Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi delivers 20,000 SU7 EVs in October

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi said Tuesday that it had delivered more than 20,000 SU7 EVs in October as it ramps up production for its electric car venture in a fiercely competitive market.

The Chinese company, which is largely known for its smartphones and home appliances, reiterated plans to deliver 100,000 SU7 vehicles by the end of November. Xiaomi first revealed plans to make cars in 2021 and began building a dedicated manufacturing plant the same year.

The company released the basic version of the SU7, its first car, in late March for about $4,000 less than Tesla‘s cheapest car — Model 3 — in China at the time. Tesla subsequently cut the car’s price by about $2,000. Xiaomi has delivered more than 75,000 SU7 cars to date, including October’s figures.

Chinese rivals Xpeng and Nio took about six years to produce 100,000 electric cars, while it took Tesla 12 years.

While Xpeng delivered a monthly record of more than 20,000 cars in September, with about half owed to its newly launched, lower-cost brand Mona, Nio has struggled to keep monthly deliveries above 20,000 cars.

Zeekr, an electric car brand founded by automaker Geely, has claimed it produced more than 100,000 vehicles in 1.5 years. It delivered a record 21,333 cars in September.

Data on other Chinese electric car companies’ deliveries for October is expected Friday.

“News of 20k deliveries in October confirms that [Xiaomi] is going to be a force to reckon with in the world’s largest EV market,” said Brian Tycangco, an analyst at Stansberry Research.

He said Xiaomi’s electric car gross profit margins in August were similar to Xpeng’s that month, and have likely improved since, given ramped up production.

Xiaomi on Tuesday also announced it was taking preorders for the high-end sports version, SU7 Ultra, starting at 814,900 yuan ($114,304), ahead of a product release in March 2025. The company claimed that within 10 minutes, it received more than 3,600 preorders, each requiring a 10,000 yuan deposit.

The new model and its touted achievements on the Nurburgring race track in Germany will likely help Xiaomi sell more of its premium SU7 Max car, which costs just 299,900 yuan, Citi analysts said in a report. They now expect Xiaomi to deliver 250,000 cars next year, up from 238,000 previously forecast.

Xiaomi claimed a prototype of the SU7 Ultra this week became the fastest four-door sedan to complete the German race track.

Citi analysts increased their price target on Xiaomi to 30.60 Hong Kong dollars ($3.94), up from 22.70 HK dollars. They also raised forecasts for the company’s smartphone shipments, following the launch of Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 15 device Tuesday — the first phone to use Qualcomm’s newest chipset.

Tesla’s Model Y was the best-selling battery-powered electric car in China in September with 48,202 vehicles sold, according to data from Chinese car industry site Autohome. The Model 3 ranked 8th with nearly 24,000 cars sold.

BYD’s lower-priced models accounted for most of the other top 10 bestsellers in the battery-only category. Xiaomi’s SU7 ranked 17th last month with 13,559 cars sold, the data showed.

Xiaomi currently only sells its cars in China. The company told CNBC earlier this year it would take at least two to three years for any overseas launch.

— CNBC’s Sonia Heng contributed to this report.