Shortly after Xiaomi officially announced the car, Lei Jun had launched a vote on Xiaomi's car models and pricing on Weibo, and 80% of 17,000 voters hoped that Xiaomi's first smart car would be priced below 200,000 yuan.
This result is in line with the consistent impression of "Mi fans" on the company's products, and also represents the simple desire of young people for their first car: cheap, big bowl, with a "geek" sense of technology.
However, more than two years have passed, Lei Jun is secretive about the progress of car making, the configuration and price of millet cars have always been still holding the bipa, and the crown of "young people's first car" may be taken away by Musk's Tesla.
According to 36kr, centralized deliveries of the new Model 3 will begin in late September. According to the Revelations, the new Model 3 has no small changes in the appearance and interior, including a new front face light group design, streaming media rearview mirror, and center control screen shift.
In addition, channel sources say that the new Model 3 May eliminate all radar; The driver assistance hardware system may be HW3.5 instead of HW4.0; The monolithic die-casting process for the exterior of the body will be carried over to the interior.
No matter how many of these changes are implemented in production models, the focus of the new Model 3 is clearly not "upgrade" but "cost reduction."
As of 2022, the production cost of Model 3 bicycles has been reduced by at least 30%, and with the reduction of production costs and the increase of production capacity, Model 3 continues to reduce prices to seize a larger market share.
But Musk doesn't seem satisfied. According to media reports, Musk is demanding that the cost of the new Model 3 continue to be reduced by 14%. Cost compression brings new price reduction space, which is the base for continuing the price war, and also the chip to attract young people to buy cars.
On August 14, the domestic Model 3 car was launched with a limited time insurance subsidy of 8,000 yuan, and the price dropped to 223,900 yuan; At the same time, the starting price of Model Y also dropped from 313,900 to 299,900, falling into the 200,000 range. Since August, polar Krypton, Nezha, Nio and other brands have also cut prices to promote sales, with price cuts ranging from 8,000 yuan to 57,000 yuan.
If macroeconomic uncertainty remains and the "price war" between car companies continues, Musk may follow suit and cut the price of the new Model 3 to less than 200,000 yuan.
At that time, under the triple temptation of brand effect, change, and price reduction, Model 3 will become the first choice for more young people's first car, and a new round of competitive products will usher in a new round of fierce price war.