Chinese EV maker Xiaomi will begin deliveries of its first electric vehicle (EV) in China this month, venturing into the world’s largest auto market at a time of an aggressive price war. China’s fifth-largest smartphone maker will begin taking orders for its new Speed Ultra 7 (SU7) sedan. The model will be officially launched at an event on March 28, when the new EV’s sticker tag is expected to be made public. The automaker currently has 59 stores in 29 cities in the country.
At the unveiling of the SU7 in December, Chief Executive Lei Jun had said that Xiaomi planned to become one of the world’s top five automakers. He said the SUV has “super electric motor” technology capable of delivering faster acceleration than Tesla’s and Porsche’s EVs.
The car shares its operating system with Xiaomi’s popular phones and other electronic devices. According to analysts, the car will appeal to the company’s existing customers because of this technology, Reuters reported. Lei wrote in a Weibo post, “Xiaomi’s cars are going from zero to one in a very different growth stage and facing very different user expectations compared to when Xiaomi’s smartphones went from zero to one 14 years ago.”
Xiaomi first flagged its interest to enter the EV market in 2021 as it had been seeking to diversify beyond its core business due to demand for smartphones being stagnant. The smartphone giant has pledged to invest USD 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 a supply glut. The company’s cars will be produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group in a Beijing factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles.
Interestingly, in the starting of this year, China’s EV sales dipped slightly at 18% as compared to 21% growth seen for all of 2023. Market leader BYD led a round of deep price cutting to try to woo consumers in the face of weaker domestic demand.