Xiaomi receives permission to manufacture its car from the Chinese government

2023-08-28 10:00:03

Chinese phone giant Xiaomi received an industrial permit to manufacture cars from China’s State Planning Department on Thursday. This is a fundamental event for any company, since the Government is concerned with overcapacity, especially in an environment of economic slowdown.

This decision by Lei Jun, the founder of the company, is an ordeal against its main competitor on a global scale, Apple. The ‘Project Titan’ of the Silicon Valley technology has been a rumor for the last 15 years, but everything indicates that it will be a reality, although it is being developed under the strictest secrecy.

In the case of China, little is known beyond the fact that it will be an electric sedan with the internal nomenclature MS11. Its most obvious competitor will be the Tesla Model 3, which by 2025, when the Xiaomi car is expected to go on sale, will already be going for the first year of its new generation.

According to the Chinese market consultant You The“I see Xiaomi and Ji Yue [una nueva marca eléctrica de Geely] setting the pace for electric ‘start-ups’ with real technological DNA to be commercialized next year”.

The president of Xiaomi International Business, Lu Weibingstated that the car would be in production and “ready for launch in the first half of 2024”.

Spy photo of the Xiaomi MS11 PF

Recently, the CEO, Lei Junposted photos on social media about driving tests in high temperatures in the Xinjiang desert.

An internet leak stated that the MS11 battery would have a high autonomy version with a 101 kWh ternary battery, capable of reaching 800 kilometers. This source indicated that it would support direct current charges of up to 800 volts and would have a density of 157 Wh per kilo, the market average.

It is speculated that the price is around 200,000 yuan (about 27,000 euros), an arena in which the Tesla Model 3, BYD Seal or the Deepal SL03 compete. Lei Jun’s objectives are to sell up to 10 million vehicles per year in the future, a volume higher than that of the Volkswagen Group.