- Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has unveiled its first electric car model, the SU7, and declared its ambition to become one of the world’s top five carmakers.
- Xiaomi SU7: 800km dual-motor range, 2.78s zero 100 acceleration, pricing will be “expensive for a reason”
Car-making ambitions
Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer, has announed plans to enter the electric vehicle (EV) market with a stunning new car, the SU7.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s CEO described the newly released Xiaomi car SU7 as a “performance beast”, emphasising Xiaomi’s full-stack self-research of intelligent driving technology, and plans to enter the first echelon of the autonomous driving field in 2024. Available in 2WD and 4WD versions, and powered by batteries from Contemporary Amperex Technology and BYD, the SU7 accelerates to 100km in 2.78 seconds, has a top speed of 265km/h, and a maximum range of 800km.
Xiaomi also unveiled a motor called V8S, which spins at 27,200 revolutions per minute, setting a new global motor speed record. The company’s self-designed super large die-casting machine has a maximum clamping force of 9,100 tonnes, surpassing the level of Tesla’s Shanghai factory. Xiaomi also independently developed Xiaomi Titan alloy, becoming the only Chinese automaker with mass production of self-developed alloy materials.
At the conference, Xiaomi Auto released CTB integrated battery technology, claiming the world’s highest volumetric efficiency of 77.8%. Lei Jun said that the Xiaomi battery passed the world’s most stringent thermal failure safety standards, with 17 layers of high-voltage insulation protection, 7.8m² of the largest cooling area in its class, and 165 pieces of aerogel insulation. At the same time, the industry’s first electric core inversion technology is used to maximise the safety of the passenger compartment. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi Auto aspires to become the king of winter range of electric vehicles, bringing users a better car experience.
Lei Jun also said that:” Xiaomi Auto will become a top five global automaker through 15-20 years of efforts. Our goal is to build a dream car that can rival Porsche and Tesla, showing the ambition of Xiaomi Auto.”
Related pricing
On the previous 26 December, Lei Jun also answered netizens’ questions about Xiaomi cars on social media. He revealed that the Xiaomi SU7 is in the trial production climbing stage, and it will take a few months for it to be officially launched. Regarding pricing, there is no final decision yet, but Lei Jun made it clear that the 99,000 and 149,000 price predictions on the market are not realistic. He confessed that the Xiaomi car benchmark market products are priced at more than 400,000 yuan. But he also said that millet SU7 is indeed a little expensive, but I believe that they do is “reasonably expensive”, in the user’s experience will exceed everyone’s expectations.
Look back at millet car road
Although Lei Jun announced on 30 March 2021 that millet entered the field of automobile manufacturing, but according to the trademark registration situation, millet as early as 2018 has the intention to enter the automobile manufacturing. Specifically, on 4 June 2020, Xiaomi registered the trademark number name Xiaomi Car Link, which indicates that Xiaomi may have long been prepared and is waiting for the time to step into the field of automobile manufacturing. And on 1 April 2021, Xiaomi applied for the trademark of Xiaomi Auto after officially and publicly entering the automotive business.
Xiaomi has been applying for car-related patents since 2015, and the number of patent applications in 2020 is about 134, with a long technical layout.
Xiaomi’s car-related patents cover invention patents in automotive cruise control, energy supplementation, vehicle handling, navigation, driving assistance and driving safety. Xiaomi pays more attention to the interactivity of the car as a new type of electronic product, and gives full consideration to the safety of the product, mainly focusing on the development of the intelligent cockpit and driving safety functions.
“The unveiling of Xiaomi’s first car is sure to be a major event of the year.”
Ren Zeping, famous chinese economist
Ren Zeping, a well-known economist, pointed out in his economic forecast for 2024 that Xiaomi’s release of its first car is bound to be a major event throughout the year. As Xiaomi is not an ordinary manufacturer, it is one of the top three mobile phone brands in the world and the world’s largest owner of IoT platforms, it is forward-looking in terms of smart attributes, and Xiaomi is bound to create a new model of ecological car-making by the tech giant.
