Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi unveiled its long-awaited electric car on Thursday, December 28, 2023, but declined to reveal its price or specific launch date.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng
BEIJING – Chinese smartphone company Millet It believes it has found a niche of consumers to pay for its upcoming electric vehicles in a highly competitive market.
“We think this is a good starting point for us in the high-end market because we already have 20 million smartphone-based smartphones in China,” Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibing said before showing off the car to CNBC at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. High-end users of mobile phones.”, starting Monday.
“I think the initial purchase will be very much overlapping with smartphone users.”
He said the company considered a range of price points for the cars it spent $10 billion developing, from entry-level to luxury.
Xiaomi released the SU7 electric car in China at the end of December, but has not yet announced the specific price. Lu said an official launch would come “soon” and said domestic deliveries could begin in the second quarter at the earliest.
The Beijing-based company is the market leader in the smartphone industry, ranking third in global shipments behind apple and Samsung, According to data from Canalys. According to data from a technology market analysis company, Xiaomi accounts for about 13% of the global market share, with mobile phone shipments in 2023 of 146.4 million units.
In recent years, the company has also branched into televisions and home appliances, which can be controlled by smartphones and often come in sleek white designs. Most of Xiaomi’s revenue comes from mobile phones, with less than 30% coming from home appliances and other consumer products.
Xiaomi is generally known for its more affordable products. That raises doubts about whether it can sell an electric car in a market where even established EV giants like Porsche, promoted as a Porsche competitor, can do so. BYD Prices are being slashed.
In the future, we believe that instead of us issuing instructions to the device, the device can actually understand your needs and proactively meet your needs.
Weibing Lu
President of Xiaomi Corporation
Lu said Xiaomi’s approach is based on ecosystem development and the “premium” strategy for smartphones launched in 2020, and has “made very good progress” since then.
During an earnings call in November, he noted that the company benchmarked its latest Xiaomi Mi 14 phone against the iPhone 15 Pro and claimed that the new device was “exceeding” appleaccording to FactSet records.
However, Huawei is also eating into Apple’s market share, with its popular Mate60 Pro starting at 6,499 yuan ($900), which puts it between the price range of the Xiaomi Mi 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro.
According to data from Canalys, Huawei’s smartphone shipments in mainland China increased by 47% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, leading Xiaomi.
Huawei has quickly become a player in China’s electric vehicle market, leveraging its technological capabilities as a telecommunications and smartphone company.
The company launched the Aito car brand at the end of 2021 and sells the HarmonyOS operating system and other software to multiple car manufacturers. Huawei also displays some of the cars, including the high-priced Aito M9 SUV, in its smartphone store.
Although there are reports that Apple has been developing an electric car, it has not officially entered the electric car market.This fall, Chinese startups Nioh Released its own Android smartphone.
ecosystem development
Xiaomi launched a new operating system called HyperOS in the fall.
It claims the system includes an artificial intelligence component that can learn from user behavior to automatically adjust connected devices, such as home lighting.
“In the future, we believe that it is not us giving instructions to the device, but the device actually being able to understand your needs and proactively meet your needs,” Lu said.
The company calls the strategy “People x Cars x Homes.”
HyperOS is currently only available for Xiaomi Mi 14 phones. But Lu said the system will be rolled out to appliances and upcoming cars in the coming months.
Xiaomi has invested billions of dollars in its ecosystem and cars, all in an effort to survive in an industry that the company expects to become more competitive.
Lu said that in 10 or 20 years, the electric vehicle market may be very similar to today’s smartphone market – with the top five brands accounting for about 70% of the market share. “Without significant funding, we don’t think we can be the ultimate player.”
After launching its first car, Xiaomi’s next step is to build its own factory and produce key parts in-house, Lu said.
Xiaomi announced earlier this month that its new smartphone factory in Beijing has begun operations, with a production capacity of more than 10 million units.
For the SU7 car, information released by the Chinese government currently lists a subsidiary of state-owned BAIC Group as the manufacturer. Xiaomi told CNBC that it currently has no public information to share.
Overseas markets are Xiaomi’s “amplifier”
Mr. Lu joined Xiaomi Group in 2019 and also serves as president of Xiaomi Group’s International Business Department. He said that he spent “a lot of time” in overseas markets.
“This will be an expansion opportunity for Xiaomi’s business,” he said, noting that the size of the overseas consumer electronics market is about three times that of China.
Lu said he would visit Paris as well as Africa and the Middle East as part of a trip to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress.
He admitted that the political environment has made it more difficult for Xiaomi to go global, but said the company can overcome these challenges by building internal capabilities and diversifying its business globally and in products.
As for the car, Lu declined to reveal a timetable for its overseas launch, but said it usually takes two to three years.
