Xiaomi’s chief executive on Monday said his aim for the company’s first electric car is that it will be the “most beautiful, easiest to drive and smartest car” priced under 500,000 yuan (roughly Rs. 57,93,508), as the Chinese electronics maker prepares to take orders this week.
The company will announce its official price range on Thursday night and start taking orders for the car, which it calls SU7, short for Speed ​​Ultra. Comments by CEO Lei Jun on its official Weibo account mark the first time the company has confirmed the upper end of its price range.
Anticipation for the car has been building since Xiaomi launched it in December last year and announced its goal to become one of the world’s top five automakers. Lei Jun said it has better acceleration technology than Tesla Motors and Porsche electric cars.
Xiaomi stores in China also started displaying the car on Monday, with potential customers and car bloggers queuing up to get a glimpse of the “sea blue” version. In addition, the company has also uploaded its “Xiaomi Auto” app to the Chinese app store.
The SU7 will be available in two versions – one with a range of up to 668 kilometers (415 miles) on a single charge and the other with a range of up to 800 kilometers. In comparison, the Tesla Model S has a range of up to 650 kilometers.
China’s fifth-largest smartphone maker has been looking to diversify into electric vehicles – a plan first proposed in 2021 – as demand for smartphones stagnates. Other Chinese tech companies working with automakers to develop electric vehicles include telecoms giant Huawei HWT and search engine company Baidu.
Xiaomi has pledged to invest $10 billion (about Rs 83,500 crore) in the automotive sector over a decade and is one of the few new players in China’s electric vehicle market to win approval from authorities, who have been reluctant to exacerbate a supply glut.
Its cars are produced by a subsidiary of state-owned automaker BAIC Group in a Beijing factory with an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
