Xiaomi electric cars will see mass production by the first half of 2024, founder Lei Jun says

China’s top smartphone brand plans to enter the EV market with its first product next year, CEO Lei Jun told the National People’s Congress on Sunday

Xiaomi is pushing into another highly competitive market as it deals with flagging smartphone sales amid a market slump

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Published: 7:30pm, 6 Mar 2023

Lei Jun, co-founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said the company’s electric vehicle (EV) unit will start mass production in the first half of 2024, giving the smartphone maker a tough timeline for entering a market that has become highly competitive in China.

Lei, a National People’s Congress (NPC) delegate at China’s annual parliamentary gathering, said on Sunday that Xiaomi invested more than 3 billion yuan (US$434.3 million) in its EV venture last year, according to official Chinese media coverage of the event.

The 53-year-old entrepreneur, who has often been described by local media as China’s answer to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, said he now spends half of his time working on Xiaomi’s EV business, leading a team of more than 2,300 people.

Xiaomi declined to comment.

Lei has grown to become one of China’s leading tech magnates through the smartphone brand he grew with cutthroat prices enabled through direct-to-consumer online sales. In 2021, he said Xiaomi plans to beat Apple “in three years” to become the world’s top smartphone brand by sales volume.

Xiaomi’s entrance into the EV industry puts it on track to some day compete with Apple in a new arena, but the Chinese tech giant’s more immediate concern will be the fleet of domestic competitors that already have a big head start. Start-ups like Xpeng Motors and Li Auto are vying for market share against larger rivals like BYD. US EV giant Tesla also has a sizeable slice of the China market and manufactures vehicles at its Gigafactory in Shanghai.

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