Chinese giant consumer electronics company Xiaomi has unveiled its long-awaited electric vehicle, as it bets big on sales, targeting 20 million users.
While Xiaomi revealed the EV in China back in December 2023, its recent unveiling at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona marks the first time the company has showcased it to a global audience.
The Xiaomi SU7, which is a core component of the company’s product, provides a preview of Xiaomi’s groundbreaking vision for an intelligent future where all user requirements are effortlessly fulfilled within a single smart ecosystem.
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Speaking on the launch of the SU7, Xiaomi Group President Weibing Lu said,
“We think it’s a good starting point for us in the premium segment because we have already 20 million premium users in China based on smartphones. I think the initial purchases will be very overlapped with the smartphone users”.
He added that the company considered a range of price points, from entry-level to luxury, for a car it’s spending $10 billion to develop.
The Xiaomi SU7 is positioned as a full-size high-performance eco-technology sedan that pushes boundaries in performance, ecosystem integration, and the mobile smart space. The SU7 will launch with a choice of battery packs. The standard 73.6 kWh battery promises a range of 668 km.
The higher-end 101 kWh battery can deliver up to 800km on a single charge. Similarly, customers can opt between rear-wheel drive with a 299 R$ motor or a 673 PS dual-motor all-wheel drivetrain.
Alongside Xiaomi SU7 design, Xiaomi has developed the five core EV technologies: E-Motor, CTB Integrated Battery, Xiaomi Die-Casting, Xiaomi Pilot Autonomous Driving, and Smart Cabin. Backed by a monumental investment of over NY 10 billion RMB in R&D, and a global team of more than 3,400 engineers and 1,000 technical experts in key areas, Xiaomi has produced an outstanding vehicle.
The Beijing-based company is no doubt a market leader in the smartphone industry, ranking third in global shipments behind Apple and Samsung, according to Canalys. Data from the tech market analysis firm showed that Xiaomi captured about 13% of the global market and shipped 146.4 million phones in 2023.
Notably, the company in recent years has also branched out into TVs and home appliances, which are smartphone-controllable and often sport a sleek, white design. Building on its tech capabilities, Xiaomi’s debut into the competitive EV market will see it capture a slice of the market.
The company has reiterated that the SU7 will play in the premium segment. The EV sedan is intended to take on models from established players like Porsche. It remains to be seen whether Xiaomi can pull off this ambitious gambit in the competitive Chinese market.
While Xiaomi intends to kick off SU7 sales in China first with deliveries set to start in the second quarter, the striking sedan displayed at MWC 2024 could also pave the way for eventual exports to global markets like India.