Xiaomi is reportedly looking to strengthen its EV offering as it builds on the success of its debut SU7 Sedan with a compact crossover that sees the Tesla Model Y as a close competitor.
The SU7 was unveiled last year and subsequently received 50,000 orders within the first 27 minutes of going on sale in China earlier this year. It has proven to be a great success in the domestic market says Xiaomi Automotive 10,000 units were built in the first 32 days of production and it is on track to deliver a total of 100,000 cars before the end of the year.
Part of the success story was the introduction of a stunning 16.1-inch 3K center console, a 56-inch head-up display and the powerful SnapDragon-based infotainment software that features higher levels of AI that learns driver and passenger behavior . This is all before you consider the seamless integration of Xiaomi’s smartphones and other devices.
A recent report from Bloomberg suggests that Xiaomi wants to increase production of the SU7 Sedan to meet consumer demand, while developing a new model that will take the form of the popular compact SUV – a segment that is rapidly gaining popularity in China.
According to Bloomberg, the company compared its upcoming SUV to Tesla’s Model Y during development, an insight provided by the news outlet’s anonymous sources.
While the specs, battery sizes and any innovative new tech details on board have yet to be revealed, it would be reasonable to assume that the same or updated infotainment system will be used. Additionally, the announcement and eventual delivery of an SUV would bolster Xiaomi’s expansion of its $10 billion total EV investment, which Bloomberg claims is being personally led by billionaire co-founder Lei Jun.
Analysis: Xiaomi is becoming a major EV player
When it was first announced that smartphone giant Xiaomi would be entering the EV market, much of the Western world assumed it would be a novelty: the tech company offering an automotive extension of its digital devices.
But the announcement of an upcoming SUV proves that Xiaomi means business, and despite the fact that the model won’t hit the market until 2025, it marks the expansion of the current production facility, which is forecast to only be able to handle around 10,000 deliveries per month process. Bloomberg.
The new and improved assembly line will increase production capacity to 300,000 units per year, meaning the smartphone maker can deliver the kind of numbers that would make it a serious competitor in the Chinese EV market.
That said, both BYD and Tesla posted serious sales figures in the final quarter of last year, with the former claiming 526,000 battery-only cars sold and the latter not far behind with 484,500 – 1.8 million for the year as a whole.
Despite Xiaomi’s estimated production numbers lagging slightly behind those of the industry leaders, Bloomberg says its EV business could break even by 2026, two years ahead of schedule. A hugely impressive achievement considering the fierce competition in the electric vehicle market in China.