Xiaomi Will Spend Rs 8000 Crore To Make Electric Cars; Company Registered, 300 Staff Hired

Xiaomi has completed the business registration of its electric vehicle (EV) unit.

This marks the latest milestone in its progress towards entry into the automotive sector.

Leader And Staff

The EV unit is named Xiaomi EV Inc and was opened with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion).

Xiaomi CEO and co-founder Lei Jun is its legal representative.

The unit has employed 300 staff so far and recruitment is still ongoing.

Xiaomi is now just behind Samsung, making it the world’s second top-selling smartphone brand.

Willing To Risk It All

The ambitions of its entry into electric cars was confirmed back in March with a pledge to invest $10 billion over the next 10 years.

Lei said that this venture would be his “last major entrepreneurial project.”

He also said that he is willing to put his entire reputation on the line if it means better future prospects for its EVs.

Strategic Acquisitions

Xiaomi purchased autonomous driving technology startup Deepmotion for over $77 million.

This would improve its research capabilities and efforts to develop autonomous driving technologies.

Xiaomi had also made moves to purchase a stake in the beleaguered real estate giant Evergrande Group’s automotive unit.

While it has reached out to several automakers, it has not yet settled on any one to work with.

Rumors, Price, Competition

Xiaomi has not yet revealed details of its strategy for the automotive sector or the types of vehicles it wants to launch.

However, it is being speculated that its first offering could be a sedan or an SUV to cost between RMB 100,000 and RMB 300,000.

Upon launch, it could face competition from the firms dominating the Chinese market- Nio and Xpeng- along with Tesla and the Warren Buffett-backed BYD “Build Your Dreams”.

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