Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country\u2019s booming but crowded market for electric cars. The tech company will start taking orders for the SU7, a sporty four-door sedan, following a launch event with founder Lei Jun in Beijing on Thursday evening. Analysts think it will be priced in the 300,000 yuan (USD 40,000) range. Government subsidies have helped make China the world\u2019s largest market for electric vehicles, and a bevvy of new makers are locked in fierce competition.<\/p>\n
Most of the industry\u2019s sales have been domestic, but Chinese makers are pushing into overseas markets with lower-priced models, posing a potential challenge to European, Japanese and American auto giants. Lei is not bashful about that challenge, saying at an unveiling of the SU7 in December that Beijing-based Xiaomi aims to become one of the world\u2019s top five automakers in the next 15 to 20 years. \u201cI believe that one day, Xiaomi EVs will be a familiar sight on roads around the world,\u201d he was quoted as saying in a company news release.<\/p>\n
Xiaomi, founded in 2010, is entering an overcrowded market that analysts expect will undergo a shakeout in coming years, with weaker startups falling by the wayside. The combined share of EVs and hybrids in China\u2019s auto sales is likely to reach 42 per cent to 45 per cent this year, up from 36 per cent in 2023, according to Fitch Ratings. But the agency said in a December report that the competition could put pressure on automakers\u2019 short-term market share and profitability. Known for its affordable smartphones, smart TVs and other devices, Xiaomi aims to capitalize on that technology by connecting its cars with its phones and home appliances in what it calls a \u201cHuman x Car x Home\u201d ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Tu Le, the founder of the Sino Auto Insights consultancy, said that Xiaomi is trying to close the loop by adding transportation to a product mix already integrated into its customers\u2019 personal and professional lives. \u201cThe ability to seamlessly be a continuous part of someone\u2019s life is the holy grail for tech companies,\u201d he said in an emailed response. \u201cYou probably don\u2019t know anyone in Beijing that doesn\u2019t have at least one Xiaomi product, be it a mobile phone, computer, TV, (air) purifier, or tablet.\u201d As a newcomer to automaking, the company is making an educated guess that it can design and develop a car that will sell, he said.<\/p>\n
Given the sluggish Chinese economy and an ongoing EV price war, he predicted it would take a year or two to see if Xiaomi can adapt to correct any missteps and succeed. \u201cThey are a technology company, so that\u2019s their advantage but they need to reconcile that with drinking through a fire hose to learn how to be a tech company that builds cars,\u201d Le said. CreditSights, a financial research firm, said it expects Xiaomi\u2019s EV division to sell 60,000 vehicles in its first year and lose money for its first two years because of high marketing and promotion costs. Chinese automakers trying to expand abroad face political headwinds.<\/p>\n
The EU is investigating Chinese subsidies to determine if they give made-in-China EVs an unfair market advantage overseas. The US announced an investigation last month into Chinese-made connected cars that it says could gather sensitive information about their drivers. \u201cChina is determined to dominate the future of the auto market, including by using unfair practices,\u201d President Joe Biden said when the US investigation was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina\u2019s policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security. I\u2019m not going to let that happen on my watch.\u2019 China pushed back this week, filing a World Trade Organisation complaint that alleges that US subsides for electric vehicles discriminate against Chinese products. The US Defence Department put Xiaomi on a blacklist in 2021 over alleged links to China\u2019s military, but removed it a few months later after the company denied the links and sued the US government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Xiaomi, a well-known maker of smart consumer electronics in China, is joining the country\u2019s booming but crowded market for electric\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":35162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[11860,11855,158,8387,9871,726,5352,11861,11858,11856,11857,5867,3028,11862,11859,95,7340,11854],"class_list":["post-35161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-auto","tag-auto-sales","tag-booming-ev-market","tag-china","tag-chinese-economy","tag-crowded","tag-eu","tag-ev","tag-ev-price-war","tag-flooding-of-the-market","tag-government-subidies","tag-lower-costs","tag-national-security","tag-politics","tag-tech-integration","tag-unfair-market-advantage","tag-usa","tag-world-trade-organization-wto","tag-xiaomi"],"reading_time":"4 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}