Xiaomi SU7 Officially Launched, Starting Price at 215,900 Yuan

Xiaomi held a press conference today, and the Xiaomi SU7 was officially launched and delivered. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun introduced further information about Xiaomi‘s car on site, with a range of 700 kilometers.

Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi SU7 will target Tesla. There are three versions of Xiaomi SU7, including the standard version (rear-wheel drive long-range intelligent driving version) priced at 215,900 yuan; SU7 Pro is priced at 245,900 yuan; Su7 Max is priced at 299,900 yuan, and the price must be value for money.

A few days ago, Lei Jun said that he saw rumors saying Tesla will raise prices on April 1st. Tesla is really impressive: in the current electric car market, where competition is so fierce, only Tesla dares to raise prices.

Many people may not have a good understanding of the cost of electric cars. Currently, apart from Tesla, many companies producing battery electric cars are facing huge losses.

Lei Jun said that he just checked Tesla’s financial report, which sold 1.81 million vehicles in 2023, almost all of which were Model 3/Y, with revenue of $96.77 billion and operating profit of $8.89 billion. Even with such a large scale and high operational efficiency like Tesla’s, the profit margin is only 9.2%.

“Model 3 is currently priced at 245,900 yuan. If calculated roughly based on the financial report’s operating profit margin, it would also need a selling price of around 223,000 yuan to break even.”

Lei Jun pointed out that many people are particularly concerned about the pricing of Xiaomi SU7, and also explained it. The standard version of Xiaomi SU7 has configurations far superior to Model 3, with solid materials, and in addition, the procurement cost is very high in the initial stage of product launch. “There is indeed some pressure on pricing, I hope everyone understands. But no matter what, we will definitely make everyone feel that it’s worth every penny!”

Lei Jun said that intelligence and ecology are Xiaomi‘s most important advantages. It doesn’t matter that Apple has given up on making cars, as Xiaomi will support Apple’s ecosystem very well. Intelligence is the soul of cars, and the next ten years will be the decade of intelligence. The key to winning in future electric vehicles is intelligence, which is also Xiaomi‘s expertise.

Xiaomi‘s goal in intelligent driving is to enter the industry’s top ranks by 2024. Currently, Xiaomi‘s intelligent driving technology has accumulated 10 million kilometers of real vehicle road tests and 250 million kilometers of simulation tests.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Model Y Set for 5,000 Yuan Price Increase in China

William Li, He Xiaopeng, and Li Xiang in the same frame

Lei Jun has a strong network. At this event, NIO Chairman William Li, XPeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng, and Li Auto CEO Li Xiang all came to the scene.

Lei Jun said that after announcing car manufacturing, he felt anxious every day with a heavy mental burden. He realized how difficult it is to make cars when even giants like Apple give up. Therefore, he wants to applaud companies that persist in making cars. These three founders gave him a lot of advice and helped him avoid many pitfalls in car manufacturing.

Great Wall Motors Chairman Wei Jianjun, BAIC Chairman Zhang Jianyong and other automotive industry executives also arrived at the scene.

To become one of the top five automobile manufacturers in the world

As early as December 2023, the Xiaomi SU7 was “pre-released”, and details such as appearance design, performance, endurance, safety were first publicly revealed. It is positioned as a “C-class high-performance ecological technology sedan”.

“We are not going to make an ordinary car, we are going to create a dream car that rivals Porsche and Tesla.” Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun shared Xiaomi‘s goal of creating a dream car that matches Porsche and Tesla, ushering in a new era in the automotive industry, making it stylish, enjoyable to drive, comfortable, and safe mobile intelligent space.

Lei Jun said that Xiaomi‘s entry into the automotive industry is a significant leap from the smartphone industry to the automotive industry, and it is also a key leap towards the complete closed-loop of ‘people-car-home’ full ecosystem.

Lei Jun also stated that the automotive industry has been around for over 100 years, and there are no shortcuts to a century-old track. Xiaomi has decided to invest tenfold, starting from the core technology at the grassroots level, earnestly building a good car, and through 15 to 20 years of effort, becoming one of the top five global automakers, striving for the comprehensive rise of China’s automobile industry!

The Last Battle of Lei Jun

In March 2021, Xiaomi announced its official entry into the smart electric vehicle market, with an expected investment of $10 billion over 10 years, with an initial phase of 10 billion RMB.

Ten years ago, Lei Jun entered the smartphone market at the age of 40. Now, at 50 years old, he is venturing into the car industry.

Lei Jun said, “This will be my last major entrepreneurial project in life. I am willing to stake my entire reputation and personally lead the team to fight for Xiaomi‘s car!”

Lei Jun also revealed that in the past 75 days, Xiaomi‘s management team has had 85 industry visits and communications, in-depth exchanges with over 200 senior professionals in the automotive industry, held four internal management discussions, two formal board meetings, and conducted extremely rigorous and detailed research and argumentation before making this most significant decision in Xiaomi‘s history.

Lei Jun is no stranger to smart cars

Around 2014, Lei Jun visited Tesla CEO Elon Musk twice. Lei Jun asked Musk: “Why did you start Tesla 10 years ago? Electric cars were not popular back then. How did you view this opportunity?”

Musk’s response left Lei Jun unforgettable for life.

Musk said: “I never thought this was a good opportunity, because its failure rate is much higher than the success rate. I just think this is something that humans should do and worth doing. I don’t want to wait anxiously for others to achieve it.”

After returning from Silicon Valley, Lei Jun sighed: It seems like what we are doing can be done by others, while what Musk is doing is beyond imagination.

At that time, Lei Jun invested in William Li’s NIO. In December 2018, the NIO ES6 was listed, and Lei Jun also came to the scene to support it, having a boxed meal with William Li and his wife.

Lei Jun and XPeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng have a “mentor-friend” relationship of over ten years. When Xiaomi went public, He Xiaopeng invested $100 million to support Xiaomi. When XPeng Motors went public, Xiaomi not only became an investor but Lei Jun also personally participated in the listing event.

Recently, He Xiaopeng test drove the Xiaomi SU7 and endorsed Xiaomi‘s car by saying “You guys are going to sell this car cheaply, that’s not right. Its performance is very comfortable.”

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi SU7 Will Be Launched and Delivered on March 28th