Xiaomi EV Company Limited
The Chinese giant Xiaomi returns to the scene thanks to an important news regarding the electric car sector and, specifically, about its new division called Xiaomi EV Company Limited. Apparently, in fact, the registration process of the new company has been completed, which will be engaged in electric vehicles and will have a share capital of 10 billion yuan, therefore just over 1.30 billion euros. The new Xiaomi EV division will be led by Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, alongside whom there are - at least for the moment - 300 employees, a number destined to increase.It would also seem that the electronics giant , over the last 5 months, he has been busy conducting some market research, also discussing with various partners linked to the sector without neglecting other important commitments, such as defining his team and the product itself. Until now, however, no information has yet been revealed regarding what his new car could be, even if - previously - some rumors had hypothesized the arrival of a sedan or SUV by the Chinese company. Despite this, Xiaomi seems to be well advanced with its new project since, already in March, there was talk of an investment of 10 billion dollars over 10 years. Furthermore, Deepmotion was recently purchased - with an investment of 77.37 million dollars - thanks to which Xiaomi will be able to perfect its skills in the field of autonomous driving.
Over time, inevitably, some rumors have also come to light regarding which Xiaomi partners could be involved in the project. In this regard, a partnership with Great Wall was hypothesized, thanks to which it would have been possible to use the factories for the construction of electric vehicles. Obviously, however, there are still many points to be clarified regarding Xiaomi's strategy, which is why it is necessary to wait for new information in this regard to better understand what the Chinese company's next moves will be.
Chinese Smartphone Giant Xiaomi Wants to Make EVs
After the on-again-off-again saga of whether Apple was going to make cars with Hyundai, plus the ongoing, seemingly weekly turnaround on whether Huawei is singlehandedly destroying the automotive industry via chip wars or joining it, it's understandable to be cynical about yet another phone manufacturer joining the EV ring.
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, though, has come out with a pretty convincing statement of intent with an actual company and employees and everything. Plus, via its electric scooter arm it actually does have some experience of manufacturing (blech phrase alert) 'e-mobility solutions' that, while obviously not cars, does give them a slight in, especially when it comes to EVs.
In a post to social media, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said, 'Today I'm very proud to announce a milestone moment. Xiaomi's Electric Vehicle business (Xiaomi EV Company Limited) has been officially registered, with a starting capital of RMB 10 billion and myself as the legal representative.'
10 billion Yuan is about $1.55 billion USD, so not an unserious amount to set out with, and while a team of 300 employees is hardly Ford, Xiaomi has shown over the years that scaling up doesn't really seem to be one of its problems. It recently passed Apple to become the world's second-biggest smartphone brand.
Does that alone mean Xiaomi can make cars? No. And there's equally no guarantee the cars it might make will be good (its scooters have been cheap and low-powered) but it's interesting that it's beaten Apple and Huawei to metaphorically breaking ground on car manufacturing. Xiaomi seems, for the moment, to be going it alone too—unlike fellow Chinese tech giant Baidu linking up with Geely for its project.
Xiaomi profited from Huawei's falling star after repeated scandals across multiple western countries involving suspected espionage. Huawei was excluded from the Google Play store as well as banned internationally and those of us who love cheap Chinese phones with good cameras had to switch to the scooter brand.
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