Xiaomi to launch the company’s first electric car in China
Takeaway Points
- Xiaomi said on Monday that they will be launching their first electric car in China.
- This was reported by Reuters.
- The aim of creating the car is to create the “best-looking, easiest-to-drive and smartest car, ” that will be priced below 500,000 yuan ($69,424).
- On Thursday evening, the company will announce its official price and start taking orders for the SU7, short for Speed Ultra 7.
The First Electric Car by Xiaomi
China’s fifth-largest smartphone company, Xiaomi, said on Monday that it will be launching its first electric car in China, as reported by Reuters. The company said that their goal is to create the “best-looking, easiest to drive and smartest car, ” that will be priced below 500,000 yuan ($69,424).
According to the report, on Thursday evening, the company will announce its official price and start taking orders for the SU7, short for Speed Ultra 7.
CEO Lei Jun said on his Weibo account that this marks the first time the company has confirmed the upper end of its price range.
Yan, 28, who works in the legal industry, said, “Whether it’s Xiaomi’s phones or Xiaomi’s cars, their design is very original.”
He further added, “In my mind, Xiaomi’s pricing is at most mid-range. If the price is too high, especially since this is their first car, I think it remains to be tested by the market,” Yan said.
SU7 Car
Since Xiaomi revealed about the car in December and announced it aimed to become one of the world’s top five automakers, expectations for the car have been building up.
According to the report, Lei has touted it as having technology capable of delivering acceleration better than Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab cars, and Porsche’s EVs. Seventy-six Xiaomi stores in 29 Chinese cities began displaying the car on Monday, with prospective customers and car bloggers lining up in one central Beijing showroom to get a close view of the “ocean blue” and other versions. The company also uploaded its “Xiaomi Car” app to Chinese app stores.
The SU7 will come in two versions – one with a driving range of up to 668km (415 miles) on a single charge and another with a range of up to 800km.
In 2021, the company said that it has been seeking to diversify into EVs amid stagnating demand for smartphones. Other Chinese tech companies that have partnered with automakers to develop EVs include telecoms giant Huawei HWT.UL and search engine firm Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab.
Xiaomi has pledged to invest $10 billion in autos over a decade and is one of the few new players in China’s EV market to gain approval from authorities, who have been reluctant to add to the supply glut, as stated in the report.
About Xiaomi
Xiaomi Corporation is a consumer electronics and smart manufacturing company with smartphones and smart hardware connected by an IoT platform at its core. It was founded in April 2010. On July 9, 2018, the company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1810.HK).
In June 2023, MAU of MIUI reached approximately 606 million globally. The company has also established the world’s leading consumer AIoT (AI+IoT) platform, with 654.5 million smart devices connected to its platform (excluding smartphones, laptops and tablets) as of June 30, 2023. Xiaomi products are present in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. In August 2023, Xiaomi was included in the Fortune Global 500 list for the fifth year in a row, ranking 360th.
Their logo, “MI,” stands for “Mobile Internet.” It also has other meanings, including “Mission Impossible,” because Xiaomi faced many challenges that had seemed impossible to defy in our early days, according to Xiaomi.
