be limited to 100 units for global sales.

Of course, this is not a real limited edition, but for an electric supercar that costs tens of thousands or even two million yuan, it would be quite good if the annual sales could reach 100 units.

If the sales are really good and the limited edition of 299 units are sold out, then the car body will be slightly modified, the color will be changed to make a limited edition model of units... In short, Hailan Automobile has made up its mind that every super sports car under its brand must be a limited edition.

Well, it’s limited to the body and the colour, but the interior is actually the same.

For a mid-to-high-end car brand like Hailan Automobile, a sports car is a type of car that is useless if you have it and may even lose money, but it is really necessary to not have it.

Therefore, we have to do it even if it means losing money!
The sports car version of Hailan SEC did not cause much excitement, but the mid-size SUV Hailan MEV, which was released at the same time, performed very well after the official pre-order was released. Bao Yongyan and others still underestimated the superstition of a large number of middle- and high-income groups in China for mid-size SUV models... In addition, Hailan Automobile, as a high-tech giant, beat a large number of foreign automobile manufacturers in the field of electric vehicles, which helped the Chinese people earn enough face.

Therefore, the Chinese people’s support for Hailan cars is actually very strong... Many people feel that by buying Hailan cars they are supporting the national industry.

Many ordinary people, because of their narrow vision and insufficient knowledge, may continue to blindly believe in foreign brands, thinking that imported cars are the best, joint venture cars are second, and domestic cars are rubbish.

But in this high-income group, their horizons are broader and they can see more of the real situation overseas.

After seeing it more, you will realize how awesome HaiLan Automobile is... It has surpassed a large number of overseas automobile manufacturers on a global scale. At the same time, HaiLan Automobile has made automobile companies around the world very alert and they have also followed suit to develop electric vehicles.

Especially during this stage, Chinese people particularly like to make various comparisons with foreigners, and they also particularly like to listen to foreigners praising the various good things about their country... So many foreigners come here specifically to do this business: praising China... finding all kinds of angles to praise it, and then making money after gaining traffic.

In this case, a product that is very popular overseas and widely recognized internationally can often gain high recognition from the Chinese people.

This was the case with Zhiyun Group’s mobile phones in the past, and it is also the case with Hailan Automobile’s cars now.

On many short video platforms, there are a lot of videos about Hailan cars being sold, used, and reviewed overseas. Many people watch...

Then after watching it, you will have a sense of psychological satisfaction, which will increase your identification with Hailan Automobile.

Especially some people in their thirties or forties who have some net worth. They are the ones who have experienced all kinds of hardships when they were young: they used to feel depressed when watching the news, and they were bullied every other day.

Now that they are older and have more money on hand, they are happy to spend money to support these top domestic companies.

And they...are the main consumer force in the mid-to-high-end product market. If we capture them, the mid-to-high-end market will basically be secure.

Zhiyun's S series mobile phones were so popular in China back then. Back then, there really was a large group of middle and upper class people who were proud to use Zhiyun S series mobile phones... Of course, this was because Zhiyun phones were really awesome and the best in the world; but it is undeniable that many people did not care about the technical parameters of the phone. They bought Zhiyun phones simply to support domestic mobile phones.

At that time, from institutions to government-run enterprises, to the management and technical personnel of private enterprises, almost everyone had a Zhiyun S series mobile phone...

If I don’t have a Zhiyun S phone, I’d be embarrassed to attend a dinner party…

And now Hailan Automobile is also following the same trend.

At the beginning, HaiLan Automobile was positioned as a black-tech toy in the market. It was advanced, but still a toy. The customers who bought the car were all rich second-generations, executives or bosses in the technology industry... Ordinary people, especially a large number of middle-class families, didn't really care.

And it’s similar both at home and abroad.

This is also the core reason why the sales of the Hailan SEC and Hailan SEV models experienced a surge and then a rapid decline... For high-end toys, the potential market is too niche, even the global market combined is only that small.

This situation was truly changed when Hailan Automobile launched the mid-size sedan Hailan SLMC. Hailan Automobile began to truly enter middle-class families, thereby driving the total sales of basketball cars to reach one million units.

Because a large group of rich guys think this car is very good, decent enough, and it is prestigious to drive it.

And it can also make you appear patriotic!
As for performance, high-tech and the like, they know more or less, but they don't really care... Anyway, they just need to know that Hailan cars are awesome.

After all, HaiLan Automobile can beat foreign car brands, how could it be worse?
Besides, the entry-level version is priced at 350,000 yuan, so it can’t be that bad.

This is one of the many reasons why Hailan SLMC sales have exploded in the country…

And so, unlike what many people think, the customers of Hailan Automobile are all young people. In fact, the main customer group of Hailan SLMC is 34-year-old middle-aged men, followed by financially affluent women around 30 years old...

Women buy this car not only for the brand and the high-tech, but also because the car looks very sci-fi and the interior is very beautiful...

In short, she is very good-looking, which appeals to the aesthetic tastes of a large number of wealthy women.

There are actually quite few young car owners... Not for any reason, it's simply because young people can't afford it. The entry-level version is priced at 350,000 yuan, and the landing price is 400,000 yuan. Very few young people from ordinary families can afford it, even children from middle-class families.

Therefore, the owners of the Hailan SLMC are mainly men in their thirties and forties from middle-class families and women around thirty years old.

However, the Hailan SLMC is just a sedan. Although its sales are good, it still has limitations... Because SUVs are king in the domestic automobile market, consumers are more willing to pay a premium for SUV models.

This is also the reason why HaiLan SLMC sells better overseas and its domestic sales are relatively poor.

However, all this changed after the launch of the Hailan MEV mid-size SUV.

In just three days, the orders for Hailan MEV have reached 50,000 units... There have been a large number of consumers inquiring about the official website and flagship stores across the country, and then placing orders without hesitation.

Compared with the SLMC mid-size sedan, the MEV mid-size SUV with the same price is more popular among middle-class families.

This situation is not only true in China, but also in many overseas regions.

Three days later, Hailan MEV officially entered the ASEAN market and was launched for sale in the Thai market, with quite good orders.

Then Europe and the United States also released and launched it!

When this model triggered a new round of buying frenzy in various countries, Hailan Automobile's overseas factory construction plan also began to unfold.

However... Hailan Automobile's current round of overseas factory construction plans does not include the European factory construction plan that has been negotiated for a long time, but only Thailand in ASEAN and Brazil in South America.

The reason is simple. The European consortium has put pressure on Hailan Automobile in various negotiations, trying to obtain many of Hailan Automobile's core technologies...even smart driving and battery technology.

After hearing the other party's negotiation requirements, Xu Shenxue personally ordered a suspension of the negotiations and canceled all plans to invest in setting up an electric car factory in Europe!

What a joke! Being able to set up an assembly plant there and use local products for non-core components is already a huge sign of sincerity from Xu Shenxue. After all, the automobile industry is relatively special and the tariff barriers are too large. If the other party is willing to use an assembly plant in exchange for the market route, Xu Shenxue is also willing to make certain compromises.

If it were the consumer electronics industry, Xu Shenxue wouldn't even want to move the assembly plant there... Anyway, the entire industrial chain is in my hands, and you have no other choice, so you can buy it or not.

But the other party is actually thinking about asking Hailan Automobile to transfer its battery technology and the more core autonomous driving technology... What a pipe dream.

The core of Hailan Automobile's autonomous driving technology is artificial intelligence... Handing over autonomous driving technology is equivalent to handing over artificial intelligence technology... How is this possible?

This is one of the main weapons used by Xu Shenxue and the American consortiums in the technological competition. You Europeans want to take it away just by opening your mouth, but the American consortiums are not as greedy and stupid as you.

And the other party also wants semi-solid-state batteries in battery technology... It's crazy.

Tesla is self-aware. It never mentioned any battery technology from the beginning to the end. It only asked Hailan Automobile whether this semi-solid-state battery can be supplied to the outside world. If you sell it, I have a large order... starting at 200,000 sets. We can make money together!

However, Hailan Automobile's batteries are never supplied to the outside world.

Finally, Xu Shenxue proposed a compromise solution, allowing Hailan Automobile to license some of its patents to Ningdai Battery in the form of patent fee authorization, control the technology, let Ningdai Battery develop relatively inferior semi-solid batteries, and then supply semi-solid batteries to all third-party customers through Ningdai Battery... these customers also include Tesla.

After all, Xu Shenxue is in the industrial chain. Instead of not selling and forcing overseas automobile companies to find other manufacturers to develop semi-solid state batteries, it would be better for him to sell them first and then block the way for foreign manufacturers... In this way, he can still hold the batteries in his hands and hold them back at any time, just like what he is doing now.

Based on the principle of controlling the industrial chain, if nothing unexpected happens, Tesla and even other domestic or foreign car companies' electric vehicles will be able to use Shangningdai Battery's semi-solid-state batteries in two years... Tesla has even placed an order in advance and paid a deposit.

Look, even the Americans just want to try to buy semi-solid batteries, and they are too lazy to ask about artificial intelligence technology. They just want to find Xu Shenxue to purchase AI graphics cards... Asking directly will lead to huge unpleasantness. We are not fools, and there is no need to do this.

As long as Xu Shenxue's AI training graphics card and terminal computing power card are not stuck, they will turn a blind eye.

However, the old European consortiums think that their own market is very important, so important that they can be exchanged for semi-solid-state battery technology and artificial intelligence technology!
Xu Shenxue didn't even bother to explain and directly ordered to stop the negotiations and terminate the investment plan...

Xu Shenxue not only stopped investing directly, he also directly caused the entire supply chain of the smart electric vehicle industry to withdraw investment. Ningdai's original plan to invest in a battery factory in a joint venture with a German company has now been suspended...

Xu Shenxue's company has the most shares in Ningdai. Although he has not achieved controlling stake, other shareholders are basically willing to follow Xu Shenxue's lead... Even if other power battery manufacturers want to go there, Xu Shenxue will not allow them to do so. If they dare to go there, he will block your lithium supply in a matter of minutes...

Don't forget that Xu Shenxue also controls more than 90% of the world's lithium mining capacity...

Xu Shenxue is very dissatisfied with the European consortium...

Although I didn’t say it explicitly, the meaning is this: If you keep talking nonsense, I will completely ban you…

Today it’s batteries, tomorrow it’s computing chips, and the day after tomorrow it’s sensors… If you still want to build smart electric cars, go home and have fun!
Compared to the huge appetite in Europe, the United States is relatively straightforward... Don't expect to build a factory there, as they don't welcome you and are preparing to impose tariffs. However, they are just considering it... Because as soon as they imposed tariffs, Tesla had to stop production due to lack of chips and batteries... By the way, the same is true for Ford and GM's assisted driving vehicles.

So it’s actually quite embarrassing for Americans themselves now!

This blockade is not the right thing, and not blocking it is not the right thing either!

After all, you can't expect Xu Shenxue not to beat you up after you slap him...

Compared to the troubles in the US and European markets, the ASEAN and South American markets are much simpler... not that complicated. The other party welcomes HaiLan Automobile to invest and is willing to offer very generous preferential measures and even support policies. They don't even think about asking for some of HaiLan Automobile's core technologies. They are happy if they want an assembly plant... They can't handle anything too complicated.

They have small ambitions and just want to exchange the market for some assembly plant technology and then generate some jobs and tax revenue.

In this case, cooperation between the two parties will be much simpler and smoother.

(End of this chapter)