Xiaomi’s first EV, the SU7, is on show at a Xiaomi Automotive supply heart on March 25, 2024 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China. Chinese language tech firm Xiaomi’s first electrical automobile, the SU7, will probably be formally launched on March 28.
Ruan Xuefeng | Visible China Group | Getty Photos
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun on Monday teased the value of the Chinese language agency’s first electrical automobile forward of its official launch this week.
“The purpose of the Xiaomi SU7 is to be the very best trying, finest driving, and most clever sedan beneath 500,000 yuan ($69,328),” Lei stated in a publish on Chinese language social media service Weibo.
It’s the first time Xiaomi has confirmed the higher finish of the value vary. On Thursday, Xiaomi will formally launch the SU7 electrical automobile and start taking orders.
The automobile is on show throughout Xiaomi shops in China in 29 cities, in accordance with one other Weibo publish by Lei. He stated that check drives will start on Thursday.
Xiaomi Group President Weibing Lu advised CNBC beforehand that the corporate is concentrating on the premium phase of the electrical automobile market.
That might pit it towards the likes of Tesla in China. For comparability, Tesla’s Mannequin S sedan begins at 698,900 yuan whereas the Mannequin 3 begins at 245,900 yuan.
Xiaomi will even be competing towards a slew of home gamers together with large BYD, Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, lots of that are additionally concentrating on the premium finish of the EV market.
Xiaomi is best-known as a smartphone and client electronics firm. However in 2021, the corporate introduced plans to enter the EV race. Three years later it’s going through a really totally different electrical automobile market in China — one that’s doubtlessly going through a slowdown and the place competitors is cut-throat.
The EV market is within the midst of a value struggle which was sparked by Tesla on the finish of 2022. This has compelled different electrical automobile corporations to slash costs as a way to stoke demand and keep aggressive, which has pressured margins and profitability throughout the business.
Pricing will probably be key for Xiaomi in such a aggressive market and one the place the corporate has no prior historical past. The massive wager on EVs from Xiaomi is just not misplaced on CEO Lei.
“Three years in the past, I introduced that Xiaomi was going to enter the EV market. That is my ultimate new enterprise — I’m placing my popularity on the road to battle for a imaginative and prescient I deeply believed in,” Lei stated in a publish on X.
