© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Xiaomi logo is seen at a Xiaomi store, in Shanghai, China May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
By Yelin Mo and Casey Hall
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (OTC:) unveiled its first electric vehicle on Thursday and quickly announced plans to become one of the world’s top five automakers.
The sedan, dubbed SU7, is a highly anticipated model that is expected to make the most of its operating system shared with the company’s popular phones.
But the car debuts at a time when the world’s largest auto market is grappling with overcapacity and slowing demand that have fueled a bruising price war.
That hasn’t stopped Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun from laying out big ambitions, including building “a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla (NASDAQ:).”
“By working hard in the next 15 to 20 years, we will become one of the world’s five largest automobile companies, striving to develop China’s automobile industry as a whole,” Lei said at the event.
Like several other tech companies, Xiaomi has sought to diversify beyond its core business into electric vehicles – a plan it first reported in 2021.
It has pledged to invest $10 billion in autos over a decade and is one of the few new players in China’s electric vehicle market, with authorities reluctant to increase oversupply.
At the launch event in Beijing, Lei said the autonomous driving capabilities of Xiaomi cars would be industry-leading.
Xiaomi-branded cars will be produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group at a Beijing factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles.
