Xiaomi is aiming for its first electric car in 2024. The Xiaomi brand is already present in numerous categories and technology products, but the expansion seems to have no end and for some time there have been rumors about the work in progress to create its first electric car: now the Chinese giant announces that it will begin mass production of the vehicle in early 2024 after passing all related tests.
This was reported by Lei Jun, founder of the company, during a meeting in Beijing. There he reported that the “progress” in the production of Xiaomi’s car has “exceeded expectations”:
The vehicle has successfully completed winter testing and is expected to be launched next year
The executive added that industrial production in large volumes will begin in the “first half of 2024”. Still, he specified that he wants to spend “half of his time” on the automotive business, in which his company invested more than RMB 3 billion ($434 million) in 2022 with an R&D team currently exceeding 2,300 people.
Of the first Xiaomi car there are unofficial photographs of the heavily disguised vehicle surprised in circulation in China for tests and road tests: in this article we report two photos from CnEVPost.
Even if Xiaomi has become famous for affordable hi-tech gadgets and devices, unfortunately it seems that this will not happen for its first electric car which according to advances, will be a medium-high range sedan, with a price of around 40 thousand EUR. If this positioning is confirmed, it will compete directly with the Tesla Model 3.
In March 2021, the tech company announced its entry into the electric vehicle sector with the creation of a subsidiary, led by Lei himself, that would invest around $10 billion over the next 10 years. Xiaomi already produces some small electric vehicles such as scooters and has also partnered with Chinese company Super Soco to jointly produce electric motorcycles.
