Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched its first electric vehicle (EV) and will start taking orders. The company’s chief executive Lei Jun said the Speed Ultra 7 (SU7) will be priced at 215,900 yuan ($29,900; £23,600), reports BBC.
The move pits the tech giant against EV rivals including Tesla and BYD.
Xiaomi’s entry into the electric car market comes as sales growth has slowed globally, triggering a price war.
The firm hopes the SU7’s shared operating system with its phones, laptops and other devices will appeal to existing customers.
Xiaomi is the third-largest smartphone seller worldwide, with a market share of about 12 percent, according to research firm Counterpoint.
The SU7, which Xiaomi has been showing off since last year, has drawn comparisons to Porsche’s Taycan and Panamera sports cars.
It will be manufactured by a unit of state-owned carmaker BAIC Group at a plant in Beijing that can produce up to 200,000 vehicles a year.
“While getting this far is quite an achievement in itself, the ultimate achievement would be to demonstrate that there is a consumer market for Xiaomi as a smart EV brand,” Automobility’s Bill Russo told the BBC .
In an indication of the challenges facing tech firms looking to produce electric cars, last month iPhone maker Apple reportedly scrapped plans to build an electric vehicle.
Russo added that Xiaomi’s entry into the car market reflects its confidence “in the relevance of their brand” in China, while Apple did not see enough potential in the EV market outside of China.
Xiaomi has said it will invest $10bn (£7.9bn) in its vehicle business over the next 10 years.
“The Chinese EV market is very mature and creates a very stable ecosystem for EV manufacturers,” said Abhishek Murali of research firm Rystad Energy.
“For example, the battery supply chain is very strong, and the charging network in the country is also growing to meet the growing supply of EVs.”
The launch of Xiaomi’s first car comes as the price war in China’s EV market has intensified.
Tesla, which is led by billionaire Elon Musk, has cut the cost of its cars in China by thousands of dollars in recent months, while local rivals such as BYD, the world’s best-selling EV maker, have cut prices.
The world’s biggest auto market is already crowded, so Xiaomi is one of the few potential new entrants to win regulatory approval as officials try to stem the tide of new players.
Earlier this week, BYD posted record annual profits, but said growth had slowed towards the end of last year.
Shanghai-based electric car maker Nio cut its forecast for first-quarter deliveries on Wednesday as consumers curbed spending as China’s economic growth weakens.
US electric vehicle giant Tesla is set to announce delivery figures for the first three months of 2024 next week.
At the same time, governments around the world are cracking down on imports of foreign-made EVs.
On Tuesday, Beijing initiated dispute settlement proceedings against the US at the World Trade Organization to challenge “discriminatory subsidies” under the US Anti-Inflation Act.
Meanwhile, the European Union has launched an investigation into whether Chinese government subsidies have helped the country’s electric car makers undercut models made in Europe.
2024-03-28 16:13:28
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