A Xiaomi office building in Shanghai, China, seen in 2021. The Chinese tech giant has revealed big carmaking ambitions.
Xiaomi has unveiled its first electric car, just days after Huawei launched another one of its own, showing that the efforts of Chinese tech giants to join the electric vehicle race are beginning to bear fruit.
Xiaomi unveiled the SU7 sedan Thursday, two days after Huawei launched its Aito M9 SUV. The two companies have made their names as manufacturers of smartphones and other consumer electronics, but in recent years have revealed big ambitions in autos.
In 2021, Xiaomi announced that it would invest $10 billion over the next decade into a subsidiary focused on smart EVs.
Speaking at the launch event Thursday, CEO Lei Jun said the company was entering a “new decade” and hoped to become one of the world’s top five automakers in the next 15 to 20 years.
“It’s a new starting point for Xiaomi, and I’m convinced that one day in the future, there will be Xiaomis running on every road of this world.”
It quickly realized the uphill battle it faced, he added. “To build a good car, it is still very, very difficult,” he told the audience.
However, Lei suggested that after several years, Xiaomi had come up with an offering similar to Tesla’s Model S and Porsche’s Taycan Turbo, directly comparing the performance statistics of all three models on a slide shown onstage.
Mark Rainford, an automotive industry commentator based in Shanghai who hosts the YouTube channel “Inside China Auto,” called Xiaomi’s offering “a winner,” predicting it would sell well in China.
“It looks very compelling on paper, both performance- and tech-wise,” he said, noting that the car could easily connect with Xiaomi’s smartphones.
y creating what is a luxury product, the company also appears to be targeting a different market, Rainford suggested.
“It’s clear they believe they’re a match (for) or even better than Porsche and Tesla’s flagship models, which is very ambitious for a brand most might consider a very strong consumer electronics brand but not necessarily perceive as premium,” he added.
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