Chinese electronics and smartphone powerhouse, Xiaomi has announced that it would start making its own vehicles by the end of June 2024. Speaking at an investor event, Xiaomi Corp Chief Executive, Lei Jun confirmed the development which was first reported by local media.
A director in Xiaomi’s international marketing department, Zang Ziyuan, also posted the news on his verified Weibo account. The date marks the next major target for the company’s fledgling electric vehicle (EV) division, which Xiaomi formally announced earlier this year.
The Tech giants playing in the automotive space
It could be noted that a few tech giants are currently active in the automotive space at an unprecedented scale. Their services are integrated into vehicles with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay becoming must use across virtually every automaker. Additionally, Amazon has made a strong push to embed its voice assistant, Alexa, into numerous vehicle lines. However, Xiaomi has taken it a step further by making its own vehicles while others are aiding technological advancements in auto usage.
More on Xiaomi
Xiaomi shares have reportedly increased by 5.4% to HK$22.50, which is said to be the highest daily percentage rise since May 12, also extending gains for the third straight session.
It would be recalled that in March this year, Xiaomi revealed that it would commit to investing $10 billion in a new electric car division over the next ten years. The company completed the business registration of its EV unit in late August.
Consequently, the company has started hiring personnel for the unit, though it has not revealed if it will produce the car independently or via a partnership with an existing carmaker.
In a related development, Xiaomi has acquired an autonomous driving start-up, Deepmotion for around $77.37 million to “enhance the technological competitiveness” of its electric vehicle business. It is expected that this acquisition could help bring autonomous driving features to the cars Xiaomi eventually produces. In July, Xiaomi overtook Apple to become the number two smartphone vendor globally, and in the second quarter, it also became the biggest smartphone vendor in Europe.
The company’s Q2 financial results saw revenue surge 64% year-on-year to 87.8 billion yuan ($13.5 billion). Even though smartphones account for 67.3% of the company’s total revenue, it has steadily begun to make decent incursions into other verticals that include TVs, smartwatches, and electric scooters.
(Read: How Technology is Changing the Way we Repair and Maintain our Cars)
