"Step on the accelerator to 230, take a turn through the green belt..."

A song called "Green Belt God of War" is spreading like a virus online, continuously spawning different versions.

While the song doesn't name names, everyone knows it's referring to Xiaomi. Despite Xiaomi's relentless efforts to suppress the song, their attempts have proven futile.

Xiaomi, which has never lost a battle in social marketing, has finally taken a major fall this time—though it's not entirely a bad thing.

Previously, Xiaomi's car manufacturing had been smooth sailing. The problems that have emerged this time serve as a wake-up call. I have three observations on this matter.

**1**

Everyone knows that car accidents can't be blamed on automakers. The popularity and meme-creation around "Green Belt God of War" actually reflects market sentiment—a wave of backlash against Xiaomi's car marketing tactics.

Users enjoy sharing photos of Xiaomi SU7 accidents involving green belts online and making jokes about them. This isn't necessarily because they think the car is bad, but rather emotional expression.

From the Xiaomi SU7 to the Xiaomi YU7, in terms of materials, aesthetics, and configuration, these are undeniably top-tier vehicles in the market. Anyone who sees them would genuinely consider them good cars.

However, questions arise about whether Xiaomi's car manufacturing approach is somewhat cunning.

In terms of exterior design, the Xiaomi SU7 has been dubbed "Mi-sche" due to its resemblance to the Porsche Taycan, while the Xiaomi YU7 has been accused of having a "spiritual connection" with the Ferrari Purosangue's appearance, with similar body proportions and design contours.

In terms of marketing, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra's 42,000 yuan perforated front hood was promoted in a way that gave users the misleading impression it was a "performance component," when it's actually just a "mood piece" for show.

And so on.

Moreover, when faced with these criticisms, Xiaomi has maintained a tough stance, acting as if Mi fans love it and sales remain excellent. Regarding appearance, Xiaomi continues to emphasize that it's original family design that can withstand the test of time.

It seems that as long as Mi fans are willing to pay, criticism is just troublemaking and jealousy. Even amid overwhelming controversy, Xiaomi doesn't take it seriously.

While it takes two to tango, facts are facts. Is there really no copying? Don't Lei Jun and Xiaomi know the truth themselves?

This is typical willful blindness, and Mi fans' attempts to educate users in the opinion market, trying to turn black into white, further intensifies the backlash.

This has become an established fact that Xiaomi can no longer avoid.

**2**

Xiaomi's car manufacturing has created miracles, but it's time to face the Xiaomi model squarely.

It must be acknowledged that throughout automotive history, from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles, no company has achieved Xiaomi's miracle of explosive success as a newcomer.

A telling statistic is that Xiaomi's performance has reached historical highs for consecutive quarters. To describe Xiaomi's current financial reports in one phrase: there's no best, only better.

Taking Q2 as an example, Xiaomi delivered 81,302 vehicles in a single quarter. Achieving the annual target of 350,000 deliveries seems effortless. Moreover, the gross margin reached an impressive 26.4%, with profitability expected in the second half of the year.

While many new forces are still in the ICU, Xiaomi has entered the KTV early. Even amid continuous controversy, performance remains unaffected.

This is the terrifying magic of the Xiaomi model.

Lei Jun has stated that one of the core reasons for Xiaomi's car manufacturing success is the Xiaomi model, which integrates Xiaomi's methodology, explosive product model, new retail model, and premium product methodology. This is also considered one of Xiaomi's core competitive moats.

However, now is the time to break free from path dependence. Xiaomi must face and completely abandon the shortcut-taking and cunning marketing tactics within the Xiaomi model.

Especially now, when Xiaomi's car brand reputation is showing obvious negative trends.

Examples like "overnight persuasion of executives" and "automotive-grade cardboard boxes" have been proven to be gimmicks. Pre-launch road testing, which all manufacturers conduct extensively as standard procedure, was heavily promoted by Xiaomi with claims like "YU7 has accumulated 7.19 million kilometers of testing, almost covering all bad roads in the country," and frequent publicity about passersby encountering YU7 test vehicles.

But water can carry a boat and also overturn it. This excessive promotion and cunning tactics are backfiring on Xiaomi itself.

The "Green Belt God of War" becoming a meme and label is an inevitable consequence. If Xiaomi continues to refuse to face its own problems, there will be more incidents.

Meanwhile, capital market imagination space cannot be reopened.

While Xiaomi's Q2 performance continued its explosive growth, stock prices haven't recovered to previous highs, indicating investor skepticism about the Xiaomi model's prospects.

**3**

As a "wishing well," Lei Jun can do better and deserves better.

Reviewing Lei Jun's entire entrepreneurial journey reveals that he tends to ride the wind rather than create it.

He is a highly pragmatic entrepreneur who excels at resource integration and bringing extreme user experience innovation to the market. This is undeniable.

From effort to honesty, from being people-friendly to hands-on involvement, Lei Jun is unique. This proactive packaging and deification elevated Lei Jun to godlike status, making him a new national business icon after Jack Ma, even surpassing Ma to become a national "wishing well"—when people need certain products, they hope Xiaomi and Lei Jun will enter that field.

This represents trust in Xiaomi and Lei Jun.

Lei Jun has done well enough. But I still expect Xiaomi to truly become a great company, not just through product disruption, but through technological innovation.

As a tech media professional, I have consistently been a critic of Xiaomi's car manufacturing approach.

This isn't to say Xiaomi's car products are bad, but I sincerely hope Xiaomi will stop relying on path dependence and taking shortcuts. I firmly believe that with Xiaomi's capabilities and Lei Jun's influence, they can shoulder greater responsibility, create greater value, make changes, and do more difficult but correct things, bringing truly leading innovation to the century-old automotive industry and telling a story that represents the pinnacle of domestic new energy vehicles.

A mainstream question is: why haven't new force automakers, despite surpassing Tesla in product quality, cost-effectiveness, and experience across various dimensions and diverting significant sales, truly shaken Tesla's position, with the market still following Tesla's lead?

This comes down to core technological high ground and the premium treatment that comes with leading innovation.

I've always hoped that Lei Jun and Xiaomi would have greater vision and pattern, no longer just going with the flow, but seeking to become trendsetters.

I believe that such a Xiaomi could lead "NIO, Xpeng, and Li Auto" to truly enter the global automotive stage, not just challenging Tesla, but bringing genuine shock from Eastern technological innovation to former automotive industry kings.