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Xiaomi's SU7: "There's still a long way to go before our car becomes a Porsche"
Photo: Micheal Zhang / AFP
Last week, Xiaomi brought its first electric car onto the market, and now the Chinese company's shares have skyrocketed. The market launch of the SU7 caused the price to rise by up to 16 percent. The car will most likely be a subsidy business for the smartphone manufacturer.
Xiaomi increased its market value by around $7.6 billion to $55 billion on the first day of trading after unveiling the car last week, outperforming traditional car manufacturers such as General Motors and Ford.
The group generates most of its $37.5 billion in sales from smartphone sales. Analysts believe Xiamoi will be able to assert itself in the highly competitive electric car market in China with the sporty “Speed Ultra 7” model. A deficit of almost 10,000 euros per car is estimated to be manageable and smartphone expertise offers advantages when it comes to digitally equipping the vehicles.
According to the company, almost 89,000 pre-orders were received in the first 24 hours for the car, which, with a starting price of under $30,000, is cheaper than Tesla's Model 3, and the delivery time is up to seven months.
The SU7 model should be the most beautiful, best to drive and smartest car, said Xiaomi boss Lei Jun at the launch last Thursday. Lei also described his entry into car production as the “last big entrepreneurial project” of his life.
The Chinese entrepreneur's ambitions are by no means modest: Xiaomi is expected to become one of the five largest car manufacturers in the world in the next 15 to 20 years. On X, formerly Twitter, Lei revealed how he wants to achieve the goal: »Our focus is clear: intelligent technology. This is what truly sets us apart from the competition and meets the evolving needs of our customers and the industry as a whole.«
Even if Lei is convinced that the SU7 already outperforms competitors such as Tesla in many ways, he still cites a car brand as a role model - at least for the moment: "There is still a long way to go before our car becomes a Porsche." , he said, but if Xiaomi strives for five to ten years, "we will surpass Porsche one day."
After the market launch of the SU7, other Chinese electric car brands with comparable models announced price cuts. In 2024, around 240 electric models will be vying for customers in China in the segment between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan (25,000 to 39,000 euros). This corresponds to an increase of almost a fifth compared to the previous year, as explained by analysts at Citi.
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