Q 1: What do you think of this year's new energy market? What are your expectations for Weimar W6?
Freeman Shen: First of all, thank you for your attention to the progress of Weimar market. According to the relevant listing regulations, we are now in a silent period, and many things are out of the question. What we can say is that the news about Weimar city two days ago is untrue. Please refer to the announcement of Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Secondly, it is about Weimar W6. W6 is a smart car product that we have spent several years developing. The two parts that best embody "intelligence" are unmanned driving and intelligent cockpit.
First, unmanned driving. It will take ten years or more to realize the landing of the full-scene driverless technology. The whole scene of driverless driving is not independently developed by a company, whether it is an innovative company like Weimar or a huge system of Volkswagen. It needs the cooperation of the whole society, which is a very big topic.
However, unmanned driving in limited scenes can be achieved, which is the most troublesome and biggest pain point for users. For example, for domestic users, parking is very troublesome, finding a parking space is very troublesome, and finding a parking space is very troublesome. This is the unmanned high-frequency use scene in a limited scene.
On Weimar W6, we first delivered the H-AVP function, which is used in fixed parking scenes such as home and company. Only simple research is needed to solve the parking problem of users and realize the automatic calibration of parking spots. Next, we will push more complex P-AVP functions through OTA. Compared with H-AVP, the advantage of P-AVP is that it can realize automatic parking in more complicated use scenarios without learning process, but P-AVP requires higher infrastructure, such as the coverage of high-precision maps.
In addition, I want to emphasize that the driverless technology of W6 is not only an intuitive interactive experience of UI or UE, but also stability is very important. It is stable, fully functional and easy to use. The unmanned function of W6 is done in this direction.
Second, the intelligent cockpit. SOA has been very popular in the past two years. For example, SAIC did the developer ecology first, but what we want is to mass-produce the products before users can participate, which is what we call "user-defined cars".
Finally, I want to say that AVP and SOA are the existing functions of W6, not the future. The W6 delivered on April 20th can do what I said. Thank you.
Q2: Please tell me more about the market expectation of W6.
Freeman Shen: The cumulative sales volume of Weimar EX-5 has exceeded 50,000, making it an explosive product. We hope that W6 can also become another explosive product. Our channels are still growing. With the development of Weimar's "Thousand Cities and Thousand Stores" plan, we hope that the sales volume of W6 will surpass that of EX-5.
Q3: Will Weimar conduct self-research on autonomous driving in the future? 2. How does Weimar handle the relationship between Tencent and Baidu?
Freeman Shen: No enterprise in the world can fully develop its own autonomous driving technology. This is 100%. Who said yes? It must be bragging. I also said at the press conference yesterday that it is impossible to drive an unmanned car behind closed doors and fight alone.
Unmanned driving has three things, perception, strategy planning and execution. Among them, the implementation of the algorithm 100% is completed by the main engine factory; Strategic planning is usually done by the OEM, but it is not100%; No OEM can do a good sensing algorithm. In the field of domestic perceptual algorithms, Baidu is the first and strongest, and it is normal to have strategic cooperation with Baidu.
The second question is that Tencent and Baidu are both our strategic partners, and their relationship has no influence on Weimar's development.
Q4: Do you feel the pressure on Weimar, a new cross-border car-making force? How to treat the entry of more cross-border car companies?
Freeman Shen: First of all, welcome more friends to enter this track and make the market cake of new energy vehicles bigger together. Last year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were only over one million, and the overall passenger car market was over 20 million. The market share of new energy vehicles is still relatively small.
Secondly, the pressure you mentioned, I think there is no pressure, only motivation. For example, Xiaomi has a deep understanding of user operations or fan operations. We can look at Xiaomi's car-making process, which is good for us and can stimulate us to learn.
Q5: At present, mainstream car companies all say that they aim at more than 90% of the mainstream market. Do you think it is the new car-making forces or traditional car companies that can incite more than 90% of the mainstream market, or technology companies such as Xiaomi and Didi? Weimar is also aimed at the mainstream market. What characteristics do you think Weimar's automobile products should have to incite more than 90% of the market?
Freeman Shen: When a new category appears, people with more money and leisure will take the lead, but if this category is to break out, it needs the participation of mass consumers.
The advantage of traditional car companies lies in manufacturing, that is, the pre-sales link. To achieve the ultimate product, 200,000 kilometers and 300,000 kilometers are not bad, as far as possible, there is no problem, and the after-sales link has disadvantages. But for cross-border forces, manufacturing is a weakness, and after-sales links are a strength.
Speaking of Weimar, for example, we "lurk" in the middle circle of tradition and cross-border. We won't argue about what we can't cross the line and what we can't cross the line. Relatively speaking, Weimar is still a blank sheet of paper. People who know us are far less than people who know the public, but people who know us usually know some of our new ideas and new ways of playing. So I think if we hurry up, we can still grab some share from the traditional forces.
In addition, cross-border companies have their own ways of playing, whether it is Xiaomi, Didi or Baidu. When they come in, they will bring many new ideas to this industry. I also look forward to their playing methods and practices, which can give us some reference.
Q6: Weimar cooperates with Baidu, but Baidu also cooperates with Geely. Does this affect the cooperation between Weimar and Baidu? Will there be any adjustments in the future?
Freeman Shen: That's all right. Baidu informed us before cooperating with Geely. Baidu is our shareholder, which was discussed at the board meeting. There will also be corresponding divisions within them. The cooperation with Weimar and Geely is two teams, and I think there is no problem.
Q7: At present, the sales of electric vehicles in the domestic market are polarized, one is like Wuling and the other is high-end. Weimar is difficult to play a role in the mainstream market. Have you ever thought about changing this strategy a little? In addition, there are always some voices that Weimar is not scientific and innovative enough, and it is still making electric cars like fuel cars. Do you have any response to these voices?
Freeman Shen: First of all, the outbreak of high-end cars is normal. As I said just now, when a new category appears, the first to buy is the users who have money and leisure, so the outbreak of high-end market is foreseeable.
Wuling is special. Wuling seized the low-speed electric vehicle market. I think it's good. These users of Wuling need to upgrade their consumption in the future. Aren't they potential users of Weimar? We still have to stick to the mainstream, because this brand must be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and we can't say that there are high and low.
The second question, many people say that I am an old autobot. For an inappropriate example, Li Bin and Li wanted to enter the automobile industry before me, when I was still in the American power company! Besides, with regard to technology and innovation, the so-called old and new forces are not so clearly defined. For example, Baidu will also find people from traditional car companies. For example, in the summer, it stayed in the traditional car companies.
Therefore, I think the "new forces" have several characteristics:
First, ideas and thinking. For example, the user's thinking, what the user wants, do it quickly. Hardware and software can be iterated immediately, and it is the user's thinking to wait until the next generation of products, software can be pushed by OTA, and users need to add hardware to offline stores;
Second, the new organizational structure, you need a user-centered organizational structure with user thinking, it is difficult for traditional enterprises to change the organizational structure;
Third, engineering test experience, test ability in intelligent cockpit, software and intelligent driving.
Speaking of Weimar, fortunately, we started from scratch. I work in a traditional car company, and now I am doing Weimar. I have experienced both the old and new systems, or as I said just now, it is my advantage to lurk for so many years, not my disadvantage.
You also talked about brands before. You also said that the brand power of traditional car companies is still relatively strong. Now, we see that the new forces in the domestic market have their own brand labels, especially the former companies.
We want to ask you, if you make a positioning for Weimar brand, how do you plan it? The second question, on the issue of OEM, you began to resolutely put the manufacturing capacity in your own hands. Judging from the market performance in the past two years, the quality of the cars made by the new forces themselves is not better than that made by Weilai OEM. At this stage of development, have you made any adjustments to OEM? We noticed that Weimar had a lot of cooperation with local governments last year. Will this cooperation affect the capacity planning after Weimar? Thank you.
Freeman Shen: We can evaluate the quality, but we can compare the whole industry horizontally. We are convinced that the advantages of building our own factory outweigh the disadvantages. So is China. Other new car-making forces began to set up their own factories after us, such as Ideal, such as Tucki. So Weimar can't be wrong to build her own factory. Another point is that it is easy to trace the source and is responsible to the users. Once a problem occurs, it can be traced back to the source immediately. Is it a batch problem or an individual problem? It is easy to solve the problem fundamentally.
In addition, Weimar has a strong data ability and established a data research institute, which I have always been proud of. Weimar has realized digital operation management from R&D, design, supply chain management, vehicle manufacturing, battery pack manufacturing, online marketing, offline channels and after-sales service. And this is exactly what traditional car companies have been accelerating for many years.
In fact, Weimar's two intelligent manufacturing bases also shoulder the functions of user operation. For example, after the epidemic eased, we held the Strawberry Music Festival for users in Wenzhou base, which was the first music festival in China after the epidemic. At that time, due to the limitation of the number of people, it was impossible to invite more users. On the one hand, users listen to music, and what attracts them more is that they can see with their own eyes how their cars are made, every process and everyone.
Now Wenzhou base mainly covers East China, and Huanggang base covers Central China. In the future, with the gradual development of user service and user operation in Central China, Huanggang base will gradually play its role in user operation. Therefore, in fact, Weimar's intelligent manufacturing base is not just manufacturing.
In fact, most of the most automated and digitized automobile factories in the world are located in China. Among them, digital ability is the most difficult to improve, involving team management and operation concepts, business processes and many other aspects. Of course, only by opening up the whole chain with digitalization can we better serve users and enhance the user experience.
You just mentioned that the forces that are not optimistic about tradition are now competing, but it is undeniable that traditional car companies have strong financial strength, and we can see that Apple is also involved in building cars now, and their technology giants are also very well funded. For example, Weimar is seeking IPO listing this year. Will the financial difficulties of new car-making forces like Weimar become a relatively weak form?
Second, public opinion has great concerns about the safety of smart cars. Like traditional car companies, the safety inspection of their cars is that there will be a test after the whole car is built. Like the upgrade of smart car OTA, it is a remote upgrade. How to ensure the hidden danger of its software to its security after upgrading?
The third issue is cooperation with the government. Weimar has built its own factories in Wenzhou and Hubei. Last year, Shanghai invested in state-owned brands and participated in financing. Will there be new cooperation with other local governments in the future?
Freeman Shen: If you are engaged in smart manufacturing, smart cars and other industries, you really can't do without money. So, I think Weimar is in a very good state now. The most important point is efficiency. Weimar's current team size is about 3,000 people, and the time and cost of the project are very strict. Especially now, we can't just promise to the market and skip tickets again and again. The key to success or failure is efficiency, including effect and market recognition. Therefore, less money may not support the effect and recognition, and more money is easy to ignore efficiency, so Weimar's state is the best. In addition, compared with market capital, the investment of local industrial funds is more cautious and the process is more complete. We are proud that the recognition of local industrial funds is enough to prove that Weimar can withstand scrutiny.
For data security, don't worry at all. We manufacture and deliver smart electric cars, so every car uploads a lot of data to the background every day. These data are divided into two categories, one is the data required by the state, and the other is the data of quality and experience. Regarding these data, we have not cooperated with any other institutions. These data will be used by Weimar Data Research Institute to establish core algorithms and data models to better guarantee and enhance user experience and services.
OTA is another topic. First of all, Weimar's car is only slightly more complicated in order of magnitude, just like a mobile phone. In fact, before upgrading a software version online, it is necessary to do a lot of testing. In this test, most of our company's test team originally came from the internet industry, and it can only be launched after repeated tests. Some of them are difficult for our core users to go online after internal testing, and data tracking will also be carried out later.
Take cruising range as an example. Objectively speaking, cruising range uses historical data to predict the future. In the past 50 days and the past year, you have often taken these roads. How can you guarantee that your future is the same? So it's always a little different. But this algorithm is iterative and more and more accurate in theory. We have several core technological breakthroughs in W6, which is also the first in the industry. For example, our gateway is the most advanced backup device. Now W6 has a very important breakthrough: when I use the car, I can upgrade the OTA without affecting the use. Now most cars can be upgraded online when they can't be used, or I can stop and drive out halfway up the mountain. My upgrade is on, and it won't affect your use.
Online upgrade is to solve some old Bug problems, which will inevitably lead to new bugs and then add new functions. The experience of using habits is not as good as the old function. It is possible, but we are constantly practicing and improving. Generally speaking, this is not a big technical problem, because the mobile phone has been changed for many years, but the car is much more complicated than the mobile phone ot a, and it still needs a lot of experience and practice.
Recently, there are many voices that are creating the opposition between some new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles. As a person with rich experience in traditional OEM and new car manufacturing, what do you think of the opposition? How to treat the competitive relationship will have a bad influence on the whole new car?
Freeman Shen: This can't be said to be antagonistic. But objectively speaking, the development of new forces is really grabbing the market share of traditional fuel vehicles. China has more than 20 million passenger cars a year, which is not easy to increase substantially, so it is the stock market. The stock market shares of new energy vehicles themselves are not as good as those of old vehicles. The faster we develop, the more market share they lose. We and Weilai, Tucki, and Ideal are thousands of cars a month. If you say give it all to me, or I give it all to him, the brand audience is unbalanced and unrealistic, so we have to dig from the market share of traditional car companies. This is normal. & lt/s