Xiaomi's' Driving School 'has really arrived!

Xiaomi's' Driving School 'has really arrived! On December 10th, Xiaomi announced that the company's "Elite Driving Project" registration has begun, with a registration fee of 9999 yuan. 9999 yuan includes experience fees, vehicle rental, daily track insurance, lunch and tea breaks, but does not include transportation and accommodation. The registration period is from December 10th to 24th

According to the introduction, participants can receive "9999 yuan Xiaomi SU7Ultra large order deposit voucher", "professional track and drift experience", "exclusive certificate" and so on

The reporter from the Daily Economic News noticed that the "Elite Driving" training for Xiaomi cars only lasts for one day. As the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra has not yet been officially launched, the experience car is the Xiaomi SU7 and does not support specified configurations and models. As of 11:27 pm on December 13th, the reporter observed that the project registration entrance of Xiaomi Auto App showed that among the open registration sessions, 6 days had reached the maximum number of applicants. If calculated based on a maximum of 40 people per session, 446 people have successfully registered for this project

Why has Xiaomi launched the "Elite Driving Project"? What are the effects of such projects on shaping the brand image of car companies? Regarding this, the Brand Value Research Institute interviewed Pang Rui, founding partner of Zhansheng Communication, Song Zhe, Director of Advertising and New Media System at Zhejiang Media College, and relevant personnel in charge of the BMW "BMW Elite Driving Training" project operator

Pang Rui stated that by providing professional training in racing series and performance car handling, such as track driving, cornering drift, etc., Xiaomi aims to establish a benchmark with luxury brands that own racing or performance car series, thereby enhancing brand differentiation and user loyalty

Song Zhe believes that Xiaomi's "Elite Driving Project" helps to screen and accumulate loyal customers, form a "common memory" between users and the brand, and use materials such as certificates, pictures, and videos to create a ceremonial experience and cultivate high-quality users

The reporter contacted the relevant departments of Xiaomi, but was not interviewed. The relevant person in charge of the operator of BMW's "BMW Elite Driving Training" project introduced that driving training programs are mostly implemented by authorized operators of the car brand, including key links such as track selection and model configuration, which need to be confirmed after internal communication between the operator and the car brand. In terms of cost composition, venue expenses account for a large proportion, including personnel salaries, travel expenses, and gasoline consumption

It is not surprising that 446 people signed up to participate in Xiaomi's "Elite Driving Project" in 3 days. Previously, Lei Jun, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi, revealed at a Xiaomi press conference that he would launch the "Xiaomi Driving School"

According to media reports at the time, he said, "Many of us don't really know how to drive after obtaining our driver's license, so we have advanced driving training, track driving training, and drift training. We will open it up to our car owners and friends, so that everyone has the opportunity to receive good training." When contacting Xiaomi car customer service, the reporter learned that the "Elite Driving Project" training lasts for one day, and the maximum number of people per day is 40. The training will take place from December 16th to 27th

The reporter observed that as of 11:27 pm on December 13th, in the project registration entrance of Xiaomi Auto App, the maximum number of applicants has been reached for 6 days in the open registration sessions. If calculated based on the upper limit of 40 people, 446 people have successfully registered for this project

It cannot be ignored that the hardware configuration and parameters of Xiaomi SU7Ultra are also a major reason for supporting its launch of the "Elite Driving Project"

On October 29th, Xiaomi announced that the Xiaomi SU7Ultra prototype car made its debut at the N ü rburgring Nordschleife (N ü rburgring) with an official certified lap time of 6 minutes 46.874 seconds, becoming the world's fastest four door car. The Xiaomi SU7Ultra production version has added a complete set of aerodynamic kits, with a 0-100 km/h acceleration of 1.98 seconds and a designed top speed of 350 kilometers per hour

Has a positive impact on brand image

Data shows that compared to traditional fuel vehicles, electric vehicles accelerate faster mainly due to their electric motor characteristics, that is, the torque output of the electric motor can be very fast, almost reaching the maximum value at the moment of starting, and the power transmission efficiency is also higher.

Pang Rui stated that Xiaomi chose to launch the "Elite Driving Project" because of the inherent advantages of its electric vehicles, which may achieve or even surpass the acceleration performance, track performance, and other indicators of traditional fuel car super luxury brand models in terms of parameters, thus obtaining a "ticket" to enter the "supercar club". This reflects the progress of domestic electric vehicles in technology and performance, achieving the effect of lane changing and overtaking. In addition, in terms of "professional track&drift experience", Xiaomi Auto has invited certified instructors from China Automobile Federation to guide, including track theory, track driving, and drift experience

Xiaomi Auto launches the 'Elite Driving Project' with the aim of positioning its brand closer to the performance car field Pang Rui analyzed that "by providing professional training in racing series and performance car handling, such as track driving, cornering drift, etc., Xiaomi aims to establish a benchmark with luxury brands that own racing or performance car series, thereby enhancing brand differentiation and user loyalty." At the same time, Pang Rui also pointed out that whether Xiaomi's goal can be widely accepted and recognized by the market still needs to be verified through long-term indicators such as sales performance, product quality, and subsequent quality complaint rate

Song Zhe believes that the "Elite Driving Project" has multiple positive impacts on shaping Xiaomi's brand image. Firstly, by providing high-end driving training services, Xiaomi demonstrates its emphasis on driving culture and safety; Secondly, professional driving training can enhance user experience and enable car owners to have a deeper understanding of car performance; Thirdly, this project also helps to screen and accumulate loyal customers, forming a "common memory" between users and brands, and using materials such as certificates, pictures, and videos to create a ceremonial experience and cultivate high-quality users; Finally, with the development of intelligent driving technology, driving training programs can also serve as a platform for promoting new technologies

In fact, many car brands have similar driving training programs, especially ultra luxury car brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and traditional luxury car brands BBA (BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi)

When combing through the information, the reporter found that even for luxury car brands, there are significant differences in driving training programs among different brands. Training programs for super luxury brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini are mostly located in Europe. For example, Ferrari's training track is the Fiorano Circuit, which is Ferrari's private track and has strict restrictions on the number of participants, while training tracks for brands such as BBA are mostly located in China

For brands like BMW that focus on sports and handling, holding driving training can strengthen the consistency between their product philosophy and brand image, enhance brand awareness and appeal, especially by highlighting the advantages of vehicle handling and power performance through track experience The relevant person in charge of the operator of BMW's "BMW Elite Driving Training" project said in an interview with the Daily Economic News that such projects are mostly authorized by the car brand to be implemented by the operator, including key links such as track selection and model configuration, which need to be confirmed after internal communication between the operator and the car brand. In terms of cost composition, venue expenses account for a large proportion, in addition to personnel salaries, travel expenses, and gasoline consumption. At the same time, car brands will also provide certain subsidies to achieve cost sharing

He also stated that most of the participants in the training were BMW owners, mainly hoping to maximize the performance of their vehicles through the project. The feedback from the trainees who participated in the training was positive. As a well-known car brand, BMW has a certain amount of accumulated brand assets, and consumers are willing to pay for the brand value. At the same time, BMW's driving training is indeed professional and can improve a lot of user stickiness. However, he also admitted that such driving training programs usually attract car enthusiasts and belong to a "circle culture". Due to the high cost of driving on the track, this type of project is not popular, and the frequency of projects has also decreased in recent years