It’s been 500 days since Xiaomi announced its intention to become the next Chinese Tesla. Now, this ambition is only supported by big numbers, hundreds of millions of euros spent.
Xiaomi does not hide its ambitions in the automotive industry. For this, it multiplies its expenditure on R&D, but it has no choice. The smartphone and electronics maker is looking for new growth levers following registering its first drop in sales in 2022.
10 billion euros in the car, including 500 million for the autopilot
As its apple icon, Xiaomi takes a close interest in the electric car and would like us to come across its logo on the roads. We have known since 2021 that the brand wants to invest nearly 10 billion dollars to enter this market. For his last conference, where we were able to discover le Mix Fold 2, CEO Lei Jun talked regarding efforts to design a self-driving car. In total, 500 employees are working on this project for nearly 500 million euros of investment. The Chinese group is currently testing 140 vehicles across China for autonomous driving.
Since Xiaomi entered the EV industry 500 days ago, our autonomous driving team has assembled more than 500 members, planned to invest RMB3.3 billion in the first R&D phase, and committed to self-developing full stack algorithms. We aim to become an industry leader in 2024. pic.twitter.com/sRaRJ6t0uk
— leijun (@leijun) August 11, 2022
Xiaomi wants to become one of the leaders in the sector, just like Tesla. But, at present, we haven’t seen any product yet.
The way is still long
The Chinese group has been talking with China for months for licensingwithout success, according to Bloomberg. However, the longer it takes to obtain a license, the further ahead its rivals will gain. Among the competitors, there are Nio, Xpeng or Bytones or Li Auto. These start-ups also want to become the new Chinese Tesla.
The next step is the discovery of a first prototype of an electric vehicle. This car is said to be designed by HVST Automobile Design, responsible for WM Motor’s Maven concept car. After this announcement, we will then be able to discover the first production cars. We are waiting for this step from 2024. However, there is still a long way to go: Xiaomi Auto’s Gigafactory and R&D center are being manufactured in Yizhuang, China.
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