The battle in China's e-car market is fierce. Far from competition from German car manufacturers, Tesla and BYD are fighting for supremacy at the top. The new competitor Xiaomi has big plans.
Xiaomi SU7
Xiaomi
Chinese cell phone manufacturer Xiaomi has launched its first electric car for sale, entering the race for the highly competitive electric car market in China. The SU7 model is intended to be the most beautiful, best-driving and smartest car, said Xiaomi boss Lei Jun at the launch on Thursday evening (local time). Depending on the model, the car will cost between 27,700 and 39,000 euros in China. The company, which is mostly known in Germany for its inexpensive smartphones, wants to compete with the top dogs BYD and Tesla. There were no plans for the German market at first.
The aim was to build the fastest car at such a price, explained Lei. According to him, the fastest version of the sports sedan accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 2.78 seconds. Among the competition, Tesla's fastest Model S, for example, manages the sprint in 2.1 s according to the manufacturer. The SU7 with the largest battery is said to travel around 800 km on a single charge.
Huawei and Baidu Also Involved in Electric Cars
Other companies from outside the industry are also pushing into the electric car market in China. Telecommunications giant Huawei and Baidu, a Chinese equivalent of Google, are involved in electric cars. There is a fierce price war on the market. German suppliers such as VW and BMW are lagging behind the Chinese competition in the e-car sector and want to catch up. VW, for example, is relying on Chinese suppliers to meet customer requirements in the world's most important car market.
This is a partly automated translation of this German article by dpa.