Last September, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun got people very excited (on Twitter) by the prospect of soon having another electric car choice that resonates with “affordable.” At the time, people were talking about a ~$20k Xiaomi EV (electric vehicle), possibly arriving on the market in 2024.
The recent rumors now mention a price starting at $38k and going well above that for fancier options. That’s quite a price increase, but it seems more realistic if we’re talking about a sedan (codename Modena) that would be attractive and competitive with competitors like Tesla and others.
Of course, it remains to be seen what battery and motor options will be offered and how good the build quality is. Xiaomi has an excellent track record in building technology products with great value. They have successfully entered many markets with various everyday electronic products, so we can’t discard an EV product.
If the same philosophy could be applied to EVs, they could be onto something big. However, we’ll have to wait and see because EVs are still a subject of intense research, unlike many appliances and even smartphones.
However, the market is quickly maturing to the point where electric cars are a known product with an excellent supply chain, allowing newcomers to build a car with mostly existing designs.
Rumors about 400V or 800V batteries seem believable, but we wonder if Xiaomi will indeed feature both Qualcomm and NVIDIA (Orin X) chips, as the rumors claim. The last round of specifications rumors is accompanied by a reported sighting of a prototype, covered with cloth, near Xiaomi’s research facilities.
Filed in . Read more about Electric Cars and Xiaomi.
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