While Tesla made cars mobile computing terminals, the automotive industry's new mission now is to create mobile smart spaces, and that's what Xiaomi's car-making is coming for.

(A screenshot from a video of Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun's speech announcing entry into car making in 2021.)

Xiaomi's car-making arm, Xiaomi EV, will hold a tech launch in two days, which will be the first major launch since the Chinese smartphone giant announced its entry into the car-making space in early 2021.

In the run-up to the event, Xiaomi founder, chairman and CEO Lei Jun today revealed the thinking behind the company's entry into the car-making space and how the company's electric vehicle (EV) models will be differentiated from Tesla's.

"On March 30th, 2021, I announced that I was ready to 'fight for Xiaomi EV.' That was the moment I decided to put all past successes and failures behind me and dive into this challenging industry," Lei said on his personal social media account today.

The first step was to find like-minded people, Lei said, adding that he later realized that the automotive industry was buzzing with excitement after the decision was announced.

"From Munich to Tokyo, from Shenzhen to Beijing, news spread quickly, attracting some of the brightest minds from around the world to our EV team," he said.

Building a great car requires first-hand experience, so he set himself a goal of driving 100 cars and learning the strengths of each, Lei said.

He's already surpassed that initial goal, having driven more than 150 cars, Lei said.

Xiaomi EV has been executing its plans very quietly, intending to share progress and results by the day of its official launch, he said, adding that unfortunately there have been a lot of leaks or rumors in the meantime, but that's not the company's intention.

(An image of Xiaomi's first EV from a regulatory filing.)

"Now, we are finally ready to have a good chat with you on December 28," he wrote.

The engineering team of the Xiaomi EV will start the event with a series of technical breakthroughs, followed by Lei talking about the thinking behind it, according to his posts.

He touched on Xiaomi's starting point for entering the car-making world, mentioning Porsche and Tesla. He writes:

The automobile has been developed for more than 130 years, and has always been the "king of industry" and the most typical representative of the "zeitgeist" of each era.

For the first 100 years of the automobile, Porsche was the role model as a means of transportation.

In the new century, Tesla took the lead in pioneering intelligent electric vehicles, making the automobile a "mobile computing terminal".

Now, the automobile industry's new mission is to create a "mobile smart space". This is the starting point for Xiaomi to build cars.

Xiaomi EV announced on Weibo yesterday that it will hold a technology launch event on December 28 at 2 pm Beijing Time.

The launch will be technology-related only, not a product, Lei said yesterday.

Xiaomi EV will completely redefine the technology stack of the automotive industry, which will be a major leap forward in the industry's technology category, he said yesterday.

Xiaomi CEO has high hopes for 1st EV model with heavy R&D investment