For the primary time, Xiaomi commented on its EV abroad gross sales timeline. The corporate’s president, William Lu, stated they purpose to promote automobiles on world markets by 2027. Lu additionally hinted that he’ll start scouting European automotive markets in March.
William Lu introduced the timeline throughout an interview with a Chinese language outlet, Jiemian, on the Cellular World Congress (MWC) 2025 in Spain, the place the Xiaomi SU7 Extremely debuted outdoors China.
Xiaomi introduced it was becoming a member of the car-making race about 4 years in the past, in March 2021. Three years later, in March 2024, it launched its first automotive – the Xiaomi SU7 all-electric sedan beginning at 215,900 yuan (29,700 USD).
The entry-level model was geared up with a 73.6 kWh battery from BYD, good for a 700 km vary beneath CLTC situations and a 220 kW (295 hp) e-motor mounted on a rear axle.
The highest trim degree had a 101 kWh battery from CATL, good for an 800 km CLTC vary, and twin motors with a mixed energy of 495 kW (664 hp) and 838 Nm peak torque. Inside 24 hours of its launch, the SU7 was offered out for 2024.
Specs, images & Gross sales
William Lu says that in the course of the three years following its announcement to hitch the EV-making bandwagon, the corporate confronted plenty of scepticism from traders.
“After every earnings convention, we communicated with traders, and everybody tended to assume that Xiaomi was late and missed the very best alternative. And that the automotive enterprise can drag down the cell phone enterprise if unsuccessful,” Lu stated.
Nonetheless, every thing modified after the SU7 was launched in March. Lu says that after profitable these two battles (referring to the launch of the SU7 and Su7 Extremely), they laid stable foundations for his or her car-making arm.
“Our principal plan is to create a powerful place within the Chinese language market, as with out it, it might be arduous to broaden abroad,” says Lu, indicating that the home market is the present precedence.
Xiaomi Su7 Extremely is a efficiency model of the SU7 sedan, launched on February 27 in China. It has 1,527 hp and prices 529,900 yuan (72,700 USD). SU7 Extremely offered 10,000 models inside two hours of launch, reaching its annual goal. On Sunday, the corporate introduced that orders reached 19,000 models.
Right here is the transcription of a principal a part of the interview:
Jiemian: On the press convention, you talked about some details about Xiaomi Auto’s abroad growth. Do you will have a timetable for its abroad launch and gross sales?
William Lu: We began promoting automobiles in March final yr, however I feel Xiaomi Auto was accompanied by extra doubts within the three years earlier than.
After every earnings convention, we communicated with traders, and everybody tended to assume that Xiaomi was late, missed the very best alternative, and so forth. And if the automotive enterprise is troublesome, the cell phone enterprise may even be drastically dragged down. That is the significantly nice strain we have now confronted within the capital market up to now few years.
However I feel the market has drastically modified after the launch in March final yr. From SU7 to SU7 Extremely, we have now laid an excellent basis in these two battles and dispelled everybody’s doubts about Xiaomi’s late entry into the automotive manufacturing market, so I feel the automotive enterprise has gained a foothold within the Chinese language market.
As for when to go abroad, our general technique is to do properly in China now as a result of if a Chinese language automotive firm doesn’t have an excellent place in its residence market, it is going to be troublesome to do enterprise abroad.
After MWC, I’ll go to a number of European nations to analyze the market and see our world abroad information. I’ve a aim: I hope we will formally go abroad in 2027.
