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by Yelin Mo and Casey Hall
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi unveiled its first electric vehicle in Beijing on Thursday and demonstrated its ambition to be one of the five largest automakers in the world.
Beyond the communication orchestrated around this event, the launch of this sedan, called SU7, comes against a backdrop of slowing demand and a price war in the Chinese automobile market, the largest in the world.
This context of increased competition did not frighten Lei Jun, general manager of Xiaomi, who expressed the ambition to offer “a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla”.
“By working hard in the next 15 to 20 years, we will become one of the five largest automobile companies in the world, striving to develop the Chinese automobile industry as a whole,” he said at the event. presentation of the SU7.
Like many “tech” giants, Xiaomi is seeking to diversify its activities.
The Chinese company has committed to investing $10 billion in automobiles over the next decade.
Lei Jun said his company’s autonomous driving capabilities would be among the most advanced in the industry.
The new Chinese manufacturer’s cars will be assembled in a factory in Beijing with a capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year in collaboration with the public manufacturer BAIC Group.
(Reporting by Casey Hall and Yelin Mo; French version by Zhifan Liu)
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