Determined to make a place for himself in the market with his electric cars, the boss of Xiaomi had an astonishing idea. The businessman has driven no less than 150 car models, in order to better understand customer expectations and discover the advantages of vehicles already on the market.
In recent years, more and more Chinese manufacturers have emerged and are keen to offer themselves a good place in the sun in a very competitive market. Some are doing very well, like BYD or even MG, while others have failed, like Byton, which went bankrupt in 2023.
Big ambitions
Obviously, success stories give ideas to other brands, and even to certain companies that normally have nothing to do with the automotive world. This is for example the case of Huawei, which has joined forces with several manufacturers in order to enter the electric car market. But we also think of Xiaomi, which has been planning to launch its own car for several years already. But now it is gradually coming to fruition.
A few days ago, a series of official photos of the future SU7 were revealed on the internet. But you will still have to show a little patience before the official reveal, as explained by the Chinese site CNEVPost. Because the Beijing-based manufacturer does not want to rush and do anything, quite the contrary. And his boss Lei Jun even gave of himself to guarantee his success.
How ? By taking the wheel of competing cars, Of course. While this is common in the automotive industry, it is rare for the CEO to do it, since it is generally the job of engineers. We also remember those at Toyota who had praised the design of the Tesla Model Y a few months earlier. And the boss of Xiaomi did not do things by halves, on the contrary. This is explained in another article from CNEVPost.
And for good reason, the manager had set himself an ambitious objective: drive 100 different cars, in order to better understand their strengths and assets. But also better target the expectations of motorists in order to create an ideal model that meets them. But Lei Jun finally seems to have gotten into the game and has even far exceeded his initial ambitions.
Tesla and Porsche as examples
Indeed, the 54-year-old businessman would ultimately have drove 150 cars, without the list of models having been disclosed. However, it is assumed that Porsches were part of the fleet, since Lei Jun explains that the manufacturer has always been a model in this area. The latter also evokes Tesla, still the world number 1 in electric, but perhaps not for long.
He indicates that Elon Musk’s firm was able to take the place of leader in the field of intelligent electric carstransforming the automobile into “ mobile computer terminal“. What to give ideas to Xiaomi? Without a doubt, while the firm is keen to compete with the American company, which should beat its sales record this year. It now remains to be seen what the firm is preparing for us with its SU7.
The latter is slowly preparing its launch, but is not yet completely ready. Thus, and as indicated on the Chinese site, the prices would not yet be completely finalized, but the sedan would adopt a fairly high-end positioning. According to Lei Jun, the latter would be a “performance beast”, while three versions are planned, namely SU7, SU7 Pro, and SU7 Max.
The most powerful variant will have two engines, one of 299 horsepower at the front and 373 horsepower at the rear. Two batteries will also be offered, with a capacity of 73.6 and 101 kWh, for a range of up to 628 and 800 kilometers according to the Chinese CLTC cycle, or 550 and 710 kilometers WLTP. Enough to compete from afar with the Nio ET7, which is still ahead and which has just broken a record.
We should know more on December 28, 2023, since Xiaomi will announce some information on its future electric cars.