Xiaomi, which is currently the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer, has been itching to enter the smart vehicles market for some time. Today, the company has officially announced the commencement of its smart electric vehicle business.
The company has revealed that it is setting up a new wholly-owned subsidiary to work on the electric vehicles and related business. Initially, it plans to invest around 10 billion yuan (~$1.5 billion) but over a period of 10 years, the company would have invested over $10 billion for this new category of business.
Further, it has also been confirmed that Lei Jun, who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Xiaomi Group, will also serve as the Chief Executive Officer for this new smart electric vehicles entity.
Recently, at the fifteenth annual meeting of the China Entrepreneurs Forum, Lei Jun had confirmed that Xiaomi has no plans for the release of an electric vehicle for the next three to five years as it plans to focus on its existing products.
A few days ago, it was reported that the China-based smartphone maker could partner with China’s Great Wall Motor Co Ltd and use its factory for building its own electric car. But both the companies had declined to comment on the matter.
Given the past record of Xiaomi, it’s likely that the upcoming smart car from the company will be a consumer product and will be targeted at mass market. We expect more details related to this new business to be revealed at the Xiaomi Mega Launch Part II event where the company is expected to launch the Mi MIX Fold smartphone.
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