Will consumers buy from this “good guy” again?

On February 16, 2017, He Xiaopeng had just cut the umbilical cord for his son. As soon as he left the delivery room, he received a call from Fu Jixun of GGV. The man on the other end of the phone said, "Xiaopeng, the track for cars has been opened. If you don't rush in, the track will be closed in a year or two."

Looking at his infant son in his arms, the sense of responsibility as a father instantly filled his heart. He felt that he should do something for this son who had just come into contact with the world.

He said that he didn't want his son to ask what his father did when he grew up, and he could only regretfully tell his child that he was retired. He hoped to be able to hold his son's hand, point to the Xiaopeng cars running on the streets and say, this is what Dad did.

This child is He Xiaopeng's second child. In the previous decade, he founded UC, which became his capital to show off to his daughter. Now that his son is born, he also hopes to leave something for this child. Being a father always gives men an instant sense of mission, and this time is no exception.

Maybe the paths of life overlap, but the rapid changes in business may not necessarily go according to people's wishes. Founding UC did bring He Xiaopeng financial freedom and helped him enter Alibaba and rise step by step, but starting a new business and rushing into the chaotic automotive track is a different story.

01

On July 12, He Xiaopeng posted an apology letter on Weibo.

The content of the letter was very sincere. He said that this period was the most unhappy time for him in recent years, "from confusion, puzzlement, sadness, reflection to facing it directly." He apologized again and again, saying that he had made everyone sad.

The reason for the apology is that on July 10, Xiaopeng Motors released the 2020 G3 model. The new car has a subsidized price of 143,800 to 196,800 yuan, upgraded brakes, power steering and other configurations, and has a maximum comprehensive range of 520km.

However, some old car owners who recently purchased Xiaopeng Motors believe that Xiaopeng Motors concealed the fact that it was about to release a new car, causing them to buy the 2019 G3 model, which has inferior battery life and functions to the new model, at a price of 180,000 yuan after comprehensive subsidies.

Higher prices mean lower configurations. This is what really makes Xiaopeng Motors owners "sad".

Xiaopeng's proposal is, "Owners of old G3 cars who trade in within three years from now can enjoy an additional 10,000 yuan subsidy."

Figure: Xiaopeng G3 2019 exclusive rights policy description

Obviously, this approach is unlikely to appease these sad car owners, because many car owners have just received their cars, and some have even waited for a year after pre-ordering, but ended up getting old and worthless models, the cost of which cannot be measured by the 10,000 yuan subsidy.

The incident escalated until July 18, when after the first compensation clause was strongly resisted by car owners, Xiaopeng Motors once again put forward a new plan: on the basis of the original 10,000 yuan repurchase subsidy, owners of the 2019 G3 can choose between receiving 10,000 Xiaopeng Mall points and a three-year 40% off value-preserving replacement repurchase.

Everyone is still waiting for He Xiaopeng's further solution. Although this is just a problem of consumer rights infringement caused by automobile iteration, everyone knows that what is reflected behind this is what all Internet cars will face. Is the automobile industry suitable for rapid updates and iterations?

02

In his apology letter, He Xiaopeng said that he felt confused, puzzled, and even sad during the two days when the incident occurred.

Is he unaware that rapid iterations can cause these problems? Probably not.

"Sometimes, I think making cars is not a job for humans," He Xiaopeng said many times in interviews. "Making cars is a deep pit. You either cross it or fill it up. Although making cars is 100 times more difficult than starting an Internet business, once you have chosen to change this industry, you have to move forward without hesitation."

He was extremely determined to enter this industry.

Lei Jun once told him that the difficulty of starting a new business, continuous entrepreneurship, especially starting a business after financial freedom, is like changing from business class to economy class on a plane, or changing from a five-star hotel to a 7 Days Inn.

"The industrial chain of smart cars is long and complex, and one needs to be mentally prepared to lay a foundation and accumulate knowledge for six years," said He Xiaopeng, adding that this description put him under considerable pressure at the time.

It took He Xiaopeng a full ten years to achieve UC-level success.

In 2004, He Xiaopeng, who only earned a few thousand yuan a month, decided to start a business. At that time, the best-selling mobile phones were Nokia 1100 and Motorola RazrV3, both of which had Internet access, and many people started businesses around mobile phones.

Picture: He Xiaopeng when he started his business

Seeing the wave of mobile Internet, He Xiaopeng and his colleague Liang Jie resolutely left AsiaInfo and started UCMail. At that time, the browser was just an accessory to the email business.

Timing is often not the only factor that determines the success of an entrepreneurial venture. In 2004, Lei Jun had just sold Joyo.com to Amazon. Yu Yongfu saw He Xiaopeng's project and thought it was good, but Legend Capital, where he worked, did not approve the project, so Yu Yongfu was very unwilling to find Lei Jun for help.

"If you go to UC, I will invest in you," Lei Jun's words made Yu Yongfu decide to leave Legend Capital and join the wave of mobile Internet entrepreneurship.

With the right time, right place and right people, after Yu Yongfu joined, He Xiaopeng officially integrated UC into Alibaba with $4 billion in stock and cash in 2014. That year, He Xiaopeng completely achieved financial freedom, and Alibaba's acquisition of UC became the largest merger and acquisition record on the Internet at that time.

03

Just the day after UC was acquired, a piece of news caught He Xiaopeng's attention.

On June 13, 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would adopt an open source model. He Xiaopeng has four Teslas and is a big Tesla fan, so he paid special attention to this news.

Photo: Tesla CEO Musk

Although he also recognized that the future trend of cars will definitely be smarter and more internet-based, he did not have any intention of making cars himself. However, Musk's open source patent made He Xiaopeng excited.

Later, when Musk visited Alibaba, He Xiaopeng asked him how to use Tesla's patents. Musk said frankly that you can use them, and how you use them is none of our business.

But Alibaba's idea of ​​building cars was rejected internally. He Xiaopeng entered a comfortable 37 years old, financially independent, working as a professional manager. What he did became safe and routine, but what he wanted to do was restricted.

But he still hopes to have some relationship with the smart car industry. In order to maintain his vitality and sensitivity to cutting-edge technologies in the industry, He Xiaopeng transformed himself into an investor and supported Orange Mobility, the predecessor of Xiaopeng Motors, as an investor.

"I didn't want to join from the beginning to the end. I have a very simple logic. People who like food often don't want to open restaurants. Although I think China will have a car company that surpasses Tesla, it is too difficult to let Internet people build cars," said He Xiaopeng.

But three years later, after receiving a phone call from Fu Jixun and looking at his little son who had not yet opened his eyes in his cradle, He Xiaopeng's enthusiasm was ignited again.

The birth of his son changed He Xiaopeng in many ways. He broke his promise and went to the Internet car industry, which he once thought was fine as long as he supported it from a distance. He also became more willing to accept interviews and make public appearances, while during his time at UC, he always hid behind the scenes and was unwilling to accept the focus of public opinion.

His circle of friends was full of comments about Internet cars, which soon made headlines in some media. The name of Orange Mobility was changed to Xiaopeng Motors, and you could see him talking about it in various forums and conferences.

His assistant Xiao Qing's wish at that time was to invent a shuttle so that Xiaopeng could be arranged to various meetings as soon as possible.

His privacy and personal time were torn to pieces by the public, but he had no turning back because he had already embarked on this path.

"Today's new car-making forces have many problems. Excessive marketing and deceiving the government and users are also very obvious. I also feel that there is a lot of deception in it, but the winners in the end must be the survival of the fittest," said He Xiaopeng in response to Geely Chairman Li Shufu's remarks that "Internet car-making is deceiving the people all day long."

04

Now, He Xiaopeng himself has become the protagonist caught in the misleading public opinion.

Some friends came out to speak up for him. In a Weibo post published on July 16, Wang Xin, the former founder of QVOD, pointed out that the new car has improved performance but the price has not increased. Isn’t this a great thing?

"Among all entrepreneurial industries, everyone knows how complex and difficult it is to make cars. We all admire Xiaopeng for having the courage to take on this challenge. Internet cars are still in their early stages of growth, so give pioneers more time."

His employees also felt that their boss was wronged, because in their minds, it was a rule that if someone was called "Mr. He" instead of "Xiao Peng" in the company, they would be fined 5,000 yuan.

Lei Jun also recognized He Xiaopeng's goodness. When Xiaomi went public, He Xiaopeng paid 100 million yuan out of his own pocket to buy Xiaomi stocks in return for Lei Jun's support for UC.