In March, 2021, China’s smart phone company Xiaomi announced that it would start its own automaking business. In the following nine months, the company finished the unit’s registration and decided its headquarters’ and plant’s location. Meanwhile, it is also busy with attracting talents. To focus on the automotive business, Lei Jun, CEO of the group, has resigned from multiple companies.

Photo credit: Xiaomi

ZXZC chose several important news of Xiaomi’s auto business in 2021.

Xiaomi announces EV investment of $10 billion in ten years

Xiaomi will set up a subsidiary for smart electric vehicle business, which its board of directors has approved, the smartphone maker announced at the end of March, 2021.

The initial investment of the new company will be RMB10 billion while the total investment in the next 10 years will be around $10 billion. Lei Jun, CEO of the group, will serve as the CEO of the electric vehicle business. The smartphone maker said in the announcement that it is committed to making living smart anytime and anywhere for global consumers with high-quality intelligent electric vehicles.

At the Xiaomi 2021 New Product Launch held on Tuesday, Mr. Lei revealed that its team started to explore the possibility of its own electric vehicle business on January 15 of this year. After 75 days of deep communication within the company and with industry experts, the company decided to commence its electric vehicle business, which the company thinks is a segment with great potential.

Xiaomi builds new tech subsidiary qualifying for NEV sale

Xiaomi recently established a subsidiary whose business scope covers sale of new energy vehicles (NEVs).

Founded on August 2, 2021 and located in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, the new company, dubbed Guangdong Hengqin Xiaomi Technology Development Co.,Ltd. (called “Zhuhai Xiaomi” for short), involves a registered capital of 1 million yuan ($154.7 million) and is wholly owned by Xiaomi Technology Co.,Ltd. It has a line of business covering sale of NEVs, import & export of technologies and goods, information system integration service, software development, and manufacturing of communications facilities.

Xiaomi finishes registration of automobile company

Xiaomi has completed the Industrial and Commercial registration of its automobile company, which has a registered capital of RMB10 billion, and Lei Jun, the phone maker’s founder and CEO, will serve as the new company’s legal representative, Xiaomi announced on the first day of September.

Xiaomi’s automobile company headquartered in Beijing

Xiaomi Automobile Co.,Ltd. was officially registered in Beijing Economic Technological Development Area on September 1 with a registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.546 billion), according to the business data provider Tianyancha. The registration means that Xiaomi's electric vehicle (EV) unit has been headquartered in the capital of China.

“This is the first milestone in the development of Xiaomi's automobile arm. Led by Mr. Lei, Xiaomi is taking the fast lane for its car building business,” said the company.

Xiaomi in talks with FAW Group, welcome to cooperate with Jilin companies

Xiaomi held in-depth talks with FAW Group about their cooperation when its founder visited Jilin province last week and had a meeting with the province's officials.

On September 9th, Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi met with Jing Junhai, the secretary of Jilin’s provincial party committee, and Han Jun, Jilin’s provincial governor.

As a globally renowned enterprise, Xiaomi has vital research and development and production capability in consumer electronics and intelligent manufacturing, Jing Junhai said. In vehicle manufacturing field, Jilin can be a good partner for Xiaomi as the northeast province possesses a mature industrial base, robust scientific research strength, and ample talent reserve.

Xiaomi said to adopt “dual-factory” model, acquire Borgward plant

Xiaomi EV may adopt a “dual factory” production model, people familiar with the matter told a local media outlet.

On the one hand, Xiaomi hopes to promptly gain production capacity and related certifications by acquisition. Meanwhile, it plans to build its own plant in a second location for stable production capacity. Sources said that the Beijing government is encouraging Xiaomi to acquire Borgward AG for production certification.

Xiaomi EV company names new vice president

Li Xiaoshuang, general manager of Xiaomi's major home appliances department, has been named vice president of Xiaomi's electric vehicle (EV) unit to be accountable for the businesses related to products, supply chain, and marketing, Xiaomi Group announced on Oct. 15.

Xiaomi Auto expects mass production in early 2024

The chairman of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, disclosed that Xiaomi’s automaking progress has far surpassed his anticipations and mass production of vehicles will start in the first half of 2024.

Lei Jun explained, his automaking endeavor is not attention-seeking. As the EV industry transitioned from mechanical to informational, Xiaomi will be obsolete if not participate alongside its peers. By virtue of the company’s already formed smart ecosystem ranging from smartphones to home appliances and innovative office solutions, the company will be well positioned to integrate vehicle functions.

Xiaomi EV team expanded to over 500 people

Xiaomi’s automaking endeavor is going smoothly with its team expanded to over 500 members, according to the smartphone giant’s third-quarter financial report.

The group also reemphasized its schedule of starting mass production of its first electric vehicle in the first half of 2024.

Xiaomi EV to build plant in Beijing E-Town with annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles

Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also called E-Town announced on November 27th that Xiaomi EV has officially sealed the deal of setting up its headquarters in the area.

According to the contract, Xiaomi will construct a headquarter base, a sales base, an R&D base, and a vehicle manufacturing plant in E-Town. The manufacturing plant will be built in two phases with a designed production capacity of 150,000 vehicles each, which sums up to a total production capacity of 300,000 vehicles annually.

Xiaomi’s Lei Jun resigns from multiple companies to focus on automaking

In the past few months, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, resigned as the executive director from several Xiaomi-related companies to dedicate his attention to his automaking endeavor, according to the PR manager of Xiaomi, Wang Hua.

Today, the PR manager said that the changes were normal corporate conduct, as Lei Jun has shifted his primary focus onto Xiaomi’s automaking business. The other administrative executives of the company can share the corresponding responsibilities and obligations.

He also reemphasized Lei Jun’s excitement regarding Xiaomi’s car making progress and said that “this signifies Xiaomi’s accelerated vehicle making development”. Lei Jun’s undivided dedication is needed at this stage.