Why is Dreame venturing into the automotive industry?
Is there still a need for a new car - making enterprise now?
Although the automotive industry is already a highly competitive red - ocean market, the "failures" of the "predecessors" don't seem to have scared off Dreame. Even after nearly a year of "rumors" about car - making, Dreame has continued to place a big bet: officially announcing its entry into the car - making business.
On August 28th, Dreame Technology officially announced the incubation of a car - making project, aiming to create China's first global ultra - luxury car brand. The first ultra - luxury pure - electric vehicle is planned to be unveiled in 2027. While new - force brands initially focused their attention on BBA, Dreame appears more "aggressive": its first product will be benchmarked against the Bugatti Veyron. As a top - tier sports car, the Bugatti Veyron was once the "world's fastest car" and was priced as high as 25 million yuan when it entered the Chinese market in 2008. Among hundreds of years of car brands, few can match it.
Different from current traditional ultra - luxury brands, the ultra - luxury brand created by the Dreame Automobile team will combine the technological advantages of China's intelligent wave and transform the product into an AI intelligent terminal with vitality and growth potential. It will end the era of "cold machines" and initiate the "intelligent interaction" era of ultra - luxury cars. Dreame Automobile said that it will improve the user experience in the most efficient and intelligent way.
Powered by Dreame's super motor, the first ultra - luxury pure - electric vehicle will bring users an ultimate power experience. Dreame said that it will continuously invest in the automotive field in the long term. Currently, the project has assembled a car - making team of nearly a thousand people and is still expanding. According to the product planning goals of the Dreame Automobile team, the first product will be built into an ultra - luxury brand with the fastest speed and best performance globally.
When a smart hardware brand crosses into a new field and challenges the "hell mode", then, why does Dreame want to make cars?
Dreame's "Apple Opportunity"
Dreame is a story of a technology enthusiast achieving business success.
At the beginning of its entrepreneurship, when Dreame Technology entered the floor - sweeping robot business, it set a high - difficulty goal: the product should not only be suitable for households but also build an insurmountable technological barrier. In the smart cleaning field, the team targeted the breakthrough of "high - speed digital motor" technology. After numerous experiments and failures, they finally achieved a mass - production leap in rotational speed from 100,000 revolutions per minute to 200,000 revolutions per minute, completing a technological generational leap. According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, from 2023 to 2024, Dreame ranked first in the online sales volume of high - end floor - sweeping robots priced over 5,000 yuan for two consecutive years.
In recent years, Dreame Technology has been advancing by leaps and bounds. While its floor - sweeping robot and floor - mopping robot businesses have achieved global success, its business categories have become more diverse, and its performance has grown rapidly. Dreame has established 6,000 offline channels in more than 100 countries worldwide and has a user base of 30 million.
In the smart hardware field, Dreame seized the "Apple opportunity". Relying on China's industrial chain, instead of competing on "price - performance ratio", it created a high - end brand in the global market with technological premium and obtained higher commercial value - Dreame has become the Apple in this field.
However, although Dreame has achieved remarkable results in the smart hardware field, it is still a newcomer in the automotive field. It still raises doubts: Is it "crazy" to enter now? Is it "money - grabbing"?... While every clue about Dreame's car - making is highly concerned, some voices have quietly emerged. When interviewing relatively high - level candidates for the automotive business, Yu Hao will firmly state: "Car - making is currently our most important thing."
Actually, Dreame's idea of making cars can be traced back to 12 years ago. But after evaluation by the startup team, the 20 - billion - yuan startup capital made the threshold for entering the automotive field too high, and it was not suitable for a first - time venture. But now, Dreame believes the time is ripe.
Why is it still brave enough to enter the field?
This stems from Dreame's judgment of the "era": "Each era has its own enterprises, and the opportunities available to enterprises entering at different times are completely different." At the current stage of China's automotive industry development, it has provided previously unimaginable basic conditions for new entrants, including three core opportunities - the window period for brand premiumization, the mature global environment, and the advantages in organization and supply chain.
Dreame believes that with the model of "China's supply chain + global high - end channels", there is still an "Apple opportunity" in the car - making industry - relying on China's supply chain, technology, and engineer reserves to create a "Chinese brand" that can occupy a high - end position in the global market.
All - Element Competition
Car - making is regarded as a "money pit". How to meet the huge capital demand? Dreame believes the core is to "spend money precisely", and the key logic is to "make the right products" - if the product itself is not commercially viable, 100 billion yuan is not enough; but for the right product, 20 billion to 50 billion yuan is sufficient. What Dreame needs to do is to ensure that each product can precisely match the market demand.
As for the question of "Why will users choose Dreame's cars?", the answer is already embedded in Dreame's car - making positioning: target global high - end users and fill the current market gap for "ultra - luxury + intelligent technology".
From the current market situation, the global ultra - luxury car market is still dominated by traditional brands such as Bugatti and Bentley, but these brands are progressing relatively slowly in the fields of electrification and intelligence. Although Tesla leads in electrification and intelligent driving, its brand positioning still leans towards "popularization of technology" and it is difficult to meet the high - end users' demand for "ultimate luxury + exclusive experience". Previously, Chinese car companies' overseas expansion mainly focused on price - performance ratio and the mid - end market, and have not achieved a breakthrough in the ultra - luxury field - this leaves room for Dreame's "differentiated competition".
Dreame's first model is directly benchmarked against the Bugatti Veyron, focusing on the "driving experience that combines ultimate performance and intelligent technology", precisely targeting this gap. In its view, high - end users' demands are not only "speed and luxury", but also "intelligence and exclusivity": such as more precise sensor fusion technology, smoother human - machine interaction experience, and more personalized customization services - and these are exactly the advantages that Dreame has accumulated in the smart hardware field. As of the end of 2024, Dreame has applied for a total of 6,379 patents globally, of which 45% are invention patents, covering core fields of electric vehicles such as sensor fusion, motor control, and human - machine interaction. These technological reserves will be directly transformed into the competitiveness of automotive products.
More importantly, Dreame already has the channel foundation to reach global high - end users. Its 6,000 offline channels in more than 100 overseas countries are not simply "sales outlets", but "high - end brand touchpoints" accumulated through years of operation. In the cleaning field, Dreame can compete with international brands such as Dyson and achieve the first market share with a higher price, which means it has mastered the demand insights and brand communication logic of high - end users. Transferring this ability to the automotive field will significantly reduce the cost of "user education" and enable it to quickly reach the target customer group when the 2027 model is launched.
For ensuring commercial success in the automotive field, the product is just one part of Dreame's "all - element competition".
"All - element competition" means not relying on a single advantage, but surpassing competitors in all key indicators. Dreame's goal is to be at least 10% - 20% better than competitors in all indicators that users care about, such as price, battery life, and intelligent experience. At the same time, the core is to achieve "innovative transcendence" rather than "copy - cat follow - up".
In the past, in the cleaning field, Dreame established differentiated advantages through various technologies. When this logic is transferred to the automotive field, it means that its ultra - luxury models not only need to match the Bugatti in performance but also form a "generational gap" in intelligent technology and user experience.
Car - Making is the "Ultimate Battlefield for Testing Accumulation"
When the outside world thinks Dreame is "late", Dreame hopes to replicate its past success in the automotive field.
When entering the floor - sweeping robot market, Dreame was 3 years later than Roborock and 20 years later than Ecovacs. But according to internal data of Dreame, in 2025, Dreame's revenue will exceed that of Ecovacs, and its profit will exceed that of Roborock. As a latecomer, Dreame believes that being late also means having more strategies, and this applies to many hardware enterprises. As long as "latecomers" in the hardware industry seize the nodes of technological iteration and market demand, they have every chance to overtake on the curve. And the current electrification transformation of the automotive industry is exactly such a node.
Does this mean being too "contemptuous" of the automotive industry and blindly choosing to enter?
On the contrary, Dreame has a sense of awe for this industry.
"Car - making is not speculation." The Dreame team reached a full consensus when preparing to enter the automotive field internally: Car - making is different from the home appliance field. The automotive industry has very high requirements for decision - making quality. A single decision - making mistake may lead to a complete collapse. Most decisions require long - term consideration rather than impulsive actions.
Dreame regards car - making as the "ultimate battlefield for testing its comprehensive capabilities". Car - making tests a company's accumulation in all fields such as technology, supply chain, brand, capital, and organization. And Dreame believes that its past success in other fields has given it the "ticket" to enter this field.
Dreame Technology's entry into the car - making industry is a microcosm of the "premiumization and globalization" wave of China's manufacturing industry. Relying on the mature domestic supply chain foundation and leveraging its brand and channel capabilities verified in niche fields, it attempts to achieve a breakthrough in the "ultimate hardware" field of automobiles. Its advantages lie in the precise grasp of the era's opportunities, the clear understanding of its own ability boundaries, and the "late - comer transcendence" methodology verified in the smart hardware field. However, the challenges are also significant - the brand barriers in the ultra - luxury car market, the complex supply chain management in the automotive industry, and the efficient use of hundreds of billions of yuan in funds are all major tests for Dreame.
By 2027 - when Dreame Automobile plans to launch its first model, the competitive landscape of the Chinese automotive market and the technological roadmap of global ultra - luxury electric vehicles may change.
Can Dreame replicate its success in the smart hardware field? Dreame Automobile still has to fight a brutal battle on the "ultimate battlefield".