Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi introduced its first electric car SU7 and announced plans to enter the top five of the world's largest car manufacturers. Reuters reports this.
► Read page “Ministry of Finance” on Facebook: main financial news
The sedan, dubbed the SU7, is a highly anticipated model that CEO Lei Jun calls “super electric motor” technology capable of acceleration rates faster than Tesla and Porsche electric vehicles.
The SU7 is likely to go on sale in a few months.
“By working hard over the next 15-20 years, we will become one of the world's top 5 automakers, striving to boost China's automobile industry as a whole,” said Lei Jun.
p>These plans include creating a “dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla,” he added.
Characteristics
SU7 will be available in two versions – with a power reserve of up to 668 km on a single charge and with a power reserve of up to 800 km. For comparison, Tesla's Model S has a range of up to 650 km.
The all-wheel drive sedan will be able to accelerate to 100 km/h in 2.78 seconds and stop from this speed in 33.3 meters. The maximum speed of the sedan will reach 265 km/h.
The rear-wheel drive modification will limit the maximum speed to 210 km/h, will accelerate to 100 km/h in 5.28 seconds, and its braking distance will increase from 100 km/h up to 35.5 m.
An all-wheel drive car, due to a more capacious battery, will travel 800 km on a single charge, while a rear-wheel drive car will be limited to 668 km on the CLTC cycle. At the same time, the power of the power plant of the first will reach 673 hp, and the second will be limited to 299 hp.
Price
Price has not yet been announced. Lei said the cost will be “a little high indeed, but one that everyone will find justifiable.”
The electric car is expected to cost around 200,000 – 260,000 yuan ($27,500 – 36,500).
p>
Production
Xiaomi-branded vehicles will be produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group at a Beijing plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles.
Xiaomi, China's fifth-largest smartphone maker, is trying to diversify its core business into electric vehicles amid stagnant demand for smartphones.
Other Chinese tech companies partnering with automakers to develop electric vehicles include Huawei and Baidu.
Xiaomi has pledged to invest $10 billion in cars over the course of a decade and is one of the few new players in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
In the extremely crowded Chinese electric vehicle market, the biggest competition is likely to come from BYD, with a third of the market, while Tesla has 9%, according to third-quarter data from Zheshang Securities.
p>
Recall
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance wrote that official photos of an electric car from Xiaomi, called Xiaomi SU7, appeared online.