Beijing Auto Show First Day: Xiaomi booth packed, Lei Jun shines, Zhou Hongyi becomes "the oldest car model"

Today, the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show officially kicked off, marking four years since the last Beijing Auto Show. In the past four years, there have been earth-shaking changes in the Chinese automotive industry.

It is understood that this year's Beijing Auto Show will feature 117 global debut vehicles, including 30 debut vehicles from joint venture companies, 41 concept cars, and 278 new energy vehicle models.

What are the highlights of this year's Beijing Auto Show? Today, I will briefly summarize some interesting features of the Beijing Auto Show.

"Changing the Game" - Xiaomi SU7 Takes Center Stage

Upon arriving at the exhibition hall in the morning, I noticed that the advertising board for the Xiaomi SU7 was prominently displayed above the entrance, making it the center of attention.

As a newly launched car that has been on the market for less than a month, the Xiaomi SU7 has undoubtedly become one of the most popular booths at this year's launch event.

Xiaomi displayed 4 SU7s in different colors, and the booth was crowded early in the morning, with everyone waiting for Lei Jun to give a speech.

At 9:20 in the morning, Lei Jun took the stage to give a speech. Lei Jun announced that despite being "intercepted" by many competitors, the pre-orders for the Xiaomi SU7 had exceeded 75,723 units as of April 24th, with 5,781 units delivered within 28 days. Additionally, a large portion of the car owners are female.

New energy vehicles become the mainstream exhibit.

According to the data from the China Automobile Dealers Association's Joint Passenger Car Market Committee, in the first half of April, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles reached 50.39%, surpassing traditional fuel vehicles for the first time.

This is reflected in the auto show, as both domestic and foreign traditional car companies have introduced pure electric or hybrid vehicles.

For example, the Red Flag pure electric sedan EH7;

Great Wall's Wei brand high mountain plug-in hybrid MPV; Wei brand Blue Mountain SUV; as well as the Ora Good Cat series of vehicles under the Great Wall brand.

Changan's Qiyuan 07 electric SUV; as well as brands such as Lynk & Co under Geely.

In addition to traditional domestic car companies, at this year's Beijing Auto Show, multinational traditional car companies are also making efforts in new energy vehicles.

For example, the Volvo pure electric EX30 and EX90.

Mazda's new energy vehicle EZ-6 made its debut at this year's auto show.

At this year's Beijing Auto Show, BMW's showcased cars are mainly electric vehicles, such as the iX3 and i5.

BMW's classic brand MINI also showcased the new electric car ACEMAN under its umbrella.

Even the classic supercar brand Lamborghini has launched a hybrid model UrusSE.

The Porsche booth is not only cool, but also launched a brand new electric car.

In terms of new forces, Xiaopeng Motors exhibited its integrated land-air flying car and announced that the "land aircraft carrier" split-type flying car has passed the airworthiness certification and will start pre-sale in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In addition, at this auto show, Xiaopeng also announced the launch of a new sub-brand MONA, which stands for "Made Of New Ai". He Xiaopeng said that more information will be released in the second half of the year, and it is expected to have better sales than Xiaomi's car SU7.

The ideal MEGA is also on display, attracting many foreigners to experience it.

Interesting facts about the auto show

The auto show is a great platform for communication among industry leaders. Lei Jun is very popular and Zhou Hongyi has become the hottest "car model".

Today, many automotive industry leaders are also present in person, not only to support their own brands, but also to visit and learn from their counterparts and exchange ideas.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon, Lei Jun was photographed visiting the BYD booth with Wang Chuanfu. The two were seen chatting and shaking hands from time to time.

Prior to this, Wang Chuanfu did not attend the Xiaomi car launch event. Perhaps, taking advantage of the Beijing Auto Show, the two sides could exchange and share their experiences in car manufacturing.

Lei Jun said to Wang Chuanfu: "For more than a decade, BYD has always been Xiaomi's most important partner, and this time, thank you for your help with the Xiaomi SU7."

Lei Jun also visited multiple booths, drawing huge crowds wherever he went, making him the top celebrity at the car show. Overheard a conversation from two girls: "Which celebrity is it? It's Lei Jun, Lei Jun! Quick, take a picture!"

Another male car reviewer was live streaming and wanted to take a photo with Lei Jun, shouting: "Lei Dad! Lei Dad!"

One can't help but admire, Lei Jun is truly basking in the limelight today!

The most eye-catching figure at this year's auto show is undoubtedly Zhou Hongyi. He first visited the Nezha Motors booth as the "Experience Team Leader," attracting a large number of onlookers.

Afterwards, Zhou Hongyi also visited the booths of Ideal Motors, NIO, Chery, Hyundai, and BYD, and had exchanges with Li Xiang, Li Bin, and others. At the BYD booth, Zhou Hongyi even climbed onto the roof of an off-road vehicle and sat there, surrounded by a crowd of media with their cameras and microphones. Dressed in a bright red outfit, he stood out conspicuously, leading to jokes that Zhou Hongyi was the "oldest car model," "sitting on the roof for rights protection," and "top stream."

When asked about his experience at the auto show today, Zhou Hongyi said that he has been practicing rock climbing. In order to avoid being seen as a "digital person" by the public, he climbed onto the top of the car and sat there for a photo.

Some friends jokingly call Zhou Hongyi the only boss at this year's auto show who doesn't make cars.

Several automotive industry leaders didn't forget to take a group photo, and the auto show is also a great opportunity for these leaders to communicate with each other.

In addition to the bosses of car companies coming to the scene in person, some brands have also invited their own celebrity spokespersons to promote their products on site. For example, Jetta has invited its brand spokesperson Huang Bo to communicate with everyone on the scene today.

With fewer car models, are luxury cars no longer accompanied by beautiful women?

At this auto show, San Yan noticed that the previous "luxury cars accompanied by beautiful women" model is now less common.

There are very few beautiful car models at the booths of various car companies, and most of the booths only have a few beautiful women welcoming guests at the front desk. Next to the display cars, there are either no models or sales personnel. Once you approach, they will come forward to introduce the vehicle, and after the introduction, they will take out a notebook to write down the contact information of the inquirer.

Of course, the beautiful car models are not completely extinct, and some of the car models at the exhibition still have beautiful models accompanying them.

"Eye candy" is not lacking

Although there are fewer car models, there is no shortage of eye-catching activities from the car companies at this year's auto show.

For example, a car brand performing a violin concert.

Brand staff dressed in ethnic costumes taking photos with the audience.

Other brands are also performing dramas.

Rolls-Royce's booth is the "quietest"

There are a lot of visitors at the auto show today, and it's not an exaggeration to say that some popular booths are extremely crowded. However, there are still some booths that are "deserted".

Which brand is it?

The answer is "Da lao".

San Yan noticed that luxury brands like Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini had relatively few visitors at their booths, after all, there are still few people who can afford them.

Weird car models

At this auto show, many brands have launched various "weird" car designs. Finally, let's enjoy a few cars together.