Lei Jun, the boss of Xiaomi, finally gives official news of his electric car. The man specifies that production should start in the first half of 2024, and that the tests are going well. Rather well even, ahead of schedule. What upset Elon Musk.
Xiaomi’s electric car is eagerly awaited. The brand, very well known in the world of technological products (smartphones, TV, connected objects of all kinds, etc.) has already announced its desire to launch an electric car. But little official information had been shared in recent months. If we knew that Xiaomi’s electric car was to be marketed in 2024, Lei Jun, its boss, brought new information on this subject.
Start of production in early 2024
The release date should indeed be respected. The CEO of the brand even allows himself to announce that development is ahead of the initial schedule. The remarks were made during a conference held in China and relayed by the local media IT Home. In detail, we learn that ” winter testing has been successfully completed and volume production is expected to start from the first half of 2024“.
Some observers allow themselves to announce that Xiaomi’s electric car would be ahead. This is not really the case, since the marketing date previously mentioned by Xiaomi was indeed 2024, with production starting in the first half of the year. But this new intervention by the boss of Xiaomi reassures investors and potential customers. The electric car should, on the face of it, not experience any delays, except in the event of a major industrial problem during volume production.
Better than Elon Musk and Tesla?
And precisely, remember that Elon Musk is customary to announce dates for the marketing of Tesla electric cars or options, without necessarily respecting them. We think of the Cybertruck and the Roadster which have been repeatedly delayed, as is 100% autonomous driving, planned since 2014 and still not implemented.
But be careful not to give in to overconfidence. The volume production of a mass-produced electric car is a very complex exercise, as the production hell of the Tesla Model 3 has proven. Xiaomi should however be strongly helped by the Chinese government, which wants to become a world leader. of the electric car.
The manufacturer is building a factory capable of producing 300,000 cars a year. To be compared with the 1.3 million sold by Tesla in 2022, the 911,000 units sold by BYD and… the 572,000 electric cars registered by Volkswagen last year.
At the moment, very few details about Xiaomi’s electric car have leaked. It could be called MS11, be equipped with 100% autonomous driving thanks to a LiDAR. On the design side, some leaks took place at the beginning of the year, authenticated by Xiaomi a few days later.
This is what made it possible to create 3D renderings illustrating this article. But the final design should still evolve by 2024. The car should be formalized later in 2023. In terms of technical characteristics, it is rumored that it would reach a range of 1,000 km (on the Chinese CLTC cycle) thanks to the batteries from CATL and BYD.
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