When Xiaomi officially announced its first electric car, the Xiaomi SU7more than a year ago, many thought that it was going to be an absolute failure, a multimillion-dollar investment that was going to end up in the trash. And when Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, announced that the goal of the SU7 was to surpass manufacturers already established in the sector such as Tesla or Porsche, some even doubted its leadership capacity.
Far from being intimidated, Lei Jun bet even harder on this project, and the results are visible. The Xiaomi car is an absolute success, to the point that one of Lei Jun’s prophecies has already been fulfilled: The Xiaomi SU7 has sold more than the Tesla Model 3one of the most popular electric cars in the sector.
There is some fine print, of course. The data, shared by Lei Jun himself on his official account on the Weibo social network, refers only to the units sold throughout the month of December 2024, and only in China; Obviously, if you look at annual sales and on a global scale, Tesla is still the undisputed leader in the sector, and that probably won’t change in the near future.
Even so, this is still a surprising achievement, and something that the vast majority probably did not imagine could happen. The reception of the Xiaomi SU7 was very good, with long lines just to see the car in person, and a waiting list of several months to receive the vehicle.
In fact, the reception was better than the company’s own executives expected, and the company had to correct its forecast of 100,000 units sold per year. Finally, The SU7 exceeded 130,000 units delivereddespite having been released in March.
In this way, Xiaomi has not only managed to surpass Tesla in the last month of 2024, it also surpassed one of the largest manufacturers in the world, Toyotaalthough only with regard to electric cars. Again, it is about an achievement that not many expectedand that has been obtained thanks to a product that offers an experience similar to the best, but with a much more affordable price.
The success of the Xiaomi SU7 has allowed Xiaomi to continue investing in its automotive project. At the end of last year, the company made two important announcements: a new model, the Xiaomi YU7, and a new smart chassis which will be used in their future cars. It is the demonstration that Xiaomi is here to stay.