Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi on Thursday launched a sporty electric car with Porsche styling and a price tag below Tesla’s Model 3. This highlighted the fierce competition from new entrants in China’s already crowded EV market.
During the two-hour event, Xiaomi CEO and founder Lei Jun told a packed room of attendees, including bosses from Chinese EV manufacturers Nio and Xpeng, that the standard SU7 EV model costs 215,900 yuan ($29,872.02). ), whereas the Pro and Max versions are priced at 245,900 yuan and 299,900 yuan, respectively.
“It’s 30,000 (yuan) cheaper than the Model 3,” he said. Tesla’s Model 3 starts at 245,900 yuan in China.
He also said that many of the SU7’s performance features compared to Porsche’s Taycan and Panamera models exceed those of Tesla and Porsche. For example, Ray said the minimum range of 700 km exceeded the Tesla Model 3’s 567 km.
The launch fulfills the ambitions of Xiaomi’s founder, who announced the company’s foray into EVs in 2021 and pledged to invest $10 billion in the auto business as the last major entrepreneurial project of his life.
The company has formed a manufacturing partnership with state-run automaker Beiqi Group, and unveiled its sedan SU7 (abbreviation for Speed Ultra 7) for the first time in December.
The company, best known for its smartphones and wide range of affordable consumer electronics, announced it has opened orders for the SU7 and received 50,000 orders within the first 27 minutes.
Deliveries for Standard and Max models will begin in late April, with Pro models to follow by the end of May.
Ray also said the transition from electronics to car manufacturing was not easy.
“The thing I realized the most in the three years I worked on this car was that it’s very difficult to build a car. Even giants like Apple have given up,” Ray said. .
“In other words, all the people who continue to tenaciously create cars even today are heroes of our time.”
SU7 will be available in 211 stores in 39 cities in China by the end of this year, he added. Xiaomi has not disclosed whether it has plans to sell the car overseas.
price competition
Analysts are divided on whether Xiaomi’s car project will be successful. Some say this is a natural extension for the company, where rice cookers, air purifiers and other electronic devices are ubiquitous in Chinese homes.
However, the SU7 marks a departure from the company’s image as an affordable brand. “Can[Chinese consumers]psychologically make the leap from mass-market, cool, cheap consumer and household products to premium EVs?” said Tu Le, founder of consultancy Sino Auto Insights. .
Moreover, this car was launched at a difficult time for the Chinese car market.
Gavekal Dragonomics analyst Ernan Cui said, “The top 10 companies are continuously increasing their market share, making the current market environment very challenging for new entrants.” .
“If Xiaomi cannot sell at scale in the short term, it faces the risk of continuing to drag down the company’s profits over the long term.”
But what is advantageous for Xiaomi is the revenue it generates from other businesses, said Li of Sino Auto Insights.
Additionally, analysts say Xiaomi’s smartphone expertise gives it an edge over traditional automakers when it comes to smart cockpits, a feature that Chinese consumers praise.
The SU7 uses the company’s in-house developed Hyper OS as the operating system that connects EV users to other devices such as smartphones.
