Because Xiaomi will also steer on electric cars
Giuseppe Liturri's article on Xiaomi's projects for the electric vehicle market
Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi Corp. is the latest tech company seduced by China's burgeoning electric vehicle market , pledging $ 10 billion over the next decade to develop the project.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun will lead the new independent subsidiary, which is focused on electric vehicles, the company said Tuesday. It will invest the first 10 billion yuan, equal to approximately 1.5 billion dollars, to start the business, continuing with the investment and expanding it over the next few years.
Xiaomi's entry into the electric vehicle market makes it one of China's most important technology companies to date to make its entry into what is becoming an increasingly crowded market. Xiaomi's status as a popular consumer brand, with a global and rapidly expanding footprint, could give it an advantage over the competition, although the barriers to entry present in the automotive market are not trivial, but may indeed force in some cases to facing significant obstacles.
The CEO of the company spoke in public in Beijing immediately after the announcement , revealing that he had been discussing for months with the board of directors about the opportunity to enter the electric vehicle market for Xiaomi, explaining how the large parachute constituted by the the company's considerable liquidity has tipped the balance on the choice to focus heavily on investment.
"We have accumulated a lot of experience and know-how as a company over the years, and now it is time for us to set sail in search of new destinations to conquer" said the CEO, however providing little details on the modality and timing of the arrival of Xiaomi vehicles. on the markets, not even revealing whether agreements had been signed with external companies for production. Last week, Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor denied a report that it was working jointly with Xiaomi on electric vehicles.
China is the largest electric vehicle market in the world, where sales have soared since Tesla began building its high-end cars in Shanghai in late 2019. However, there is no shortage of other competitors within. borders, among the strongest NIO Inc., whose share surge has made it one of the highest-value automakers, as have Li Auto and Xpeng.
In January, search engine giant Baidu revealed its intention to enter the electric vehicle market alongside partner Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. Apple itself has been looking for partners to build electric vehicles since late last year, but after. having identified the South Korean Hyundai as a possible target, the talks ended in February.
Xiaomi is betting that its entry into the electric vehicle market will contribute to the strengthening of the brand, also positively influencing the relaunch of the main product of its range, the smartphone, of which it has become the third manufacturer in the world behind Apple and Samsung, in the fourth quarter of this year.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/emobility/xiaomi-investe-10-miliardi-sulle-auto-elettriche/ on Sun, 04 Apr 2021 05:33:33 +0000.