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Yangtze Business Daily News●Huang Cong, reporter of Yangtze Business Daily

Jiyue, the car brand jointly established by Baidu and Geely, is not very famous in the car circle, and its sales are even worse.

Recently, statistics show that from January to April 2024, the sales of Jiyue were 218, 147, 511 and 362 respectively, with monthly sales of less than 1,000. In May, Jiyue's sales exceeded 1,000 for the first time, reaching 1,001, but in June it was halved to 461.

When the Jiyue 01 was released, Jiyue CEO Xia Yiping said that at present, the monthly sales volume will exceed 10,000 vehicles in 2024.

Xia Yiping also said that as a young company, Jiyue has goals and ambitions, and hopes to truly compete with Tesla in the coming period of time.

However, on the whole, the sales volume of Jiyue in the first half of 2024 reached 2,700 units, with an average of only 450 units per month, which is far from the monthly sales of 10,000 units.

The official website of Jiyue shows that Jiyue 07 will be officially launched in September and positioned as a mid-size car, which may bring an improvement to its future sales.

“I want to fight a battle with Tesla”

In the car market, Jiyue is not well-known, but it has a strong background.

On its official website, Jiyue claims to be a high-end smart car robot brand jointly created by Baidu and Geely Holding Group to create a benchmark smart technology travel experience for users.

JiYue is a brand under Hangzhou JiYue Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. and was established on August 9, 2023.

According to information, Jiyue’s predecessor was Jidu Auto, an automobile brand jointly established by Baidu and Geely Auto in January 2021, and it released its first concept car ROBO-01 in June 2022.

In August 2023, Jidu was renamed Jiyue, and accordingly, Jidu ROBO-01 also became Jiyue 01.

Industrial and commercial information shows that Jiyue is currently held by Zhejiang Geely Industrial Investment Holdings Co., Ltd. with a 65% stake and Shanghai Mihang Automobile Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Jidu Automobile Co., Ltd.) with a 35% stake. The two companies are subsidiaries of Geely and Baidu respectively.

It should be noted that only 5 days after the establishment of Hangzhou Jiyue Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., on August 14, "Jiyue" was officially released and the first model was officially named "Jiyue 01".

More than two months later, on October 27, 2023, Jiyue 01 was officially launched on the market, with an astonishing speed.

An automotive industry insider told a reporter from the Changjiang Business Daily that the brand under which Geely and Baidu jointly built cars was originally "Jidu Auto", but it may have been due to issues with car manufacturing qualifications that it was moved to its current form.

On October 28, Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiyue, said in an interview: "We have wanted to fight a battle with Tesla from the beginning to the end." Regarding pricing, Xia Yiping said that product positioning should match the target users, and low prices should not always be used in exchange for sales.

Xia Yiping pointed out, "The comparison is not a blind one. Tesla does have its brand status. As a young company, Jiyue has goals and ambitions. We hope to compete with Tesla in the coming period of time. This competition is comprehensive and involves technology and other aspects. This is what we thought when we were defining the product internally in 2021."

Regarding sales, Xia Yiping said that at present, monthly sales will exceed 10,000 vehicles in 2024.

However, the "slap in the face" came too quickly. On November 30, 2023, Jiyue Automobile officially announced a price reduction. Among them, the price of all Jiyue 01 models (Jiyue 01 Max, Jiyue 01 Max Performance) was reduced by 30,000 yuan, and the long-range ternary lithium battery option package (100kWh) was simultaneously reduced by 10,000 yuan.

Average monthly sales volume is only 450 units

Did Xia Yiping, who dared to challenge Tesla, achieve the expected monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles?

In April 2024, Baidu founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li entered the Jiyue live broadcast room to support Jiyue, and jointly announced the latest preferential policies with Xia Yiping. From April 15 to May 31, if you purchase Jiyue 01 and complete delivery, you can enjoy ROBO Drive Max advanced intelligent assisted driving for free for life.

Reports show that when Jiyue was still "Jidu", it held a "Metaverse" press conference, which used a large number of cartoon-style demonstration images and was nicknamed "cartoon company" by netizens.

Xia Yiping said that the budget for this project was only a few million yuan, but it had achieved a level of dissemination across the entire network that could only be achieved by projects worth tens of millions of yuan.

"I talk about marketing efficiency. One cent spent can correspond to one user. You can do positive marketing or negative marketing." Xia Yiping said, "When you scold me, I am considered successful because you already know Jiyue."

Xia Yiping told the team: "Don't worry about being scolded. If the scolding is right, then change it. If the scolding is wrong, as long as it is not a personal attack, we don't care. There should be some opposition in the market."

Previously, Xia Yiping also introduced that starting from January 2024, Jiyue will have a major overhaul of the entire marketing team, and he will personally lead the team to start changes in marketing and sales, and internal sales will gradually improve.

However, the "marketing" that Jiyue has vigorously promoted is not as good as a controversy that attracts attention.

In April 2024, a blogger named "Dayao Tok" claimed that he was forced to resign from the company for purchasing the Xiaomi SU7 founding edition.

The blogger claimed to be an employee of Jiyue and was fired by Jiyue 5 days after picking up the Xiaomi SU7. The company did not pay compensation and the reason for the dismissal was violation of the non-compete agreement.

According to the blogger's previous posts, on April 3, he picked up the Xiaomi SU7 Founder Edition and attended the first delivery ceremony held by Xiaomi Auto.

Recently, Jiyue Automobile responded that the employee had seriously violated Jiyue's company regulations and thus terminated the employment relationship. The employee was an operator of Jiyue's social media position, but he opened a matrix account on the social platform in his personal name and promoted the products of other companies for as long as 3 months, which violated the clause in the labor contract that "he shall not engage in business that competes with the company."

Even though Xia Yiping was not afraid of being scolded and the team made adjustments, the reality was cruel and Ji Yue's sales were not ideal.

Data shows that from January to April 2024, the sales volume of Jiyue were 218, 147, 511 and 362 respectively, with monthly sales of less than 1,000 units.

In May, sales of the GLE Coupe exceeded 1,000 units for the first time, reaching 1,001 units, but were halved to 461 units in June.

On the whole, the sales volume of Jiyue in the first half of 2024 reached 2,700 units, with an average of only 450 units per month, which is far from the monthly sales of 10,000 units.

In July 2024, Jiyue made a high-profile appearance at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference with its AI smart pure electric SUV Jiyue 01 and AI smart pure electric sedan Jiyue 07.

The official website of Jiyue shows that Jiyue 07 will be officially launched in September and is positioned as a mid-size car. Some media predict that the starting price of Jiyue 07 is expected to be 209,900 yuan.

Jiyue said that among models of the same level, Jiyue 07 faces competition from Tesla Model 3, Zeekr 007, BMW i3 and others.

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