Photo: China's MIIT
Xiaomi is the first tech giant that plans to launch a car, and compared to rival Huawei, which partnered with traditional carmakers for an expansion in the automotive market, the Chinese tech behemoth wants to build the vehicle from scratch.
And it did, as the first Xiaomi car is already in the first production stages, with the company building the units that would eventually be on display in stores once the vehicle sees the daylight.
Speaking to state-owned broadcaster CCTV, founder and chairman Lei Jun, who got involved in the development phase of the car, has a simple message for traditional carmakers: We're here to win.
Jun explained that his main focus is to turn the Xiaomi car into an innovation leader, especially because the money his company spent on R&D is ten times more than what a typical carmaker invests in this process.
Lei Jun also has numbers to prove how committed Xiaomi is to getting everything right in the automotive space. The Xiaomi founder says a typical carmaker spends approximately $140 million on R&D when developing a new model, involving up to 400 people in all essential phases, including testing.
Xiaomi pushed the whole thing to a new level. Jun says Xiaomi has already spent $1 billion on R&D, and the number of employees contributing to the project reached 3,400.
The numbers are undoubtedly impressive, but a typical carmaker doesn't have to spend the same budget on a new model because it already has the platforms, the technology, and the components that it could use. Furthermore, the number of engineers involved in the creation of a new model can also be much lower because a carmaker already has the know-how, whereas Xiaomi builds everything from scratch.
Lei Jun says his biggest fear once the Xiaomi car launches concerns the demand. He's not concerned that the car won't sell but that it'd sell so well that the company wouldn't be able to align the production with the demand. According to people familiar with the matter, Xiaomi wants to build 100,000 units in the first year, with the output to double in the second year. The company expects to sell 300,000 cars in the first two years, with a second model to join the lineup in 2025 or 2026.
Xiaomi has big ambitions for the automotive expansion, trying to pioneer the debut of tech giants in this space. Apple is expected to follow in its footsteps in the coming years, as the highly anticipated Apple Car is still in the works, with a possible release in 2026. However, Apple needs more time to complete essential development phases, and people familiar with the matter said the project advances slower than the company originally anticipated.
Speaking to state-owned broadcaster CCTV, founder and chairman Lei Jun, who got involved in the development phase of the car, has a simple message for traditional carmakers: We're here to win.
Jun explained that his main focus is to turn the Xiaomi car into an innovation leader, especially because the money his company spent on R&D is ten times more than what a typical carmaker invests in this process.
Lei Jun also has numbers to prove how committed Xiaomi is to getting everything right in the automotive space. The Xiaomi founder says a typical carmaker spends approximately $140 million on R&D when developing a new model, involving up to 400 people in all essential phases, including testing.
Xiaomi pushed the whole thing to a new level. Jun says Xiaomi has already spent $1 billion on R&D, and the number of employees contributing to the project reached 3,400.
The numbers are undoubtedly impressive, but a typical carmaker doesn't have to spend the same budget on a new model because it already has the platforms, the technology, and the components that it could use. Furthermore, the number of engineers involved in the creation of a new model can also be much lower because a carmaker already has the know-how, whereas Xiaomi builds everything from scratch.
Lei Jun says his biggest fear once the Xiaomi car launches concerns the demand. He's not concerned that the car won't sell but that it'd sell so well that the company wouldn't be able to align the production with the demand. According to people familiar with the matter, Xiaomi wants to build 100,000 units in the first year, with the output to double in the second year. The company expects to sell 300,000 cars in the first two years, with a second model to join the lineup in 2025 or 2026.
Xiaomi has big ambitions for the automotive expansion, trying to pioneer the debut of tech giants in this space. Apple is expected to follow in its footsteps in the coming years, as the highly anticipated Apple Car is still in the works, with a possible release in 2026. However, Apple needs more time to complete essential development phases, and people familiar with the matter said the project advances slower than the company originally anticipated.
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