Smartphone giant Xiaomi confirms 2024 launch for electric saloon

Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi plans to begin production of its first electric car during the first half of 2024, according to its co-founder and CEO, Lei Jun.

Speaking at China’s annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing, Lei said: “Xiaomi’s car manufacturing has progressed beyond expectation and [prototypes] have recently successfully completed winter testing.”

Lei, who is a deputy of China’s National People’s Congress, also confirmed Xiaomi had invested more than 3 billion yuan (£360 million) in its electric car division, Xiaomi Automobile, in 2022. He added that staffing of its R&D department had risen to more than 2300 people.

Xiaomi, the world’s third-biggest smartphone manufacturer by sales volume behind Samsung and Apple, first announced plans to begin the development of electric cars in 2021. At the time, Lei said Xiaomi intended to invest up to 10bn yuan (£1.2bn) in its new electric car division over the following 10 years.

Xiaomi’s first production model, a saloon codenamed MS11, was prematurely revealed in a series of photographs leaked to Chinese social media in January. It is expected to be unveiled in 2023 prior to the start of production, confirmed by Lei, in 2024.

Details remain scarce, although Chinese media reports suggest the MS11 will be positioned in the mid- to high-end price bracket and be offered in two distinct versions: a base model with a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery sourced from BYD, and a more luxurious model with a sodium-ion battery from CATL.

The new four-door model is also rumoured to receive autonomous driving technology with lidar sensors from Shanghai-based Hesai Technology.

Lei previously hinted Xiaomi is developing up to four models, including an SUV planned for launch in 2025.

Xiaomi Automobile is based in Beijing. Unlike rival Chinese smartphone company Huawei, which operates a Chinese-based joint venture with electric car start-up Seres under the name Aito, it plans to develop and manufacture its own electric cars. 

Construction of a factory for the manufacture of Xiaomi models started in Beijing in 2022.