From Roewe RX5 to MG ZS, why are Alibaba's Internet cars more reliable than Tesla?

Alibaba, which recently teamed up with Roewe to launch its first Internet car, continued to stir up the two major fields of automobiles and the Internet through the Guangzhou Auto Show.

Following Roewe, MG, which has the same brand pedigree, also joined Alibaba's Internet car camp and released the small SUV MG ZS. At the same time, Roewe also launched the first Internet family car i6 equipped with the YunOS system and the hybrid version of ei6, plus the hybrid version of eRX5 to expand the Roewe RX5 series. Through the cooperation between SAIC Group and Alibaba, 5 Internet cars have been officially launched to the market in a short period of time.

Some people say that Alibaba, as a giant in the Internet world, is too low-key in its thinking on Internet cars. It has no pure electric concept, no driverless driving, and has not chosen a more famous international car brand as a partner.

But in some ways, Alibaba's approach is more like providing a more practical solution for the early stages of the upgrade of the automotive Internet. This idea may be more meaningful at this stage.

When people who understand cars and the Internet work together to build cars

No one can do everything well at the same time. Those who can build cars may not necessarily be able to master the Internet. Alibaba and SAIC have jointly developed Internet cars. Simply put, this is a reasonable "division of labor" in the matter of building Internet cars, that is, Alibaba's focus is on the "Internet" and SAIC is still focused on "cars."

As a result, SAIC has made cars that are more in line with market demand. The current five Internet cars all have attractive appearance designs and good performance configurations. Behind them are the perfect upstream production lines and pre-sales and after-sales systems of Roewe and MG brands, which makes them first of all qualified and complete mass-produced cars before talking about Internetization.

Alibaba, on the other hand, is developing the Internet based on cars, which is more in line with user needs. I still remember that at the first test drive event of Roewe RX5, users could remotely learn about the vehicle's status through a smartphone equipped with YunOS; they could find parking spaces and restaurants through language without taking their hands off the steering wheel; they could even buy coffee or fast food without leaving the cab and get it with the help of the car restaurant or delivery staff.

There is no doubt that SAIC's understanding of automobile manufacturing, as well as its automobile production and service foundation, are what Alibaba does not have. Backed by the Internet of Things, navigation positioning, mobile payment and smart city big data, the Internet car gameplay brought by Alibaba is also unprecedented for traditional automobile manufacturers like SAIC. Cars + Internet should let the right people do the right things.

Do something more useful than driverless cars

When talking about smart cars, we can't avoid the topic of driverless driving. People have indeed been led astray by Tesla, to the point that some Internet companies can't wait to let cars with equipment drive on Beijing's ring roads without drivers, or are frantically writing press conference PPTs with the word driverless... Unfortunately, Tesla's driverless driving is now mostly just a master of car accidents.

We cannot say that driverless cars have no future, but at least cars without drivers are still a long way off. Judging from Alibaba's Internet cars, the focus is actually on two things: "usability" and "willingness to buy."

The so-called "usable" means using the Internet and intelligent thinking to stimulate more potential in car usage scenarios, rather than having to fiddle with the touch buttons to adjust the sunroof on the large screen inside the car after playing the "thrilling" driverless car.

In this regard, Alibaba has connected more life scenarios with cars. For example, as mentioned above, smart phones are used instead of car keys, and cars become a mobile social and consumption platform, another carrier of O2O, or networked cars are regarded as new individuals and connected with the construction of smart cities, which greatly broadens the scope of car functions and makes Internet cars something that can be used rather than talked about.

The so-called "willing to buy" means producing products that most consumers like at a suitable price, which also explains why Alibaba chose SAIC, a domestic manufacturer, as its partner.

Taking the Roewe RX5, whose price has been announced, as an example, the starting price of 148,800 yuan for the Internet version is very cost-effective for an SUV with a length of more than 4.5 meters and a wheelbase of nearly 2 meters. The lowered threshold for consumers to choose Internet cars constitutes a necessary condition for the popularization of Internet cars. Among them, a domestic car brand worthy of user trust naturally occupies the main factor.

In addition, the Internet cars jointly developed by Alibaba and SAIC do not pursue the design concept of sports cars or similar concept cars that only belong to a small group of people. The family sedans and SUV models currently launched are the models that Chinese consumers are most willing to accept and choose, and are also the most common models on the road. According to data in October, the monthly sales of Roewe RX5 exceeded 20,000 units, and the total number of orders has exceeded 100,000 units, which is a remarkable achievement.

Alibaba, which was late to the party, has taught a lesson to the transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry

Frankly speaking, Alibaba's Internet car came to the market a little late and suddenly. It was preceded by Tesla, Google's self-driving cars, and PPTs showing that various domestic Internet manufacturers and innovative companies were eager to try their hand in the field of smart cars.

Given Alibaba's status and strength, we have no reason to doubt that it will not produce more amazing works in the automotive field. However, the pertinent and practical answer of jointly promoting Internet cars with SAIC revealed a rare calmness at a time when the Internet and automotive industries intersect and collide.

Alibaba's Internet car has put the brakes on the transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry, telling the industry that what promotes the transformation of the automobile industry is a car that more people can drive, rather than a niche toy that costs millions. Similarly, the Internet car has also stepped on the accelerator for Alibaba in the automotive field. It can be said that the shortest distance between cars and Internet cars is just YunOS.

At this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, Zhang Chunhui, President of Alibaba Group's YunOS, announced that YunOS for Car will be upgraded to Yun OS Auto. The business will cover a wider range of car types, further improving the car-centric operating system and bringing more value to partners and users.

It can be predicted that, just as we currently divide Apple phones and Android phones by their operating systems, can YunOS become a new dimension for dividing car categories in addition to car brands? Alibaba, which has taken the lead in entering the right track of the future of the automotive industry, may be able to make it a reality.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.