BEIJING, December 22 (TMTPost)— Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun disclosed details about the company’s highly-anticipated auto business and showed upbeat on its outlook.

Credit：China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

While entering the automobile industry is challenging for Xiaomi, the difficulty, as a whole, is controllable since Xiaomi has many natural advantages in building cars, said Lei Jun in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), addressing that the essence of today's smart electric vehicles (EVs) is a major integration of the automobile industry and the consumer electronics industry.

According to Lei, the main approach Xiaomi adopted in the development of its first EV is to follow the auto industry’s rule while innovating based on implementation of established technologies. Lei said Xiaomi has input out-sized resources in its first EV model, ten times of that traditional automakers invest in a model. “We invested in 3,400 engineers and the research and development (R&D) spending totaled more than RMB10 billion, ” Lei said.

Lei Jun believes there is still large amount of demand that has not been met in the markets where Xiaomi is in and the company is just at the beginning of its path. Therefore, on the one hand, Xiaomi must take root in China and ensure circulation inside the market; on the other hand, it must strengthen its confidence in globalization. "I think this is the path Xiaomi has chosen, and there are huge opportunities on the path," Lei said.  

Xiaomi announced in March, 2021 to set up a wholly owned subsidiary to make EVs, with the initial investment of RMB10 billion and the total input in the coming decade expected amount to US$10 billion. Lei Jun said in August 2022 that his company established an R&D team of more than 500 talents, and plans to create a fleet of 140 test vehicles in the first phase of the technology development, targeting to become a leader in the smart EV industry in 2024.

Xiaomi aims to become one of the top five automakers in the world within the coming 15 to 20 years, Lei Jun said in an interview in March. At an earnings conference for the first quarter in May, Xiaoping management said development of EV project is still very well, so they maintained the previous target of mass production in the first half of 2024. Lei Jun revealed  late October that his company plans to launch its car in the first half of next year, without giving any details.

Chinese digital news media outlet Jiemian reported in September Xiaomi’s auto unit has started pilot production for less than a month in its factory in Yizhuang, a town in the southeast suburbs of Beijing, and there are about 50 vehicles to be built per week for test. The Yizhuang facility, built in two phases, is set to have a total annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, with 150,000 units of each phase, and construction of its first phase has completed and passed acceptance testing in June, according to reports earlier this year. Jiemian said Xiaomi’s unit is hiring around 100 workers initially, then launch a large-scale recruitment at the end of the year or early next year.Xiaoping has applied for approval of making two EV models under its brand, according to the 377th batch of the Public Notice on Road Motor Vehicle Production Enterprises and Products released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) last month. The notice marks Chinese authorities allowed Xiaoping to begin full-scale production.

The MIIT filling showed Xiaomi’s EV models—SU7 series will be adopted two different types of batteries: one is the lithium iron phosphate battery made by BYD’s subsidiary Fudi Battery Co., Ltd, and another is CATL’s ternary lithium battery. The SU7 series are set to be powered by HyperOS, Xiaomi’s new operating system rolled out late October. The vehicles will be made in its own facility and the production qualification was provided by Beijing Automotive Group Off-road Vehicle Co.,Ltd., a unit of Chinese state-owned auto manufacturer Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. Ltd. (BAIC Group).

At an earnings call with analysts last month, Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said his company doesn’t change its mass production target of EV in the first half of 2024. Lu told analysts that the information and images disclosed at the MIIT website obviously made it clear that Xiaoping will launch a sedan. He declined to reveal more details but mentioned there are about 3,000 employees working for research and development (R&D) of automobile business.

Xiaomi’s upcoming EV SU7 will be equipped with two types of batteries for the basic version and premium version respectively, according to the Catalogue of New Energy Vehicle Models Exempt from Vehicle Purchase Tax (the 72nd  batch) announced by MIIT earlier this month. The basic version SU7, backed by BYD's lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, has a single electric motor with the peak power of 220kW and the maximum speed of 210km/h. Powered by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL)-offered battery, the  premium variant will be dual-motor setup, which allow the vehicle to drive as fast as 265km/h.

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