The Xiaomi SU7 EV is priced at $29,872 (215,900 yuan)
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi entered the EV market by launching its first electric car, the Speed Ultra 7 (SU7) sedan, in Beijing on Thursday.
The tech giant said it received over 50,000 orders in the first 27 minutes of sales. Deliveries are set to begin in April.
The SU7 is priced at $29,872 ( 215,900 yuan), and Xiaomi hopes to leverage its existing tech products’ customer base by offering a shared operating system in the EV with its other devices.
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun boasted the SU7’s minimum range of 700 kilometers surpasses the Tesla Model 3’s range of 606 kilometers.
The launch of Xiaomi’s electric car comes amid a price war in China’s EV market, with Tesla and local rivals like BYD slashing prices.
It also reflects the tech company’s confidence in the potential of the Chinese EV market, contrasting with Apple’s recent cancellation of its self-driving EV plans.