Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

162: Chapter 162 The most touching true storiesJanuary 10th, a hutong in the Chaoyang District of the Imperial Capital.

At 7:00 AM, Li Jing buckled her two children—a 5-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter—into the child seats in the back of the E-MINI. The interior space was indeed compact, but even with both child seats installed, there was still room for a small backpack in between.

”Mommy, are we taking our little car today?” her daughter asked.

”That’s right, our own little car.” Li Jing fastened her seatbelt and tapped ”School Drop-off Route” on the center console screen. The system automatically planned the optimal route to avoid the morning rush hour congestion.

She opened her phone and began recording a video.

”Hello everyone, I’m Li Jing, an ordinary mom. Today is my third day driving the E-MINI, and I want to share a real day with this ’kid-hauling miracle’ with you all.”

The camera swept across the interior: the neat upholstery, the children playing in the back, and the center console screen displaying real-time traffic conditions.

”Back when I drove my husband’s Highlander to pick up the kids, not only was the gas mileage high, but I couldn’t even park it in the hutong. Now, with this little car, I can fit two in one standard parking space,” Li Jing said while driving. ”One charge lasts three days. I calculated it, and the monthly electricity cost is less than a hundred yuan—my Highlander used to cost fifteen hundred yuan in gas a month.”

The video recorded a complete day: dropping the kids off at school, going to the wet market (the trunk was packed full after folding down the rear seats), picking the kids up from school, heading to extracurricular classes...

Returning home in the evening, Li Jing parked the car but didn’t get out immediately. She touched the car door, her voice choking up slightly:

”Actually, what I value most isn’t the money saved, but the safety. Everyone saw the livestream test today; that feeling of security... As a mother, nothing is more important than my children’s safety.”

”I used to think domestic cars weren’t up to par, but now I want to say: Red Flag is really putting heart into their products. For fifty thousand yuan, they aren’t just giving us a car; they’re giving us peace of mind.”

She posted the video on Douyin with the caption, ”Fifty thousand yuan, buying a mother’s peace of mind.”

Twenty-four hours later, it had over 50 million views, 3.8 million likes, and 120,000 comments. The top comment came from another mom: ”This made me cry. My husband keeps saying domestic cars are bad and insists on buying a joint-venture brand. I’m going to make him watch this video.”

The same evening, in Shenzhen.

Programmer Zhang Wei posted, ”E-MINI Range Limit Test: Official 301km, How Far Can It Actually Go?”

In the video, he drove the E-MINI until the battery was depleted, recording the entire journey. The final result: an actual distance of 308 kilometers, 7 kilometers more than the officially claimed 301 kilometers.

”Test conditions: 15 degrees Celsius, air conditioning set to 23 degrees, two passengers, 70% city roads, 30% highway,” Zhang Wei calculated in the video. ”The car price is 59,800 yuan, purchase tax is waived, and there are free charging stations in our company parking lot—this means that for me, driving this car costs almost nothing.”

He pulled up his expense tracking app: ”I used to drive a gas car, costing 1,200 yuan a month in fuel, and 8,000 a year for maintenance and insurance. With this car, the company covers electricity, maintenance is estimated at 500 yuan once a year, and insurance is 3,000. The money saved in a year...” He paused. ”It’s enough for me to buy my girlfriend two bags and take her on a trip to Sanya.”

At the end of the video, Zhang Wei sat in the car, looking out at the night view of Shenzhen:

”Many people ask, why would a programmer buy such a cheap car? I think true geek spirit isn’t about pursuing the most expensive things, but using technology to improve life. This car showed me the progress of Huaxia technology—not high-and-mighty specifications, but changes within reach.”

These two videos detonated on social media like a pair of nuclear bombs.

Overnight, countless ordinary people began sharing their own stories with the E-MINI: a teacher in a county town using it to pick up students, retirees using it for errands...

Real stories, real emotions, real changes.

January 10th, 8:00 PM, Red Flag Data Center.

On the big screen, the cumulative number of E-MINI orders jumped to 301,457.

The factory manager in Xian called, his voice hoarse: ”Mr. Zhou, orders are backed up until June of next year. The workers are on three shifts, and the production line is running at its limit, but production capacity still can’t keep up.”

Zhou Qingyu looked at the number on the screen, remained silent for a long time, and then said: ”Activate the ’Spark Plan’—accelerate the expansion of the Chengdu factory; double production capacity within three months. Also, contact our partners in Wuhan and Changchun to start OEM production of the E-MINI.”

January 10th, afternoon, Pudong, Shanghai Municipality, Red Flag Flagship Experience Center.

Lawyer Chen Ming looked at the silver-gray H8 in front of him, his feelings complicated. At 40, he was a partner at a top international law firm in Shanghai Municipality, with a seven-figure annual income. His vehicles had ranged from a BMW 5 Series to a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, replaced every three years; he had never considered a domestic car.

But this time, he hesitated.

What prompted him to make up his mind was the 87-page ”Red Flag H8 Technical White Paper.” As a lawyer accustomed to reviewing complex contracts, he studied this document word for word: the performance parameters of the Spark second-generation high-strength steel composite materials, the computing power of the smart cockpit’s chip, the redundancy design of the autonomous driving system, the thermal management system of the battery pack...

”Mr. Chen, congratulations on becoming the first H8 owner in the country.” The sales director delivered it personally, with a respectful but not servile attitude. ”This car is a bit special—its body uses carbon fiber reinforced composite materials from the same source as Spark military industry, with a 40% increase in rigidity and a 15% reduction in weight. Currently, only Red Flag and a few supercar brands globally use this technology.”

Chen Ming sat in the driver’s seat. The seat automatically adjusted to his memory position, the dual screens lit up, the facial recognition system confirmed his identity, and it pulled up his preset cockpit settings: seat massage mode level 3, cool white ambient lighting, and a subtle woody fragrance from the scent system.

He pressed the start button, and the vehicle slid silently out of the parking space.

The test drive route was specially arranged to include complex city roads in Shanghai Municipality. The H8’s chassis vibration filtering was extremely refined; when going over speed bumps, one could barely hear a sound. The steering was precise with no play. What surprised him most was the NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness)—at a speed of 80 km/h, there was no need to raise his voice for conversation inside the car.

”The chassis quality is on par with a BMW 5 Series, and the quietness surpasses a Mercedes-Benz S-Class,” Chen Ming evaluated in his mind.

He tested the intelligent driving system: he activated the high-speed NOP (Navigation on Pilot) on the Yan’an Elevated Road, and the vehicle automatically followed, changed lanes, overtook, and entered/exited ramps. The entire process was as smooth as that of an experienced driver.

”Who is the algorithm supplier for this system?” he asked the sales director in the passenger seat.

”Spark Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. Their autonomous driving team was formerly the core team of Baidu Apollo,” the director replied. ”More importantly, this system can be continuously upgraded via OTA. We promise at least two major version updates per year for five years, keeping the vehicle feeling brand new.”

Chen Ming nodded. He thought of his own Mercedes-Benz S-Class; it was the latest model when he bought it, but three years later, it became an ”old model,” the car’s system lagged, and new features couldn’t be upgraded. But this ”evolutionary” design of the H8 completely changed the nature of cars as durable consumer goods.

After the test drive, he posted a set of photos on his Moments with the caption:

”Fifteen years in the industry, and this is the first time I’ve bought a domestic car. It’s not because of sentiment, but because of product capability. The impression the Red Flag H8 gives me: the chassis quality is on par with a BMW 5 Series, the smart cockpit crushes Tesla, and the key is a solid sense of security—this peace of mind comes from visible technological strength and the shift in attitude of Huaxia enterprises, who no longer settle for ’good enough.’ Perhaps, the era of Huaxia automobiles has truly arrived.”

This Moments post caused a stir in the legal circles of Shanghai Municipality. Many of Chen Ming’s clients and peers asked about the vehicle’s details. Within a week, seven partners from his own law firm had ordered an H8.

A subtle change was taking place: when ”opinion leaders” like Chen Ming began choosing domestic cars, the signal it sent was far more effective than any advertisement.