After the incredible success following the launch of its first electric vehicle model, the SU7, global smartphone giant Xiaomi has confirmed that it has successfully manufactured its first 10,000 units. The milestone was achieved just 32 days after the vehicle was released.
Sharing further data about its debut electric car, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that currently, 79% of Xiaomi SU7 users are using Xiaomi Pilot – the car’s self-driving feature.
Xiaomi has rolled out its first 10,000 SU7 units in 32 days – not bad for a brand that’s never made a car before. Photo: CarandBike
The car also seems to be popular with female customers, as nearly 30% (28% to be exact) of buyers are women, and the percentage is steadily increasing. In the future, Xiaomi hopes to have between 40% and 50% of its electric vehicle buyers be women.
The wait time to purchase the Xiaomi SU7 – the debut car model from smartphone giant Xiaomi – has increased to 7 months just days after it went on sale on March 28. This waiting period is projected to extend into years in the near future.
When it first went on sale, the Xiaomi SU7 received 10,000 purchase orders in 4 minutes, 20,000 in 7 minutes, and 50,000 in the first 27 minutes. By the end of the first day of sales, the company had received 88,898 orders for the SU7.
The Xiaomi electric car has drawn huge attention from Chinese consumers, with people flocking to Xiaomi showrooms to check out the vehicle. Photo: Xiaomi
However, Xiaomi’s factory in Beijing can only produce 150,000 units per year in its initial phase. It is only when all production lines are complete that the facility will reach its maximum annual capacity of 300,000 units.
Soaring demand has also caused delivery wait times for the Xiaomi SU7 to skyrocket since it went on sale. On the Xiaomi EV app, the waiting time for its three variants, from low to high-end, are reported to be 13-16 weeks (3-4 months), 16-19 weeks (4-5 months), and 25-28 weeks (6-7 months) respectively.
Waiting until 2 or 3 in the morning just to see and experience the car firsthand has become commonplace, according to one Xiaomi showroom manager. Photo: Xiaomi
If the waiting time does indeed extend into years, Xiaomi stands to lose quite a number of customers, as there are many other domestic options to switch to. What they need to do now is ramp up production at the earliest.
The official prices for the three variants of the Xiaomi SU7 are 215,900 CNY (30,385 USD), 245,900 CNY (34,570 USD), and 299,900 CNY (42,160 USD), respectively.
Xiaomi unveiled its plans to enter the electric vehicle market in 2021, investing about 10 billion USD. CEO Lei Jun has called it his “final major entrepreneurial project.” Despite the high demand, it is predicted that Xiaomi will initially suffer losses as it aims to set a price that many can afford. Citi Research estimates that the company will lose 68,000 yuan (9,400 USD) on each vehicle, based on sales of around 60,000 units.
