Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi revealed its long-awaited electric car on Thursday, December 28, 2023, but declined to offer a price or specific release date.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng
BEIJING — Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi announced Thursday that it’s going to sell its first car for much less than Tesla’s Model 3, as price wars intensify in China’s fiercely competitive electric car market.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said the usual version of the SU7 will sell within the country for 215,900 yuan ($30,408) – a price he admitted would mean the corporate is selling each car at a loss.
Production of Tesla’s Model 3 begins at (*3*)245,900 yuan in China.
Lei claimed that the usual version of the SU7 outperforms the Model 3 in over 90% of specifications, aside from two features where Xiaomi may have at least three to 5 years to meet up with Tesla. He also said the SU7’s minimum range is 700 kilometers (almost 435 miles) in comparison with the Model 3’s 606 kilometers. He added that the corporate received orders for more than 20,000 cars in seven minutes.
He added that deliveries are expected to begin at the top of April. Lei also claimed that Xiaomi’s car factory, where all “key” steps are fully automated, is capable of manufacturing an SU7 every 76 seconds. It was not immediately clear whether the plant was fully operational.
Earlier this week, Xiaomi’s CEO said on social media that the SU7 could be one of the best sedan “under 500,000 yuan” ($69,328).
The car enters an extremely competitive market in China, where firms are introducing a large number of recent models and lowering prices to survive. Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has established cooperation with traditional car manufacturers, specifically by introducing the Aito brand, whose vehicles can often be seen in Huawei smartphone showrooms.
According to data from industry website Autohome, the Model 3 is the best-selling recent energy sedan in China, with a spread of at least 600 kilometers (372 miles) and costing less than 500,000 yuan.
According to Autohome, prices for the Han sedan start at 169,800 yuan.
ET5 prices start at 298,000 yuan and P7 prices start at 209,900 yuan, the info showed. According to Autohome, prices for Geely’s Zeekr 007 sedan start at 209,900 yuan.
Sales of recent electric vehicles, including pure battery cars, have increased in China and account for about one-third of recent passenger car sales, in accordance with the China Passenger Car Association.
Accessories
Executives from rival electric car startups Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto were among the many invited guests at the Xiaomi SU7 launch event.
On Thursday, Lei unveiled a spread of accessories, including a car refrigerator, a custom windshield shade and a smartphone holder. Some of them might be available freed from charge when purchasing a car before the top of April, while others might be available for a separate price.
Lei said the SU7 supports Apple Car Play and may be integrated with the iPad. It also revealed driver-assist technology on highways and cities that might be fully available in China in August.
Tesla’s Autopilot for driver assistance on highways is obtainable in China, but the corporate’s “Full Self Driving” system for city streets has not yet been launched within the country.
While he said that Xiaomi desires to compete with Porsche at the automotive technology event in December, Lei admitted that the SU7 still needs to attend some time before it will possibly compete at a more premium level. He announced that the SU7 “Max” version, intended to compete with the Porsche Taycan, might be sold for 299,900 yuan.
Device ecosystem
SU7 is a component of Xiaomi’s recently launched “Human x Car x Home” strategy, which goals to construct an ecosystem of devices connected to the brand new HyperOS operating system. The majority of the corporate’s revenue comes from phones, with just below 30% coming from devices and other consumer products.
Although Xiaomi is widely known for its cheaper products, its CEO Lu Weibing told CNBC earlier this yr that the corporate has been pursuing a premium strategy since 2020 and that there are about 20 million users on this price segment who could buy the SU7.
Lu told CNBC that the SU7 might be sold to consumers in China first and can take at least two to 3 years to launch overseas.
The company unveiled the car at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in late February, after unveiling the vehicle’s exterior design and technology in Beijing in late December.
