Xiaomi's first electric vehicle put on display, drawing crowds

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi put its new electric vehicle (EV) on display on Monday in 60 stores across 29 cities in China. The company is aiming to become a new leading player in China's fiercely competitive EV market.

A crowd of people could be seen outside a Xiaomi store in Beijing's Chaoyang district to see the SU7, the firm's first EV, the Global Times observed on Monday.

"We planned to cap the volume of viewers at under 400 on the first day, but it seems the actual volume has surpassed that number," a staff member at the store told the Global Times, adding that people had to book in advance to see the car and the visiting time for each group is only 30 minutes.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder and chairman, said previously that the SU7 will be officially launched on Thursday, including the final price in various configurations.

"I think the deposit for the car might be under 5,000 yuan ($693)," said the staff member at the store in Beijing.

The staff member also noted that test drives will be available from Friday, and will be offered at first to those who pay the deposit.

Xiaomi's stock price rose by 4 percent during morning trading in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, before closing up 0.14 percent at HK$14.82.

Xiaomi will have to deal with the ongoing price war among its domestic and overseas rivals including BYD, Nio and Tesla.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, said on March 17 via his social media account that the scale of price cuts in the domestic auto market as of March 15 this year has reached half of the annual level in 2023, and mostly involved new-energy vehicles (NEVs).

During the 2024 China EV 100 Forum held in Beijing on March 16, Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, called on key NEV manufacturers to focus on quality improvement, cost reduction, technological innovation and international cooperation to consolidate and expand their development advantages. Observers said this signaled that there would be further government support for the fast-growing sector.