Orders for the SU7 electric vehicle from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi have exceeded 70,000, reports said. Reuters. This number applies to orders where buyers have gone for non-refundable deposits.
Xiaomi aims to bring in more than 100,000 orders during the year, according to Xiaomi founder Lei Jun.
Regarding the investor conference on his official WeChat account, Lei Jun said that Xiaomi's investment in cars is “100 percent focused” on the Chinese market over the next three years.
He does not hide the fact that the company, which has been known until now for its cheap smartphones and home appliances, has great ambitions in the field of cars. On WeChat, he reiterated that Xiaomi's goal is to make the company one of the world's top five automakers within 15 to 20 years.
Cheaper than Tesla
The SU7 was already shown in December last year. At the end of March of this year, the electric car was launched on the market.
It was then announced that the standard version of the SU7 would be priced at 215,900 yuan in China – the equivalent of around 328,000 Norwegian kroner, and well below the 245,900 yuan price tag of the Tesla Model 3.
Lei Jun then admitted that Xiaomi would sell its cars at a loss.
He now explains that Xiaomi uses many of the same suppliers as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and that “with such expensive suppliers and such expensive parts, the gross profit margin will not be very high.”
According to Xiaomi's founder, the company plans to invest an additional 11-12 billion yuan in new business areas this year, including an automotive project and the company's mobile operating system.
This equates to approximately NOK 17-18 billion.
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