Tesla and Mercedes Sidestepped - Xiaomi SU7 Becomes China's New Electric Car Crush!

Xiaomi-Gründer Lei Jun winkt nach der Vorstellung des SU7 Ng Han Guan/AP

The Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has entered the e-car business with the SU7. The company officially introduced the model on March 28. It is available in three variants: “Standard,” “Pro,” and “Max.” The interest in this high-tech vehicle is enormous – it even outshines the desirability of a Tesla, and certainly that of the German manufacturers such as Mercedes, which the Chinese consider old-fashioned when it comes to electric technology.

The delivery of the Standard and Max variants of the SU7 was planned for the end of April. The Pro version delivery was supposed to ramp up in May. However, this announcement has been adjusted to a later date.

Customers currently have to wait up to eight months for their order. This leads them to look for alternative e-cars. Surprisingly, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun gives specific recommendations, as Chinese news portal Cnevpost reports.

Here are the alternatives

The current waiting time for the Standard SU7 is now 29 to 32 weeks, for the Pro model 28 to 31 weeks, and for the Max model 32 to 35 weeks. “If you are in a real hurry to buy a car, domestic NEVs (New Energy Vehicles) are a good choice, for example, the Luxeed S7, the Nio ET5, or the Xpeng P7 series,” Lei announced on the Chinese microblogging service weibo.com. He thus recommends models that do not belong to Xiaomi.

Luxeed is a brand for electric cars, founded jointly by Huawei and Chery. With the S7 model, they brought their first car to the market on November 28 last year. Anyone ordering the Luxeed S7 instead of the Xiaomi SU7 in a Huawei store currently even receives a bonus of around 740 dollars.

SU7 Breaks Records

The reason for Jun’s statement is possibly the enormous demand for the SU7. The launch in China was very successful. Unexpectedly, the company set several records for domestically manufactured vehicles with the model. The CEO stated that the orders were three to five times higher than previously assumed. Currently, the SU7 has been ordered more than 100,000 times. Of these, 40,000 are lock-in orders.

The rush on the car is much higher than expected. It is therefore sold out for the entire coming year. Xiaomi has also prematurely introduced a series of 5,000 vehicles as a limited Founders Edition. Delivery for these models already started on April 3.

The production speed of the Xiaomi SU7 is currently increasing. That means that things might move a bit faster than presently indicated.

The SU7 is in the same vehicle class as the Tesla Model 3. The price ranges between 31,500 dollars for the Standard model and 35,900 dollars for the Pro model. The Chinese e-sedan is not available on the German market.

By Sophia Haberkorn

This article was published in cooperation with EFAHRER.com.