While traditional auto manufacturers are heavily invested into combustion engine technology, new comers have an added edge that they carry no such baggage.
Everyone knows that tomorrow’s electric car will drive itself, will connect to the internet through high speed, will extensively use the technology known as Internet of Things (IoT), however what most may not know is that probably it will be Chinese.
Before, you screech to a halt, thinking its better to avoid riding it since it going to be made cheaply and crash ever so often, do read on.
A Chinse entrepreneur, who happens to be a billionaire, with a penchant for re-engineering, has a dream of usurping Tesla Motors, a U.S. based premium electric vehicle manufacturer.
“Tesla’s a great company and has taken the global car industry to the EV era,” said Jia. “But we’re not just building a car. We consider the car a smart mobile device on four wheels, essentially no different to a cellphone or tablet.”
He went on to add, “We hope to surpass Tesla and lead the industry leapfrogging to a new age.”
With the Chinese government opening up the auto industry to deep-pocketed technological companies, a wave of startups has emerged. However, sceptics wonder how startups like LeEco will deliver on this grand vision.
As a sign of things to come, Jia unveiled the LeSee, an electric concept supercar, designed with Tesla model S as its rival.
“People questioned our idea, a small IT company building a car to compete with the BMWs and Teslas of the world, and laughed at us. It wasn’t easy, but here we are,” said Jia to Reuters.
Impending U.S. Launch
In a few year’s time, LeEco plans on producing LeSee at a plant in Las Vegas with its strategic U.S. partner Faraday Future. These cars will be sold in the U.S. and China. If all goes well, he plans on producing electric cars in China too, probably in partnership with BAIC Motor.
Given the company’s “disruptive” pricing model that it has adopted for its smartphones and TV sets, it is very likely that the same model will be followed for the LeSee. Hinting at what is to come, Jia says, the disruption model will be used with “double the performance at half the price.”
LeEco is not the only Chinese Tech firm eyeing the automobile industry. Tech heavyweights such as Alibaba, Baidu, Xiaomi and Tencent, have invested heavily in more than a dozen electric-vehicle manufacturing startups.
With the increased focus on the environment, it is widely expected that China’s taxi, bus and courier services will soon go the EV way.
“We define our car in a whole new way … instead of copying Apple and Tesla,” said Hank Liu, LeEco’s co-founder and vice chairman. “Our products are not upgraded from those that already exist. They are revolutionary … products that never existed before.”
Humble Background
Way back in 2003, with 200,000 yuan (around $31,000 at current rates) in cash driving his used Toyota, Jia sought to grow his Sinotel Technologies by adding a simple video streaming feature. Four years later, in 2007 he took the company public in Singapore and soon after partnered with Liu to form LeEco. The company now employs 11,000 people in the China, India and the United States. As of 2014, it had generated 6.8 billion (1.05 billion) in revenues.
Friends and colleagues say, Jia is a shrewd businessman who is “generous in picking up the tab for meals” and “never stops working.” Forbes has valued him at $4.8 billion.
In order to transform his IT firm into the auto industry, Jia has worked hard to build ties with California-based Faraday Future and Atieva. He has also entered into a partnership with Aston Martin and has a cooperative relationship with BAIC.
In what could be an insight, Ding Lei, who used to formerly work at General Motors and is now LeEco’s auto chief, said that LeEco has an edge in the auto industry in the sense that it carries no baggage from the past. Traditional automobile manufacturers are very heavily invested into combustion engine technology in order to quickly jump into electric vehicles.
“Look, this disruption can’t come from traditional OEMs (automakers). But a company like us, we can go directly to pure electric cars,” said Lei.
Categories: Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Strategy
manageria.biz 
Leave a comment