79: How about we get a car?

It wasn't that there weren't other product-making companies to be found in the vast expanse of China, but the problem was that finding a suitable product with a driven founder was truly not easy.

Why would those that were already successful want to accept investment from Xiaomi?

Isn't it better to just do it myself?

Xiaomi wasn't some major corporation like Red Star or Fruit.

And then there were those smaller companies that didn't even have a product and were just relying on a business plan to solicit investment everywhere.

This didn't align with Lei Jun's philosophy that investment required quickly launching products.

To date, the only thing Xiaomi had actually managed to launch was a power strip.

And even that had been launched by Red Star first.

Who remembers second place?

Besides the power strip, the only other company in the ecosystem that had produced a product was the air purifier. This was a project headed by Hong Feng, and it was being implemented quickly. Lei Jun planned to have it released alongside the mi 3 launch event.

There was also the television; even though it wasn't in mass production yet, that didn't stop Lei Jun from releasing it together with the mi 3.

Boss Jia released a phone and a car, pushing the mass production date directly to 2023.

Selling his own a few months late wasn't shameful.

"Do it. The future trend is definitely the Internet of Everything. We at Xiaomi cannot miss such an opportunity. Since some things have been snatched up by Red Star first, we can change our approach and cooperate with those manufacturers."

"Whether it's OEM or directly adding our communication modules, this is a future that we at Xiaomi must grasp."

"What about the costs?"

"Costs..." Lei Jun rubbed his face helplessly. Cooperating with those large manufacturers certainly wouldn't net him the lowest prices, and even if he did, it would require achieving a certain sales volume.

Lei Jun's business thinking was to use low prices to create a hit product, just like with the Mi Phone; he wasn't looking to make money in the early stages!

Once the sales volume of a single product went up, the profits would follow.

Plus, there was no need to open so many product lines; just one product was enough to cause a stir in the industry.

However, while the business model and mindset were there, the only truly successful product was the Mi Phone.

Oh, and there was also the shirt Lei Jun wore; ever since the last hongmi 1 launch event ended, this shirt had completely sold out on the Xiaomi online store.

On the contrary, Red Star, which used the same model, had hit products in power strips, power banks, and electric fans.

"Su Ling, what if we go into car manufacturing?"

Su Ling was also a bit stunned by Lei Jun's train of thought.

Weren't they just talking about ecosystem products? How did it suddenly shift to manufacturing cars?

"I went to look at a Tesla, and it was quite good. I've already ordered one. I think this is what the cars of the future should look like."

"And look at those so-called 'new energy vehicles' in our country; what kind of trash are they?"

"They're all just here to scam subsidies!"

After listening to Lei Jun, Su Ling slowly shook her head.

"Mr. Lei, now is not the time for us to enter the automotive industry. It's not that I'm trying to discourage you, but the automotive industry is far more complex than the mobile phone industry. You absolutely cannot look at the automotive industry through the lens of making mobile phones."

"Besides, our capital doesn't support us entering the automotive industry; that requires billions at every turn."

"Perhaps in another 3–5 years, when this industry and market have truly matured, that will be the right time for us to enter."

Su Ling understood Lei Jun very well; if you asked him to directly pioneer an industry or make a product when the market wasn't mature, that was unrealistic!

But if the market was mature, he would use his marketing and precise control over users to enter the market at once and stir up the waters.

By the time the waters cleared again, people would realize that Xiaomi had already remarkably achieved a top-tier position in that market.

Lei Jun thought to himself, isn't it just four wheels plus a battery? What's so difficult about that?

It wasn't until several years later, when he followed Chen Chen into the new energy vehicle industry, that he realized this industry was even more difficult than what Su Ling had described.

However, Lei Jun had to admit that the lack of capital was indeed true.

"Let's stick to my original plan and start with routers."

"A router is a household's data exchange center. As long as we hold the key that is the router, it doesn't matter if our other products are slightly slower than Red Star's."

Lei Jun had long wanted to make routers. In his view, to do smart homes and a smart ecosystem, one definitely had to get the router sorted out first.

Use the success of the router business to drive other ecosystem businesses.

If Chen Chen knew that Lei Jun had decided to focus on routers first, he would definitely say, "Go ahead and do it; I won't fight you for this for the time being."

I know better than you what kind of trash your Xiaomi routers were in the beginning.

What's the harm in giving you two years?

"Fine. In the next couple of days, I'll go and vet some router teams; I'll acquire the suitable ones directly."

After Su Ling left, Lei Jun continued to fiddle with the mi 3 engineering prototype in his hand. Hmph, last time, the da mi 2nd generation was thoroughly dissed by you, Chen Chen, in front of your red star 2.

This time, since you're ahead of me, I'm going to have to really talk about your red star 3.

With no heart to continue working, Lei Jun logged onto the Social Media Platform and started scrolling.

Seeing the news that Red Star's official power strip had sold over 2 million units in two months since its launch, he felt extremely bitter.

This sales volume should clearly have been Xiaomi's!

Just because you, Red Star, got the product out one step faster?

"Walking with Dreams, Strong as Jade" — this was the slogan Red Star had just officially announced for the Kunpeng mobile phone 2nd generation. This, this, this... wasn't this much more artistic than his own slogan for the mi 3, "In the world of martial arts, only speed is unbreakable"?

He looked back through the Social Media Platform and saw that he had previously liked Chen Chen's phrase, "Starting anew, more extreme than extreme," and had even reposted and commented something about welcoming Red Star to start anew.

Seeing this, Lei Jun wished he could slap his own hand twice.

That's what you get for having itchy hands and liking and reposting.

They were starting anew by following Xiaomi's path!

Following my, Lei Jun's, path!

In fact, this phrase, "Walking with Dreams, Strong as Jade," was one that Chen Chen had picked out from numerous slogans in his mind; originally, he had intended to use Lei Jun's phrase.

The marketing effect of that would definitely have been much better than this one.

But Chen Chen didn't dare use it.

Using that slogan for a high-end phone with a top-tier price reaching four thousand would have slightly lowered the class of the phone.

If one wanted to aim for high-end business, one had to use this kind of artistic slogan for marketing.

The name of this launch event was Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, because there were simply too many products to release; one launch event couldn't possibly cover them all.

Smart bands, air purifiers, televisions, smart speakers, plus the red star 3, the Kunpeng mobile phone 2nd generation, and even robot vacuums—each one required a certain amount of time to talk about.

Therefore, Chen Chen also imitated the future Lei Jun and directly divided the launch event into a first half and a second half.

The first half was called the Heaven Sword.

The second half was called the Dragon Saber.

It could generate topics, maintain buzz, and ensure that every product received a certain amount of exposure.

It was practically a triple win.

He was worthy of being called a marketing genius; at the time, no one had thought that a launch event could be divided into a first and second half, and even fewer people had thought that a product launch event could be held twice.

Release the products first, but don't release the prices; spark speculation, maintain the buzz, and then hold another event to release the prices.

In this regard, Xiaomi was simply unrivaled.