Xiaomi EV’s ultimate goal is to have Xiaomi vehicles driving around on every street in the world, it said.
(Image credit: Xiaomi EV)
Xiaomi EV, the car-making arm of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi, is aiming to have its vehicles all over the world, although in the short term they will only be available in the domestic market.
Xiaomi EV posted 33 Q&As on Weibo today, the first part of its 100 Q&As. In response to the question “Will the Xiaomi SU7 go on sale globally?”, the company said that for now it will focus on the domestic launch of the SU7.
“But our ultimate goal is to have Xiaomi vehicles driving on every street in the world,” it said.
Xiaomi officially announced on March 30, 2021 that it joined the car-making bandwagon, saying it was investing RMB 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in its automotive business for the first installment, with an expected $10 billion investment over the next 10 years.
Xiaomi has high hopes for its first model, and the company’s founder, chairman, and CEO Lei Jun said in a December interview with CCTV that he came into the car-making business with an aim to win.
Xiaomi EV gave the Xiaomi SU7 its debut at a December 28 tech launch event and announced some of the model’s specifications, but did not reveal any pricing information.
Xiaomi wants to become one of the top five car makers in the world in 15-20 years and aims to be one of the first players in the smart driving space by 2024, Lei said at the launch event.
In October 2022, Lei mentioned that the world’s top five brands will hold more than 80 percent of the market share when the EV industry reaches maturity.
The only way for Xiaomi to succeed is to become one of the top five and ship more than 10 million units per year, he said at the time.
Xiaomi EV currently has no plans to launch Redmi vehicles and will focus on the Xiaomi EV, it said in the Q&A today.
Redmi is Xiaomi’s smartphone sub-brand, targeting a lower-priced market than Xiaomi’s main brand.
Xiaomi EV re-emphasized that the price of the SU7 is yet to be finalized and the final pricing will be announced at the official launch event.
The SU7 will not be priced at RMB 99,000, RMB 149,000, or RMB 199,000, Xiaomi EV said.
There have been multiple rumors about the pricing of the Xiaomi SU7 over the past few days, though they were denied by the company.
Lei spends half of his time in the automotive business, at least 1/4 of his time is still spent in phone R&D, and 1/4 is spent on the operations and management of the Xiaomi Group, according to the Q&A.
Smartphones remain Xiaomi’s core business, the Q&A said.
($1 = RMB 7.1594)
Xiaomi unveils its 1st EV model SU7, aims to be among top 5 automakers globally in 20 years