Xiaomi Founder’s Bold EV Bet Is Paying Off Where Apple’s Failed

(Bloomberg) – Lei Jun, the founder and president of Xiaomi Corp., the only technology company that successfully diversified automobile construction.

Speaking at a victorious launch event in Beijing at the end of last month, LEİ, a long -awaited SUV for the second electrical vehicle of Xiaomi, spent ten years and $ 10 billion in Apple Inc.

“We’ve taken special care to Apple users since I stopped developing the Apple car,” he said, and said that the American giant’s iPhone’s owners can synchronize the devices of the owners of the owners of Xiaomi without any problems.

The excavation was followed by a flax: Xiaomi said that he received more than 289,000 orders for the new sports public vehicle in an hour, a sedan, a sedan released in March 2024.

Xiaomi, who succeeded in Apple’s failed, opened Lei’s reputation, made his company one of the most valuable ones in China, and shook both technology and automobile industries.

The collapse of Apple’s Moonshot automobile program, Xiaomi’s Tesla Inc. And inspired by the proven designs of the Porsche car SE, he remained loyal to the appropriate Ethos, who made it a cult brand for Gen Z, emphasized the effectiveness of Xiaomi’s based approach.

Most importantly, the world’s most productive home ecosystem began – China. With state subsidies, existing charging infrastructure and a ready -made supply chain, Xiaomi had Apple’s structural tail wind.

Xiaomi refused to comment for this story.

Shanghai -based Consultancy Automotive Forecast Manager Yale Zhang, Lei and Xiaomi’nin “charisma, brand recognition and ecosystem can not be ignored,” he said. “A great impact on young consumers who fill their homes with Xiaomi products. When it is time to buy a house, they naturally think of Xiaomi.”

However, building cars is much more complex, intensively intense difficulty than making telephone or rice stoves. While competing against old car manufacturers with long history and large model series, security arrangements require global logistics and production production. Any international expansion will also require navigation in complex geopolitical landscapes. In fact, Xiaomi, one of the first technology giants to produce a car, is in the undiscovered region.

Apple’s internal internal project Titan failed to a great extent because it was not just a home-at a point at a point of the autonomous, level 5 attempt to jump with a driving machine. Their targets are constantly changing in the direction and the direction, without a decade of an effort for more than a decade without anything to be shown.

55 -year -old Lei was relatively stingy with time and resources, and he took out his personal reputation through the effort and claimed that making cars would be the “last entrepreneur project”.

Xiaomi’s public narrative, Lei and his team Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and Great Wall Motor Co. They visited more than one Chinese automobile manufacturers, including, and talked to more than 200 industrial experts in 80 meetings.

The truth is that Xiaomi used its reputation as an innovative consumer giant to approach China’s large automobile manufacturers and choose the best capabilities. Geely and Billionaire Founder Li Shufu invited Lei to the research institute of the car manufacturer in Ningbo in the months, which led to the announcement that Xiaomi would enter the car business to discuss issues, including potential cooperation.

Lei is Geely Lore to add WeChat contacts to many staff in the institute, including the director Hu Zhengnan. Hu later joined the investment company Shunwei Capital Partners, founded by Lei.

Xiaomi Headhunters, according to people who knew the subject, Geely founded his staff intensively. Although it is common for talents to act among the companies in the same sector, it was unusual to see this level of aggression in recruitment, people wanted not to be defined to discuss private information. Geely did not respond to the request for comments.

Known for his love for German luxury Marque Porsche, Hu was one of the team members who were accepted as instrumental to improve Xiaomi’s house business at the SU7 launch in 2024. Lei said HU had left his previous employer after the end of his contract.

Other executives who joined Xiaomi BaIC Motor Corp., BMW AG, SAIC-GM-WULING Automobile Co.-General Motors Co. with saic motor corp. and Wuling Motors Holdings Ltd.-And Automatic Supplier Magna Steyr LLC.

In addition to assembling the best Chinese cars’ ability, Lei made a forward-looking bet to invest in a self-controlled supply chain. This came from painful lessons learned on Xiaomi’s first smartphone -producing days, where external suppliers will be unpredictable.

In 2016, some members of Xiaomi’s supply chain team Samsung Electronics Co. Representatives and South Korean firm threatened to stop the supply of industry leader AMOLED screens.

Lei to correct the broken relationship, then I flew to Shenzhen to meet Samsung’s Chinese head. According to an Xiaomi company biography, he drank five bottles of red wine during dual dinner meetings, and Lei made more than one trip to apologize and negotiate Samsung’s re -starting supply to its center in South Korea. Samsung representatives refrained from commenting.

After entering the car production business, Xiaomi has invested in almost all parts of the supply chain from batteries and chips to air suspension and sensors. According to data compiled by the Chinese analysis company Zhangongshe and Bloomberg, it pumped more than $ 1.6 billion to more than $ 1.6 billion to the supply chain company between 2021 and 2024 through other funds led by Shunwei or Xiaomi.

The components of some of the companies investing by Xiaomi, Lidarlar from Hesai Technology Co. and Zhejiang Ev-Tech Co.

With 10 billion Yuan (1.4 billion dollars), it depends on the first stage of the home initiative, Xiaomi, Nio Inc. and XPENG INC. When some Chinese producers, including, they built their own factory instead of going to the production route.

UBS Group AG’s Chinese Automobile Research President Paul Gong said, “Among the technology companies that currently build electric vehicles, those who have previously hardware products seem more successful than those who have software products or information services,” he said.

In spite of his early success, there are many people who claim that Xiaomi’s hit car is copied from another place and that a single successful vehicle did not make a successful automatic producer. Lei’s aggressive approach also raised Hackles in China’s automobile industry.

Yu Jingmin, Vice President of the passenger of the passenger car of the passenger car, described Xiaomi’s approach in his criticism of Su7, which resembles Porsche, as “shameless”. SU7 was named by Netizens as “Porsche Mi ındaki in spoken language. SAIC did not answer questions about Yu’s words.

The design team of Xiaomi, led by former BMW designer Li Tianyuan, defended the aesthetics of SU7 and stressed that the elections were directed by aerodynamic efficiency and performance criteria.

In late March, there was another mishap after a deadly accident containing SU7. The car opened advanced driver aid technology before the accident, which led to the reorganization of the authorities in the promotion and deployment of technology.

Usually vocal Lei has held a low profile on social media for more than a month after the March accident. In May, he returned to a more active participation with a miracle who said the most difficult in his career.

Fortunately, the consumer floor is adhesive for Xiaomi. Sadık customers, known as “Mi fans ,, played a very important role in the rise of the company. Xiaomi developed this fandom early, giving priority to user feedback, and base loyalty helped to create strong brand equality, especially in China. SU7 remained a best -selling model even after the accident in March.

Indeed, dealers have reported that approximately 50% of customers are full of comparison with other brands for SU7. Rosalie Chen, a senior analyst of the third bridge of the investment research company, said, “A significant number of elderly consumer SU7 is buying SU7 for its children, which shows that it creates confidence among more conservative buyers thanks to the safety and quality of the model.”

In 2025, Xiaomi set a delivery target of 300,000 previous targets, and a ramp for demand and production for the newly released YU7 increases a ramp. In 215,900 Yuan ($ 30.100), the starting prices of the SU7 sedan and competitive alternatives to models such as SUV, Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y in 253,500 Yuan.

Houses also show financial promises. Xiaomi was directed by car and smartphone sales for the first quarter this year. At an investor meeting held in June, Lei is expected to become profitable in the second half of 2025.

However, even if the popularity of Xiaomi’s homes can go beyond the company’s loyal base, production is still on a much more boutique scale. China’s best automobile brand byd Co., last year sold about 4.3 million houses and hybrids, many overseas, Tesla globally carried about 1.78 million vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s number 1 car manufacturer, sold about 10.8 million vehicles and has a series of about 70 different models.

Automotive Forensight’s Zhang said that the places dominated by BYD, which directs a significant volume of Lei, has not yet given a priority of less than $ 20,000.

Without a staff in this segment, the Xiaomi Cars will remain niche purchases for mid -income consumers, and Xiaomi may face the same risks as Tesla, who sees a narrow consumer base and a decrease in sales that worsened by limited models.

However, Lei seems to be a buoy with Xiaomi’s early wins, and now it is looking for global expansion. He said Xiaomi would consider selling cars outside China from 2027 last week.

Success or otherwise, the European Union, the US and Turkey slapped tariffs in Chinese houses, but Xiaomi wants to establish an Ring Center in Munich and can test sales that started in European markets such as Germany, Spain and France, and Chinese media reported in April 36kr.

“Xiaomi is a gateway to the automobile industry, Lei Lei confessed in Weibo in June. However, in a market directed by technology and innovation and the increasing global influence of China’s home culture, he said, “There are always opportunities for latekomers.”

-Vlad Savov, Mark Gurman, Drake Bennett and Jessica Sui help.

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