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Lei Jun responds: Customer who mistook accelerator for brake during test drive placed order the next day
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On September 21, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun addressed two incidents during a live stream. He responded to a September 8 test-drive accident involving a customer who mistook the accelerator for the brake while turning, causing the vehicle to drive off the road onto a curb. Lei Jun stated that no one was injured and that the customer, despite the incident, was impressed by the car's performance and placed an order the next day. Lei Jun also addressed controversy over a video of him eating hot dry noodles (re gan mian) on a Wuhan street, which some critics accused of being staged with multiple photographers. He explained that the video was intended to promote local cuisine at the request of Wuhan tourism authorities, and that only two colleagues were filming, while other people filming were bystanders. He noted that he now avoids eating in public to prevent misunderstandings.
Source report
On September 21, Lei Jun, founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi, held a livestream to address two recent incidents: an unexpected test drive accident involving a Xiaomi Pengcheng vehicle, and the widely discussed "eating hot dry noodles on the streets of Wuhan" controversy.
Lei Jun Responds to Test Drive Incident: Customer Mistook Accelerator for Brake
On September 9, Xiaomi issued a clarification statement: On the evening of September 8, a customer was test-driving a vehicle. While making a turn at an intersection to yield to the car ahead, the driver became nervous and mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the vehicle to unexpectedly leave the road. No one was injured in the incident.
During the September 21 livestream, Lei Jun responded, explaining that the customer may have been nervous while making a U-turn and accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake. Interestingly, the customer who made the error came back the next day and placed an order for the Xiaomi Pengcheng vehicle, saying the car was still quite impressive.
"He said, 'Wow, how high is this car? The curb on the green belt was so tall—40 to 50 centimeters, 30 to 40 centimeters—and the car just climbed right up.' He felt quite embarrassed for causing so much trouble," Lei Jun recounted.
Lei Jun Addresses "Eating Hot Dry Noodles on Wuhan Streets" Controversy
In the livestream, Lei Jun said he now dares not eat breakfast in public as easily. The last time he ate in Wuhan, it created a huge stir and sparked extensive online discussion. Since then, he has deliberately chosen less crowded places to eat.
Lei Jun explained: "Last time, Mr. Li was returning to his hometown in Hubei for an event. The Wuhan Culture and Tourism Bureau wanted to invite me to help promote local cuisine. Since I grew up in Hubei eating hot dry noodles, I naturally agreed. So we went to eat. To document it and help with promotion, I brought one colleague to shoot a short video for my account to promote hometown food."
"Locals eat breakfast while walking, but as soon as people nearby noticed, they gathered around to take photos. Someone across the street took a picture, and it looked like we had dozens of photographers. In reality, there was just one photographer colleague and one media colleague from the tourism bureau—just two people. The rest were all spontaneous."
"Some people criticized me, saying I was putting on an act, so I felt I needed to explain. What I say and what people see can be completely different, and you might not be able to clarify it. So the last two times I ate, I had to go secretly. Because once I'm spotted, people gather, and if everyone crowds around taking photos, they'll say I hired the photographers again."
Editor: Zhang Jinhe, Du Hengfeng | Proofreader: Cheng Peng | Cover image source: Screenshot from Lei Jun's livestream
This article is reproduced from Lei Jun's livestream.
Source
每日经济新闻Eastern
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Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun denies staging Wuhan breakfast, clarifies test-drive error