Aufdeckung der Fahrzeugsentwicklung von Dreame: Finanzierung mit dem Anspruch, "Bentleys" zu bauen, und Cashflow-Generierung durch Markenproduktion auf Auftrag

In 2021, Xiaomi announced its entry into the automotive industry, being regarded as the last one to join the new energy vehicle race. Four years later, the competition in the automotive industry has reached a tough mid - stage. The profit margin has been extremely compressed, and operational efficiency is crucial for the survival of automakers. The competitive pressure has spread from automakers to the supply chain. Meanwhile, there are still new entrants eager to enter the fatigued market.

In 2024, "Dreame Technology", mainly engaged in the production of sweeping robots, was reported to have launched an automotive project. Its first model is an extended - range SUV, expected to go into mass production and be launched in 2027. In January this year, "Xingkong Plan (Shanghai) Automotive Technology Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Xingkong") was registered and established. The factory is planned to be located in the Lingang New Area of Shanghai, adjacent to the production bases of Tesla and CATL.

Can the automotive industry accommodate another new player? The reality is discouraging. According to "Yunjian Insight", the first mass - produced vehicle of Xingkong Plan is still in the styling review stage, and the internal plan to start mass production in February 2027 is no longer mentioned. In the next few months, the company plans to launch a batch of prototype vehicles for display and to seek financing.

Meanwhile, the sales team of Xingkong Plan is busy obtaining authorization for other vehicle models, trying to sell vehicles overseas through the ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) model to earn cash flow. "It's about modifying a vehicle model and seeing if any dealers are interested in buying it," an employee said.

This is the "Left - hand, Right - hand Model" that Xingkong Plan is implementing. At a recent monthly meeting, Yu Hao, the founder of Dreame, first proposed this strategy. The "left - hand" represents the ODM business, and the "right - hand" represents the self - developed automotive project. He hopes that the "left - hand" business can support the "right - hand" business.

Dreame's sweeping robot business started with OEM for Xiaomi and gradually developed its own brand. Now, the automotive business is following the same path.

The self - developed automotive project (right - hand model) is still stuck in the styling review stage. A person close to Dreame said that Yu Hao's styling idea is to "learn from Xiaomi", "finding a super - luxury foreign car and making it 'look similar but not the same'. It should have the overall temperament and spirit at first glance, but with unique details to avoid blatant copying."

According to this requirement, Xingkong asked suppliers to modify a batch of prototype vehicles, redesigning the styling and developing new functions based on existing vehicle platforms. The first batch of prototype vehicles includes a "Bentley" and a "Cullinan" modified from the Li L9, followed by a "Bugatti" and a "Ferrari" modified from the Xiaomi SU7.

Most of the prototype vehicles will not go into mass production. According to insiders, at internal meetings, company executives do not shy away from the significance of these prototype vehicles in "attracting investment". Since announcing its entry into the automotive industry, Xingkong Plan has not separately disclosed its financing situation.

In addition to using prototype vehicles for financing, another source of funds is the "left - hand model". According to insiders, Xingkong is currently in talks with "Longchuang", an automotive design company, planning to modify an SUV model and export it overseas. The insider said that the company plans to select a total of 5 ODM models for dealers to choose from and is currently in negotiations for the BAIC BJ40 model. "Yu Hao strongly supports this."

Although mass - produced vehicles are still a long way off, Xingkong has recruited dozens of overseas salespeople and plans to expand the team to over a hundred.

An internal employee said that he is now busy in a chaotic state every day, unable to tell whether it is more urgent to build prototype vehicles for investment or to engage in ODM business for profit.

But one thing is clear to him: the self - developed project originally scheduled for mass production in February 2027 is no longer a top priority.

Thought It Was for Car - Making, but Actually Doing the Left - Right Hand Model

Most of Xingkong's employees come from the traditional automotive industry. An employee said that before joining, he thought he would use the efficiency of a new - force system to create an innovative product. After working for some time, he found that "actually, we are implementing the left - right hand model."

He believes that implementing the left - right hand model "is a complete waste of time" because it is neither sustainable nor reusable for future business.

Another employee questioned: The current purpose of building prototype vehicles is only to attract investment. In internal discussions about prototype vehicles, the most talked - about topic is investment, rather than what the prototype vehicles can contribute to mass production or what needs to be verified. He hopes that the prototype vehicles he works on can go into mass production, "instead of just building them for investors to see."

Externally, Xingkong Plan is an independent company. Internally, it is equivalent to a first - level department of Dreame, with multiple BUs (Business Units). One BU corresponds to one product line, and there are dozens of BUs in the whole company.

In addition to the Xingkong BU responsible for the extended - range SUV, the company has also established a "Xiaomi BU" for sports sedans, as well as a "Leapmotor BU" and an "Off - road Vehicle BU".

Some BUs have only recruited a few people, and their goals are not clear. Internal employees speculate that these may just be trial projects. If the progress is not satisfactory, "they may disappear after some time."

The most likely vehicle to go into mass production is the extended - range SUV currently in the styling stage. According to insiders, this vehicle refers to the positioning of models such as the Wenjie M9, Li L9, and Zeekr 9X, aiming to be "more luxurious" and "more high - end". The price range has not been determined yet. "It may vary depending on different configurations, ranging from 200,000 to 600,000 yuan."

The automotive project is stagnant, and the ODM model is also facing difficulties. A person close to Dreame said that Dreame requires Xingkong Plan to operate independently and be responsible for its own profits and losses. The ODM business bears the heavy responsibility of "supporting the family" and is required to achieve a quarterly revenue target of tens of millions of yuan.

The resources for these ODM products come from domestic sources. After being produced with the ODM label in China, they are planned to be sold in overseas markets. Some say that Europe and the United States will be the first stop and the focus of overseas expansion. Others say that based on the currently available ODM models, Southeast Asia and the Middle East will be the main markets.

The revenue - generating goal falls on the heads of the product and sales leaders. They need to send daily reports in the group, reporting the day's revenue, profit, cost, and "who recruited you".

These vehicles cannot be sold in the domestic market. Will anyone really buy them overseas? They have never participated in the discussion of this fundamental question.

But if they cannot find suitable ODM models and buyers for these vehicles, they will be responsible for the results.

Building Cars with the Logic of Sweeping Robot Business

Dreame's car - making model has many similarities with its sweeping robot business.

Yu Hao, the founder, has an impressive early resume. This entrepreneur born in 1987 was once regarded as a "genius boy". At the age of 18, he was recommended to Tsinghua University to study aerospace engineering based on his performance in the physics Olympiad. In his senior year, he founded the earliest maker space in China, "Sky Workshop", focusing on aircraft research and development and receiving sponsorship from Boeing.

Yu Hao's early entrepreneurial goal was to build a technology company like Dyson. Since 2015, he and his team have focused on researching high - speed motor technology, achieving 100,000 revolutions per minute in two years, surpassing the industry's average level of 10,000 - 20,000 revolutions per minute at that time. Later, Yu Hao founded Dreame with this core technology and joined the Xiaomi ecosystem, making breakthroughs in cleaning products such as hair dryers, sweeping robots, and floor scrubbers.

In 2018, Dreame's first product, the wireless vacuum cleaner V9, was launched through Xiaomi's crowdfunding platform. It was sold out in 6 days, with 19,000 units sold and sales exceeding 15 million yuan. In 2020, Dreame shifted its market focus from overseas to the domestic market. One year later, Dreame started to develop its own brand and quickly occupied the market in just a few years.

According to IDG data, in 2024, Dreame's global market share in the sweeping robot market was about 8%, ranking fifth. Among the top four companies, three are Chinese companies: Roborock (about 16%), Ecovacs (13.5%), and Xiaomi (9.7%).

Dreame's business has also expanded in all directions from cleaning products. Yu Hao believes that with high - speed motors and visual algorithms as the core of R & D, Dreame can launch innovative products in niche markets.

Following this logic, after completing the layout of four major product categories: sweeping robots, floor scrubbers, wireless vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers, Dreame has gradually entered the fields of robotics, smart home, and large household appliances.

In March this year, Dreame announced that it has become a "boundless ecological enterprise". Beyond the home appliance ecosystem, Dreame's business is diverse, far exceeding the scope of household scenarios or technology reuse.

According to statistics from the Economic Observer, the established BUs/product lines of the Dreame Group include but are not limited to: sweeping robots, floor scrubbers, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, air purifiers, water purifiers, dishwashers, refrigerators, air conditioners, smart TVs, routers, pool robots (Surge Future), embodied large models (Qianjue Technology), lawn mowing robots, window - cleaning robots, garden tools (Lounix), trendy toys (Dreame Mart), coffee (Dreame Coffee), tea drinks (Shanye Mitea), hot pot (Boiling Point Plan), etc. With the business expansion, the total number of employees in the Dreame Group has increased from 8,000 to 12,000.

An employee in Dreame's investment and financing department told the Economic Observer that Dreame has incubators numbered from 1 to 10, each corresponding to a specific business track with clear division of labor. The incubators are responsible for raising funds from large funds, investing in internal incubation projects, and helping these projects raise external funds.

Yu Hao is eager for adventure and challenges. He once said in an interview, "Dreame doesn't bet on the 1% niche market. Instead, it uses the 'N + 1' approach to target 99% of the global economy. Many people avoid large - scale businesses due to risk concerns, resulting in most people crowding into the 1% niche market, while the remaining 99% is still untapped."

Adhering to the entrepreneurial philosophy of "either not doing it, or being the best in the world", Yu Hao is making a more daring attempt to capture 99% of the market. These new businesses follow Dreame's original approach: focusing on the high - end market, benchmarking against leading companies, either achieving high profit margins or quickly cutting losses.

Car - making is also an important project incubated by Dreame. In 2021, the same year when Xiaomi announced its entry into the automotive industry, Dreame secretly launched an automotive project internally, assembling a special automotive team of over 200 people. In January this year, Xingkong Plan, the automotive entity, was registered and established with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. The equity structure shows that Yu Hao holds 80% of the shares through Space Soaring Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Sky Infinite Intelligent Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., and Forward - moving Enterprise Management holds 20%.

A person close to Xingkong Plan said that the current team size exceeds 800 people, coming from automakers such as Geely, Huawei, Xiaomi, BYD, and Li Auto. As the business focus shifts to the ODM business, the team expansion will mainly focus on overseas salespeople.

According to the above - mentioned insider, Dreame previously had plans to build factories and stores, but now the investment in fixed assets has been continuously reduced. In the future, it may follow Huawei's asset - light model and seek cooperation with other automakers for contract manufacturing. However, no one knows whether it will ever reach the mass - production stage.

The automotive industry is a long - cycle, capital - intensive, and slow - return industry. Without capital support in the early stage, it is almost impossible to start a car - making project.

Even with capital backing, it is necessary to accurately judge the market and user needs, make continuous R & D investment, have a perfect quality management process, and effective marketing and sales capabilities.

In the past eight years, dozens of new car - making forces have emerged in China, but only a few have obtained the tickets to the second half of the race.

As He Xiaopeng, the chairman of XPeng Motors, said, building cars is "swimming in a sea of blood". Most players drown halfway.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Yunjian Insight". The author is Ni Ping, and the editor is Wang Hailu. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.