Within the international electrical car (EV) race, a placing distinction has emerged between Silicon Valley and China. Apple Inc. – which reportedly spent a decade and billions of {dollars} on a secretive automobile mission with out bringing a car to market – now Beijing-based Xiaomi, greatest often called a smartphone maker, solely introduced its EV ambitions in 2021 but managed to roll out its first electrical automobile about three years later . This swift execution highlights China’s industrial drive and the benefits of its booming EV ecosystem. Chinese language automakers already dominate the world’s largest EV market, with China alone accounting for 11 out of 17 million international electrical automobile gross sales in 2024 . Xiaomi’s foray into autos exemplifies how China’s tech corporations are increasing into large-scale manufacturing, and will sign new competitors for established gamers within the international EV area.
On June 4, Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun took to social media to deal with a query on many minds: Why has Apple failed to provide an electrical automobile after ten years of effort, whereas Xiaomi succeeded in somewhat over three? In a submit on his official WeChat weblog, Lei admitted he isn’t positive why Apple’s automobile mission – usually dubbed “Venture Titan” – nonetheless hasn’t borne fruit. He emphasised that Apple stays “one of many biggest firms on the planet” and a mannequin that Xiaomi has studied and benchmarked in opposition to all through its 15-year historical past .
Against this, when explaining Xiaomi’s personal fast success in constructing an EV from scratch, Lei Jun outlined three key components :
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All-Out Dedication and Founder-Led Focus. Xiaomi’s automobile mission was led personally by Lei Jun himself, which he says ensured sturdy strategic focus and environment friendly useful resource coordination . Lei had usually espoused a “stealth mode” strategy to new ventures – “do it quietly; if it succeeds, then nice, if it fails, act prefer it by no means occurred” . However for Xiaomi’s automotive endeavor, the corporate took a really totally different tack: it held a high-profile launch occasion to declare to workers, companions, and the market that “we’ll go all out” . From the outset, Xiaomi dedicated an enormous ¥65 billion (round $10 billion) funding into its EV enterprise, giving the workforce the boldness and runway to focus absolutely on the long-term aim with out short-term distractions . In response to Lei, the whole group remained united over the previous 4 years with aligned pursuits, forming a “very sturdy combating drive” to get the automobile initiative off the bottom .
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Respect for Trade Fundamentals and Benchmarking the Greatest. Lei Jun confused the significance of reverence for the automotive business – approaching car-making with humility and diligence. Xiaomi’s technique follows the mantra “shouzheng chuqi” (守正出奇), which he described as sticking to the right path whereas looking for breakthroughs . In apply, this implies respecting business norms and studying from established leaders in areas like mechanical design, clever techniques, and electrification. “Now we have made it clear that we benchmark ourselves in opposition to Tesla and Porsche – these two firms signify the head of their respective fields,” Lei wrote. “The hole could also be giant at first, however so long as we dare to check ourselves with them, we’re on the street to victory” . By overtly holding itself to the requirements of the world’s greatest automakers, Xiaomi aimed excessive and stayed disciplined in its car growth.
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Xiaomi’s Confirmed Enterprise Mannequin and Methodology. The fast success of Xiaomi Auto is essentially a triumph of the “Xiaomi mannequin” and the agency’s working methodology, based on Lei. Xiaomi had the boldness to begin by launching just one automobile mannequin, and that debut car grew to become a breakout hit out there . (Xiaomi’s first EV, the SU7 sedan, certainly become a bestseller upon its launch.) This end result strengthened Xiaomi’s religion in its established playbook. Lei defined that the corporate utilized the identical Xiaomi methodology that drove its electronics enterprise – together with its “爆品” blockbuster product technique, an built-in new retail mannequin, and a high-end product growth strategy – to the auto sector, considerably bettering the percentages of success . In brief, Xiaomi transplanted the system that had labored in smartphones and devices to its automobile enterprise: specializing in one flagship product, delivering sturdy specs and worth, leveraging online-to-offline retail integration, and aiming for an upscale picture. This system, he argued, translated successfully to creating vehicles.
Xiaomi’s YU7 electrical SUV, the corporate’s second mannequin, throughout its official unveiling. The sturdy efficiency of Xiaomi’s first automobile has set the stage for its subsequent act – the YU7, a brand new electrical SUV that the corporate unveiled in Could 2025. Lei Jun addressed the query of whether or not the YU7 can replicate the success of the SU7 sedan, and early indicators seem promising. He revealed that within the three days following the YU7’s expertise launch occasion, the variety of potential consumers who registered curiosity was about 3 times that of the SU7 throughout the identical post-launch interval . Notably, greater than 60% of these would-be YU7 prospects are first-time Xiaomi automobile intenders, and over 40% have by no means used any Xiaomi product earlier than . This means the YU7 is attracting a broader viewers past Xiaomi’s present fan base, making the brand new mannequin an much more vital “crossover” hit by way of client attain.
