The first car from Xiaomi on sale: Huge interest pushes shares, success is not guaranteed

The fastest version of the new sedan from Xiaomi accelerates from zero to one hundred in 2.78 seconds, the top speed is 265 kilometers per hour. The basic version, which offers a range of up to 700 kilometers on a single charge, and the price starts at 215,900 yuan, which is roughly 700,000 crowns, should appeal to those looking for a quieter ride. These are the main parameters of the SU7 electric car from Xiaomi – the first own plug-in car, which the Chinese smartphone manufacturer revealed only last December. And at the end of March, he started selling.

European car companies and their green cars have increased competition on the market right on Maundy Thursday. And it cannot be denied that she can really move with the demand. The American Tesla, which offers its Model 3 in China from 245,900 yuan, can also be worried. And the car can travel 567 kilometers on a single charge.

A montage from the sales launch event on March 28 with shots of the new electric car can be viewed at the beginning of this article.

The promised parameters aroused interest, so in the first 24 hours Xiaomi received 88,898 pre-orders. And the company only showed its car in stores on Monday, April 1. His plug-in sedan has a three-meter wheelbase, is three millimeters five meters long, 1.963 meters wide and 1.455 meters high.

The dimensions of the electric car thus resemble the Porsche Taycan, with which the founder of the Chinese company Lej Łün compares it in terms of performance in the introductory video. Its efficiency is further strengthened by a record low air resistance coefficient of 0.195 and it also has an active rear spoiler, which has the task of ensuring the car’s controllability at high speeds. The car is equipped with cameras, sensors and also has Lidar, so in the future it could drive autonomously on highways and in cities. It uses the Hyper OS operating system developed by the company, which promises connectivity with other devices including smartphones.

In addition to the basic SU7 version, Xiaomi also offers Pro and Max models. The former has the same top speed of 210 kilometers per hour, but a range of 830 kilometers and a price of 245,900 yuan, while it should be available from the end of April, just like the base version. The second mentioned will travel 800 kilometers, but for that it is a sports version with the stated acceleration from zero to hundred in 2.78 seconds and a maximum of 265 kilometers per hour, its price tag is 299,900 yuan and it should arrive to the first customers from the end of May.

Already on Tuesday, five days after the start of sales with record interest, and a day after the electric car appeared in stores, the shares of the Chinese company rose by up to 16 percent. It thus reached a valuation of 55 billion dollars on the stock market, surpassing the traditional American brands Ford and General Motors by two and three billion dollars, respectively. However, further developments may not be so favorable for smartphone manufacturers and their cars.

For example, the high demand was manifested in such a way that, for example, for the SU7 Max model, according to posts on social networks, buyers could wait up to 27 weeks, i.e. roughly half a year. And for the time being, all three versions will only be sold in China. According to the company’s management, it will reach foreign markets in two to three years at the earliest.

Electric cars from Xiaomi were to be produced in Beijing by a division of the BAIC group with an annual capacity of 200,000 cars. However, British financial market research company CreditSights expects the Chinese company to sell 60,000 units in the first year and be in the red by the second year due to high marketing and promotion costs.

At the same time, Xiaomi already in 2021, when it announced its plan to enter the car market, pledged to invest ten billion dollars in plug-in cars within ten years. However, the SU7 goes on sale at a time when China – the world’s largest car market – faces a slowing domestic economy. The American smartphone manufacturer Apple, for example, was convinced of how difficult it is to create its own competitive car, which abandoned the project.

Compared to traditional car manufacturers, Xiaomi could benefit from its experience with smartphones, for example in the area of ​​smart dashboards and other devices. In essence, the electric car can be seen as a natural extension of his business and data collection in the digital world, with the Chinese particularly fond of his electronics. Even the local consulting company Gavekal Dragonomics states that if it cannot increase car sales in a short period of time, it will not break through among the others, and in the long term this activity of its will continue to be unprofitable.