Xiaomi is known for its budget smartphones. Now the company is planning to expand its name across the EV business. The company has now set a new business entity Xiaomi EV Inc after completing all the official requirements. Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi will be the head of the new venture too. He announced that it will his last major project. The company has made a $1.5 billion investment in the business.
Xiaomi had been hiring people for its new business and it was reported that over 300 employees had been hired. Lei Jun has said that he is putting his own reputation at risk for the smart electric vehicle business. It shows the seriousness of the company is making affordable electric vehicles.
Xiaomi has already paid $77.4 million for Deepmotion, a startup that specialises on autonomous driving technologies. The company will gain a competitive advantage in this fast-paced business as a result of this acquisition. It even held talks with Evergrande Group to buy the latter’s electric vehicle division, but the talks did not go well. Aside from Xiaomi, a few other major companies are considering entering the electric vehicle market. This includes companies such as Apple, Huawei, Baidu, along with Tesla, which is already the market leader. Unlike the majority of companies, Xiaomi wants to build a name for itself in the small car category, which will be both affordable and rich in features. Xiaomi, according to reports, has been exploring zero-emission vehicles for the past few months and is in talks with a number of automakers, but is yet to choose a manufacturing partner for its electric vehicle company.
Xiaomi’s decision to unveil the new venture coincides with the company’s main business reaching new heights. The company had recently become the world’s top smartphone brand. The revenues and net profits of the company has also seen a rise of 64% and 87.4% respectively.
