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Recently, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun posted two videos of him driving an all-terrain vehicle in the Turpan Desert, which were taken last year and this year respectively.

Since Xiaomi has already started its automotive business and its first carSU7The sales performance of the Xiaomi Mi 4 is quite impressive, so any news related to the car by Lei Jun will inevitably attract the attention and heated discussion of fans. This news has sparked new discussions among some fans about the "Xiaomi Mi 4"Xiaomi MotorsWill it make an off-road vehicle? There is no relevant information from the brand yet, only rumors about Xiaomi's second model.

Xiaomi’s second car should be an SUV, but SUV is not an off-road vehicle. However, I believe that all car manufacturers may build off-road vehicles in the future.

The Origin of SUV

Many experienced drivers call SUV an off-road vehicle, but this type of vehicle is only similar to an off-road vehicle in appearance. SUV is the abbreviation of sport utility vehicle, which means "sports utility vehicle". The car manufacturer that invented this model is the well-known JEEP in the off-road vehicle circle, and the first car is Cherokee. The prototype of this car is Wagon Station, which can be understood as a station wagon, but the appearance of the vehicle is indeed very similar to an off-road vehicle, so what is the difference between the two? Simply put, it is the difference in body structure. Since off-road vehicles need to carry loads and travel on unpaved roads, their bodies need to be strong enough to prevent deformation, so they use a high-strength non-load-bearing body.

Its characteristics are as follows.

The non-load-bearing body can be simply understood as "car shell plus chassis". The chassis is the core of the load-bearing and has very high strength; however, this chassis is also very heavy. Even the chassis of a small off-road vehicle weighs hundreds of kilograms. The heavier the body, the higher the fuel consumption. Off-road vehicles are generally high-fuel-consumption models. However, with the extension of paved roads, car users often do not need to go off-road; the role of off-road vehicles has become outdoor self-driving tours, but not all car users have such a demand for vehicles. Therefore, off-road vehicles once experienced a long period of decline. The main off-road vehicle, WillysJeepAnd subsequent Chrysler needed to transform; however, this car company understood that market users did not dislike the tall and mighty appearance of off-road vehicles, but gave up because of fuel consumption. Therefore, it adopted the load-bearing body used in sedans to create SUVs, which retained the appearance characteristics of off-road vehicles and effectively reduced fuel consumption by eliminating the chassis - SUVs quickly became popular all over the world.

The return of ORV

Off-road vehicle is an off-road vehicle, abbreviated as ORV.

The reason why this type of vehicle is so niche is because of its high fuel consumption and the reduced demand for off-roading by users. However, if the fuel consumption of off-road vehicles can be reduced, then no one will dislike that off-road vehicles are more capable of off-roading than SUVs.

In the final analysis, it is fuel consumption that created SUVs, so hybrid technology or electric drive technology can once again eliminate SUVs. Because hybrid technology can significantly reduce the fuel consumption of off-road vehicles, reducing it to the same level as compact or small SUVs, and also the same level as mainstream family cars. In addition, plug-in hybrid off-road vehicles do not need to burn oil most of the time, and can be used as short-range electric vehicles after charging, and the cost of charging and driving will be much lower. The comprehensive cost of pure electric off-road vehicles will obviously be lower, and at this time off-road vehicles will once again become good models that are affordable to buy and use.

From ORV to SUV is a "passive degradation", and from SUV to ORV is an "active evolution".

The popularization and application of electric drive technology and hybrid technology will theoretically eliminate SUVs. Within the energy consumption range acceptable to users, SUVs will gradually be equipped with non-load-bearing chassis and transformed into multi-purpose off-road vehicles covering all scenarios.

Therefore, it is inevitable that automakers will make off-road vehicles in the future. This is a foreseeable change brought about by technological progress. Although Xiaomi Motors has not stated that it will make off-road vehicles, it is believed that it will also be involved in this type of vehicle in the near future. And the off-road vehicles built by Xiaomi will definitely be very attractive, and I believe that their cost-effectiveness will always bring some surprises.