Beijing Auto Show first day: Xiaomi booth is packed, Lei Jun is in the limelight, Zhou Hongyi becomes the "oldest car model"

On April 25, the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show officially kicked off. Follow the author's perspective and take a look at some interesting features of the Beijing Auto Show.

Today, the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show officially kicked off, and it has been four years since the last Beijing Auto Show. Although four years is not a long time, it has brought about earth-shaking changes in the Chinese auto industry.

It is understood that there are 117 global debut vehicles at this year's Beijing Auto Show, including 30 debut vehicles from joint venture automakers; 41 concept cars and 278 new energy vehicle models.

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

1. Ad space changes, Xiaomi SU7 becomes the protagonist

When Sanyan arrived at the exhibition hall in the morning, he found that the billboard of Xiaomi SU7 stood above the gate, becoming the protagonist.

As a new car that has just been on the market for less than a month, Xiaomi SU7 has undoubtedly become one of the most popular booths at this conference.

Xiaomi exhibited a total of four SU7s in different colors, and the booth was almost packed with people early in the morning, as everyone was 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 number of Xiaomi SU7 orders still exceeded 75,723 as of April 24, and 5,781 units were delivered in 28 days after its release. And a large proportion of the car owners are female.

2. New energy becomes the mainstream exhibition car

‍‍‍‍Just before the opening of the auto show, data from the Passenger Car Market Joint Branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association showed that in the first half of April, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles was 50.39%, exceeding traditional fuel vehicles for the first time.

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

For example, the Hongqi pure electric sedan EH7;

Great Wall Wei-branded Alpine plug-in hybrid MPV; Wei-branded Blue Mountain SUV; and Great Wall's Ora Good Cat series models;

The Qiyuan 07 electric SUV under Changan; and the Lynk & Co brand under Geely.

In addition to domestic traditional car companies, multinational traditional car companies are also focusing on new energy at this year's Beijing Auto Show.

For example, Volvo's all-electric EX30 and EX 90;

Mazda's new energy vehicle EZ-6, which also debuted at this year's auto show;

At this year's Beijing Auto Show, BMW's exhibit cars were mainly electric vehicles, such as the iX3 and i5;

BMW's classic brand MINI also displayed the new electric car ACEMAN;

Even the classic supercar brand Lamborghini has launched a hybrid model, the Urus SE;

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

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

In addition, at this auto show, Xiaopeng also announced that it will launch a new sub-brand MONA, which means "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 Auto SU7.

Ideal MEGA was also on display, attracting many foreigners to experience it.

3. Interesting facts about the auto show

The auto show is a good platform for communication among bigwigs. Lei Jun is in great glory and Zhou Hongyi has become the most popular "car model".

Today, many car company leaders are present in person, not only to support their own brands, but also to visit, learn and communicate with friendly companies.

At around 1:30 pm, Lei Jun was photographed visiting the BYD booth led by BYD's Wang Chuanfu. The two talked and laughed, and shook hands from time to time.

Previously, Wang Chuanfu was not present at the Xiaomi Auto launch conference; perhaps the two sides can use the opportunity of the Beijing Auto Show to exchange and share their experiences in car manufacturing.

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

Lei Jun also visited several booths. Wherever he went, there were crowds of people. He was arguably the most popular star at the auto show.

Sanyan heard the conversation between the girls behind him: Which celebrity? It's Lei Juner, Lei Juner! Quick!

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

I have to admit, Lei Jun is the most successful today!

The most eye-catching figure in this auto show is none other than Zhou Hongyi. He first visited the Nezha Auto booth as the "experience group leader", attracting a large number of visitors.

Afterwards, Zhou Hongyi also visited the booths of Ideal Auto, NIO, Chery, Hyundai, and BYD, and exchanged views 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 media cameras, he was inconspicuous in his red clothes. People jokingly called him the "oldest car model," "rooftop rights defender," and "top star."

When talking about his feelings about attending the auto show today, Zhou Hongyi said that he has been practicing rock climbing. In order not to be regarded as a "digital man" by the outside world, he climbed to the top of the car and sat down to take pictures.

Some friends also joked that Zhou Hongyi might be the only boss at this auto show who does not make cars.

Several car company bosses took group photos. The auto show is also a good opportunity for them to communicate with each other.

In addition to the car company bosses coming to the scene, some brands also invited their own celebrity spokespersons to promote on the spot. For example, Jetta invited its brand spokesperson Huang Bo to communicate with everyone on the spot today.

4. With fewer car models, luxury cars are no longer paired with beauties? ‍‍‍

At this year's auto show, Sanyan noticed that the previous model of "luxury cars and beautiful women" is now less common.

There are very few beautiful car models at the booths of various car companies. Most booths only have a few beautiful women standing at the front desk to welcome guests. There are either no models next to the display cars, or there are sales staff. Once you approach, they will come forward to introduce the vehicle and write down the inquirer's phone number in a small notebook after the introduction.

Of course, beautiful car models are not completely extinct, and some car models on the booths are still accompanied by beautiful models.

5. “Flowering” is essential

Although there were fewer car models, there were still many "fancy moves" from car companies at this auto show.

For example, there are car brands that perform violin performances;

Some brand staff members dressed in national costumes and took photos with the audience;

There are also brands that put on theatrical performances.

5. Rolls-Royce is the “quietest” booth

There were so many visitors to the auto show today that some popular booths were packed with people. But even so, some booths were still deserted.

Which brand is it?

The answer is "big labor".

Sanyan noticed that there were relatively few visitors to the booths of super luxury brands such as Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini. After all, the number of people who can afford them is still small.

6. Strange Models

At this auto show, many brands have launched various "strange" shaped cars. Finally, let us appreciate a few cars together.

Author: DorAemon

Source: WeChat public account: Sanyan Pro (ID: sycaijing)