Strong demand for the YU7 sport utility vehicle, which wasreleased at the end of June, is propelling Xiaomi’s $10 billion gamble on a fast-growing but crowded EV arena.Xiaomi intends to sell its first electric vehicle in Europe by 2027, declaring plans to take on Tesla and BYD globally after gaining traction with its year-old Chinese EV business.
President Lu Weibing shed more light on the company’s expansion plans after reporting a 31% rise in quarterly revenue, riding the successful launch of its second electric vehicle over the summer. That helped counter slowing demand for smartphones.
Xiaomi has previously described ambitions to go global, though it’s never specified a target market. Europe is a common destination for Chinese carmakers like BYD seeking to tap a more lucrative arena, while governments across the continent are wooing Chinese EV and battery firms in part to mitigate impact from US tariffs.
Strong demand for the YU7 sport utility vehicle, which co-founder Lei Jun released at the end of June, is propelling Xiaomi’s $10 billion gamble on a fast-growing but crowded EV arena. The company aims to become one of the world’s top five carmakers, despite a production crunch that’s testing its ability to scale up. Wait times for the SUV have stretched to more than a year.
Revenue climbed to ¥116 billion ($16.2 billion) in the June quarter, just edging past the average analyst estimate. It delivered 81,302 cars, taking the total to more than 157,000 in the first half-on track to surpass 2024’s haul.
But smartphones-its original and largest business-slid 2.1% and missed the average projection by about 5%.
