China's Xiaomi to enter cut-throat EV market for the first time
A Xiaomi SU7 is on display at a Xiaomi Store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on March 28, 2024.
Chinese consumer tech giant Xiaomi will launch its first-ever EV at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, injecting itself into a fiercely competitive sector in the world's largest car market.
China's EV sector has grown rapidly in recent years and dozens of domestic automakers are engaged in a stiff price war to get ahead in a crowded market.
Xiaomi is known around the world for affordable smartphones and sleek home appliances, and CEO Lei Jun says he is now putting his "reputation on the line" with the SU7 EV, and challenging Chinese car giant BYD and Elon Musk's Tesla.
Sleek, sporty, and available in blue bay, olive green or elegant grey, the SU7 even includes "sound simulation," Lei says, "to recreate the thrill of driving a sports car."
Lei has not divulged the price, but has promised it will be "the best-looking, best-driving and smartest car" costing under 500,000 yuan (US$69,200).
Analysts have said they expect it to come in at half that price.
"If my guess is correct, the 200,000 to 250,000 yuan range, that actually is the most competitive segment in the China EV space at the moment," Johnson Wan, an analyst at Jefferies Financial Group Inc, told Bloomberg.
The launch of the SU7 comes just days after BYD, the world's top seller of EVs, posted record annual profits as it pushes a rapid expansion overseas into countries in Southeast Asia, as well as further afield in Latin America and Europe.
