China’s Xiaomi delivers 20,000 EVs in October, just months after launching its first car

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi stated Tuesday that it had delivered greater than 20,000 SU7 EVs in October because it ramps up manufacturing for its electrical automobile enterprise in a fiercely aggressive market.

The Chinese language firm, which is basically identified for its smartphones and residential home equipment, reiterated plans to ship 100,000 SU7 autos by the top of November. Xiaomi first revealed plans to make automobiles in 2021 and commenced constructing a devoted manufacturing plant the identical 12 months.

The corporate launched the essential model of the SU7, its first automobile, in late March for about $4,000 lower than Tesla‘s most cost-effective automobile — Mannequin 3 — in China on the time. Tesla subsequently minimize the automobile’s worth by about $2,000. Xiaomi has delivered greater than 75,000 SU7 automobiles so far, together with October’s figures.

Chinese language rivals Xpeng and Nio took about six years to supply 100,000 electrical automobiles, whereas it took Tesla 12 years.

Whereas Xpeng delivered a month-to-month report of greater than 20,000 automobiles in September, with about half owed to its newly launched, lower-cost model Mona, Nio has struggled to maintain month-to-month deliveries above 20,000 automobiles.

Zeekr, an electrical automobile model based by automaker Geely, has claimed it produced greater than 100,000 autos in 1.5 years. It delivered a report 21,333 automobiles in September.

Information on different Chinese language electrical automobile corporations’ deliveries for October is anticipated Friday.

“Information of 20k deliveries in October confirms that [Xiaomi] goes to be a drive to reckon with on the earth’s largest EV market,” stated Brian Tycangco, an analyst at Stansberry Analysis.

He stated Xiaomi’s electrical automobile gross revenue margins in August had been much like Xpeng’s that month, and have doubtless improved since, given ramped up manufacturing.

Xiaomi on Tuesday additionally introduced it was taking preorders for the high-end sports activities model, SU7 Extremely, beginning at 814,900 yuan ($114,304), forward of a product launch in March 2025. The corporate claimed that inside 10 minutes, it acquired greater than 3,600 preorders, every requiring a ten,000 yuan deposit.

The brand new mannequin and its touted achievements on the Nurburgring race observe in Germany will doubtless assist Xiaomi promote extra of its premium SU7 Max automobile, which prices simply 299,900 yuan, Citi analysts stated in a report. They now count on Xiaomi to ship 250,000 automobiles subsequent 12 months, up from 238,000 beforehand forecast.

Xiaomi claimed a prototype of the SU7 Extremely this week grew to become the quickest four-door sedan to finish the German race observe.

Citi analysts elevated their worth goal on Xiaomi to 30.60 Hong Kong {dollars} ($3.94), up from 22.70 HK {dollars}. In addition they raised forecasts for the corporate’s smartphone shipments, following the launch of Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 15 machine Tuesday — the primary cellphone to make use of Qualcomm’s latest chipset.

Tesla’s Mannequin Y was the best-selling battery-powered electrical automobile in China in September with 48,202 autos bought, in line with information from Chinese language automobile business website Autohome. The Mannequin 3 ranked eighth with practically 24,000 automobiles bought.

BYD’s lower-priced fashions accounted for a lot of the different prime 10 bestsellers within the battery-only class. Xiaomi’s SU7 ranked seventeenth final month with 13,559 automobiles bought, the info confirmed.

Xiaomi at the moment solely sells its automobiles in China. The corporate advised CNBC earlier this 12 months it will take no less than two to 3 years for any abroad launch.

— CNBC’s Sonia Heng contributed to this report.