Xiaomi last month was reported to be working on its very own electric vehicle (EV), according to several sources. The company has since confirmed those reports, detailing a little more about its plans for entering the electric vehicle market.
The company intends to get the ball rolling to the tune of $1.5 billion as an immediate investment, with a total spend of $10 billion in EV development over ten years. But the company will be spinning off a wholly new subsidiary to manage the creation of its own vehicle.
Xiaomi the money?
Yes, we are going to build an electric vehicle. #XiaomiEV #XiaomielEctricVehicle
For more information, please don't miss out the launch event tonight.
— David Liu (@DavidBlueLS) March 30, 2021
The subsidiary, which hasn’t been named, likely won’t carry Xiaomi branding when whichever vehicle it creates makes it to market. Assuming it does turn up, the vehicle should benefit from the company’s tech, as well as feature interoperability with all of the other devices in the Chinese company’s portfolio. It’ll quite conceivably integrate with a smart home setup, since Xiaomi has quite an impressive sideline in internet of things (IoT) devices.
And Xiaomi isn’t the only smartphone maker with its eyes on an electric vehicle of its very own. Apple has been rumoured to have a car possibly-maybe in development, and the company isn’t above shouting at its potential partners to keep that a secret. Embattled smartphone maker Huawei is also reported to be working on a vehicle of its own, with designs on a launch some time this year. Which seems… awfully ambitious to us.
It may seem that way to Huawei as well. A spokesperson, when queried, said that “Huawei is not a car manufacturer. However through ICT (information and communications technology), we aim to be a digital car-oriented and new-added components provider, enabling car OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to build better vehicles.” Which, of course, is a totally different thing than making Huawei-branded car.
Source: The Next Web