It has been less than a year since Xiaomi announced its plans to be a major player in the electric vehicle industry, but it is moving quickly to bring these plans to fruition. The economic development agency Beijing E-Town has confirmed that Xiaomi will build an EV factory in the city capable of producing up to 300,000 vehicles per year, according to Reuters.
Read: First Virgin Galactic competition winner to go to space announced
The new EV manufacturing plant will be built in several phases and will start producing cars in 2024. Xiaomi will also set up its electric vehicle headquarters, which includes sales and research divisions, in Beijing. The Chinese technology giant also plans to use its retail stores dedicated (at the moment) to smartphones, wearables and other electronics, to market and sell its cars.
Other than spelling out its ambitions, we haven’t received any concrete information from Xiaomi regarding how they plan to get there. We haven’t seen any concepts, even a sketch, for a possible production vehicle. They haven’t shared any information of its battery technology and whether it will be built in-house or outsourced. It also hasn’t shared what its model strategy will be and what price point in will try to hit with its first vehicles. What we do know is that the company will commit an additional $10 billion USD to the EV division over the next 10 years.
China has quickly come to prominence in the EV market, selling millions of vehicles in their domestic market – although, few outside of China will know of or have access to these vehicles. Nio is likely the best-known Chinese EV company, and it is trying to expand into Europe in the years to come. That being said, Xiaomi is a much more well-known Chinese company – it has cemented itself in the top 3 of smartphone manufacturers in the world – so the brand may help it expand its EV business faster than expected.
