Xiaomi Smart Electric Vehicles Archives - Gizmochina

Xiaomi Automobile officially registered; Lei Jun is leading the team of over 300 employees

Jeet — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 04:48:14 +0000

Earlier this year, China-based technology giant Xiaomi announced that it’s entering the electric vehicle business and since then, the company has been trying to find a partner in the auto manufacturing sector.

Now, the company has officially announced that the industrial and commercial registration of the Xiaomi Automobile Co. Ltd. has been completed. The firm has been set up with registration capital of 10 billion yuan and Lei Jun, founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Xiaomi Group is leading this new entity.

Since the announcement of Xiaomi entering the smart cars sector about five months ago, the company claims that it has built a team of around 300 members for the smart car business from more than 20,000 applicants. It’s not yet done with the hiring process and is looking to invite more people to join the team.

The Chinese company has been in talks with several car manufacturers for a partnership but nothing has been materialized so far. But in the recent development, it was reported that Xiaomi is looking to acquire a stake in China Evergrande’s Electric Vehicle unit.

A few weeks ago, Lei Jun visited the SAIC headquarters, adding the company to the list of other auto manufacturers that he visited, including BYD, Great Wall, Wuling, and some other well-known car-making companies.

In the past few months, Xiaomi’s management has had 85 industry visits, in-depth exchanges with more than 200 automotive industry veterans, four internal management discussions, and two formal board meetings.

Xiaomi is aiming to offer high-quality smart electric vehicles to its users globally to enjoy ubiquitous smart life, says Lei Jun. Although the initial investment of the company is about 10 billion yuan, it is set to invest around 60 billion yuan over the next 10 years as the business grows.

Lei Jun spotted at SAIC headquarters after visiting multiple car companies over the past few weeks

Jeet — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 05:35:14 +0000

A couple of months ago, in March this year, Xiaomi officially announced the commencement of its smart electric vehicle business which will be led by the company’s founder and CEO Lei Jun.

Since then, the smartphone maker has been in talks with several car manufacturers for a partnership but nothing has materialized so far. Lei Jun has been visiting automakers and the latest company added to the list is SAIC.

Lei Jun, founder, CEO, and chairman of the Xioami Group visited the SAIC headquarters and some users shared photos of the same online. So far, he has visited BYD, Great Wall, Wuling, and some other well-known automakers as the Chinese tech giant is gearing up for its Smart Electric Vehicles business.

For those who are unaware, SAIC Motor Corporation Limited is a multinational automotive design and manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai.

Lei Jun said that in the past 75 days, Xiaomi’s management has had 85 industry visits, in-depth exchanges with more than 200 automotive industry veterans, four internal management discussions, and two formal board meetings.

Explaining the intention for Xiaomi to build cars, he emphasized the company aims to offer high-quality smart electric vehicles to allow users globally to enjoy ubiquitous smart life. He further added that “I am willing to bet on all the reputation and achievements of my life to fight for Xiaomi cars!”

For this new wholly-owned subsidiary to work on the electric vehicles and related business, it plans to invest around 10 billion yuan (~$1.5 billion) but over a period of 10 years. It’s likely that the upcoming smart car from the company will be a consumer product and will be targeted at the mass market.

Lei Jun reveals Xiaomi’s EV type & price range in a live broadcast after Weibo survey

Jed John Ikoba — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 06:57:41 +0000

After series of rumors and denials, Xiaomi finally announced the commencement of modalities that would culminate in the launch of its first smart electric vehicle (EV) in China. The electric vehicle was one of the major highlights of a live broadcast by Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun that was streamed yesterday. The broadcast was part of activities to mark the brand’s 11th anniversary.

Lei Jun

At the live broadcast, Lei Jun disclosed that Xiaomi’s first car will either be a sedan or an SUV. He also disclosed that the car which is expected to be an electric vehicle will retail within the price range of 100,000 yuan (around $15,000) to 300,000 yuan (around $45,000). This means the car won’t be a budget product but will be positioned in the mid-to-high-end range.

Further discussions were made about the use of the new Mi logo on the car and Lei Jun thinks the new design is more suitable for the car than the previous square logo. It is uncertain if the logo won’t be modified on the car considering that it was designed before Xiaomi kickstarted plans for an EV.

Earlier on, Lei Jun conducted a survey poll on Weibo before the live broadcast where he sought the opinions of fans on some key aspects of the EV. Some of the questions include whether fans will prefer a Xiaomi-branded car or if it should be launched in partnership with an established car maker.

The type of cars was also asked with options including cars like SUVs, sedans, sports cars, and RVs. The question on the price range had an option of “Less than 100,000 yuan”. As would be expected, the majority of the brand’s fans prefer a car priced at less than 100,000 yuan (~$15K).