Xiaomi hasn’t unveiled its first electric vehicle yet, but the technology giant from China has ambitions to become one of the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturers
The Chinese tech giant founded Xiaomi Automobile in September 2021 with an initial investment of $1.39 billion and has been hard at work developing electric vehicles 14 months since.
Although so far known as an electronics company far from the automotive industry, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun via his Twitter account said the company he leads targets selling more than 10 million vehicles annually.
“The manufacturing threshold of EVs has been dramatically lower compared to gasoline cars: 30,000 components are highly modular, and the cost of batteries has fallen by 80% in the past ten years (with at least 50% more room for cost reduction in the future ),” Lei said. “Therefore, I think EVs are a form of consumer electronics with intelligentization, software, and user experience at the core. The essence of the auto industry will evolve from mechanics to consumer electronics, where the market share is highly concentrated among the top players.”
The manufacturing threshold of EVs has been dramatically lowered compared to gasoline cars: 30,000 components are highly modular, and the cost of batteries has fallen by 80% in the past ten years (with at least 50% more room for cost reduction in the future).
— Lei Jun (@leijun) October 19, 2022
In his analysis, Lei said the world’s top 5 brands will hold more than 80 percent share of the electric vehicle market when the industry reaches maturity.
“In other words, the only way for us to succeed is to be one of the top 5 and ship more than 10 million cars annually. The competition will be brutal,” he said.
As additional information, the world’s two largest car manufacturers today, Toyota and Volkswagen, each sell around 10 million vehicles each year.
Tesla’s Elon Musk says his company could produce up to 20 million electric vehicles annually within 10 years.
Xiaomi has finished building its first electric vehicle prototype which is planned to launch in 2024.
Very few details about the vehicle are known but it could be offered with 400 volt and 800 volt architectures and using BYD & CATL battery cells.
I'm convinced that the world's top 5 brands will hold more than 80% of the market share when the EV industry reaches maturity. In other words, the only way for us to succeed is to be one of the top 5 and ship more than 10 million cars annually. The competition will be brutal.
— Lei Jun (@leijun) October 19, 2022
