Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone maker in the world by sales after Samsung, has decided to dip its toes in the electric vehicle market according to the company’s CEO Lei Jun during their investor day. The statement was later confirmed in a post on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, by the same executive.
The first batch of Xiaomi EV’s are to enter mass production by the first half of 2024. Back in March this year, the company had announced its entrance into the EV car sector and said it has earmarked $10 billion to invest into this business over the next 10 years.
In line with this development, the smartphone giant revealed last month that they have registered Xiaomi EV, Inc to handle their vehicle ambitions. They also added that 300 employees had already been brought on board.
The announcement follows a rising trend of tech companies entering the automotive sector. Just the other day, iPhone assembling company – Foxconn – revealed three electric vehicles they intend to build, Baido – China’s version of Google Search – launched an electric car in January. Apple has also been often rumored to be producing an EV in the near future as well. Xiaomi will have to face off against the two aforementioned tech companies as well as its Chinese EV rivals like Nio and Xpeng.
Regardless, Xiaomi has good chances of success due to its universally recognized brand and the fact that the Chinese EV market is forecasted to grow 51 % this year according to Canalys.