Xiaomi isn’t just about cheap smartphones anymore; the Chinese tech giant is gearing up to sell its electric cars in Europe within the next two years.
The company launched its first EV, the SU7 saloon, in 2023 and quickly followed it with the YU7 SUV. Both have exploded in popularity in China - Xiaomi delivered over 80,000 cars last quarter alone, nearly triple what it did a year before.
Xiaomi’s president, William Lu, has now confirmed that the brand is eyeing Europe for 2027. He even posted a shot of an SU7 rocking German plates, hinting at what’s coming.
The big problem? Production. Demand is so high that SU7 wait times are nearly 10 months, and if you order a YU7 today, you’ll be waiting more than a year. When the YU7 dropped in June, Xiaomi took almost 240,000 orders in 18 hours, thanks in part to its crazy-low starting price of around £29k. The hype was so overwhelming that CEO Lei Jun actually told frustrated buyers to just grab a rival like the Tesla Model Y, Li Auto i8 or Xpeng G7 instead.
Even with the bottlenecks, Xiaomi’s EV arm pulled in over £2 billion last quarter and could start turning a profit this year, though it’s still running at a loss after pouring billions into launching the brand.
When Xiaomi does hit Europe, expect it to go premium. The SU7 has been benchmarked against the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S, packs up to 664bhp, and claims nearly 500 miles of range. The YU7 SUV promises even more, up to 519 miles per charge (at least by China’s more generous test cycle). Both can be had with single- or dual-motor setups and multiple battery options.
The wildest version? The SU7 Ultra – a 1,527bhp monster that already smashed the Nürburgring EV lap record twice. Don’t be surprised if Xiaomi uses it as a halo model to make some noise in Europe.
Next in line is a bigger SUV called the YU9, with a range-extender engine, but that one might stay in China.
