Introduction to the news
After weeks of rumors, the Chinese smartphone and IoT leader has finally confirmed some exciting news.
The famous Chinese giant phone maker Xiaomi is making its way to electric vehicles with a heavy investment of $10 billion dollars over 10 years. In partnership with Chinese automotive automaker Great Wall, Xiaomi has decided to manufacture electric cars under its own brand name for the customers.
If the news is true, it means that Great Wall will be offering its first manufacturing service to another Chinese company. Moreover, engineering consultancy will be provided by the Great Wall to Xiaomi so that the production can be done quickly. According to Xiaomi, the goal is to “offer quality smart electric vehicles.”
Currently, the company is the 3rd biggest smartphone brand in the world besides Samsung and Apple, as stated by the data firm Canalys. Xiaomi will be joining the aggressively competitive electric vehicle market which has Huawei and Apple as its rivals. If you want to buy used cars for sale in UAE, do not forget to visit the CarSwitch website.
Details on the Xiaomi’s plan
If you have not heard the name Xiaomi before, you should know they manufacture everything from mobiles to rice cookers and from fitness trackers to scooters. Therefore, the addition of electric cars will easily fit in the diverse brand portfolio.
Xiaomi is all set to create a completely owned subsidiary with the first investment of around $10 billion. The brand’s founder and chief executive, Lei Jun will direct this new venture. Lei Jun is the CEO of this new EV project too. He explained in an official statement, “The decision was made after numerous rounds of deliberation among all our partners, and this will be the final major entrepreneurial project of my life.”
Till now, Xiaomi has not provided any hint of whether it will attack the high end of the market or it will generate budget models. Presently, there are a big number of companies in China striving to have a share of the world’s top market for electric vehicles.
Current or planned models in China start from the small Hong Guang Mini EV, that retails for $4,500 to the brand new high-end electric brand Zeekr, which is owned by the country’s largest automaker Geely. The overseas automakers are also searching to create electric vehicles for Chinese customers and consumers.
Already, Tesla is supplying it’s Model Y to the country from the Shanghai factory whereas Ford is deciding to make the electric version of its Mustang there.
Further insight and other brands in the scene
A senior analyst of LMC Automotive, Alan Kang expressed that “Xiaomi wants to find a mature automobile manufacturer to provide model infrastructure, enabling its own advantages in mobile internet technology.” He further said, “Xiaomi’s advantages in operating systems and home furnishing also bring a lot of imagination for such cooperation in the future.”
More Chinese Technology brands have also vocalized their will to make vehicles, or to collaborate with present automakers to create brand new driving dynamics. The search engine giant Baidu stated in January that it will also reveal an electric vehicle business.
Similarly, the Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba has created an electric vehicle collaborative project with SAIC Motor, and ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing has joined the automaker BYD to manufacture electric vehicles particularly styled for its services.
According to the estimation given by the data provider S&P Global Platts, “new energy vehicles” will count by 20% of the total new vehicle sales in China by 2025. Bringing it’s electric cars one step closer, the company revealed that it aims to launch the first electric vehicle in the industry by 2023.
Moreover, Xiaomi wants it’s cars to be joined with other devices in the product ecosystem. It is not yet known whether Xiaomi will sell vehicles under its own household name and instruct manufacturers to monitor the production, as it has previously done for the majority of its hardware devices.
Xiaomi has long called itself an internet firm having a light-asset business model. The objective is to produce a portion of its profits by selling services powering a collection of affordable hardware products it sells.
