© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Xiaomi brand is seen at a Xiaomi store, in Shanghai, China Might 12, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Music/File Photograph
By Yelin Mo and Casey Corridor
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese language smartphone maker Xiaomi (OTC:) took the wraps off its first electrical car on Thursday and promptly introduced it was aiming to develop into considered one of world’s prime 5 automakers.
The sedan, dubbed the SU7, is a extremely anticipated mannequin that’s anticipated to profit from its shared working system with the corporate’s common telephones.
However the automobile is making its debut at a time when the world’s largest auto market is wrestling with a capability glut and slowing demand which have stoked a bruising worth warfare.
That did not cease Xiaomi Chief Govt Lei Jun outlining huge ambitions that embody constructing “a dream automobile similar to Porsche and Tesla (NASDAQ:)”.
“By working arduous over the subsequent 15 to twenty years, we’ll develop into one of many world’s prime 5 automakers, striving to raise China’s general car trade,” Lei mentioned on the occasion.
Like a number of different tech companies, Xiaomi has been looking for to diversify past its core enterprise to EVs – a plan it first flagged in 2021.
It has pledged to speculate $10 billion in autos over a decade and is likely one of the few new gamers in China’s EV market as authorities have been reluctant so as to add to the availability glut.
On the launch occasion in Beijing, Lei mentioned the autonomous driving capabilities of Xiaomi vehicles can be on the forefront of the trade.
The Xiaomi-branded vehicles will likely be produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group in a Beijing manufacturing unit with an annual capability of 200,000 automobiles.