Xiaomi founder Lei Jun has announced that the research and development work on a new generation of the company’s SU7 electric sedan is complete. The comment, made during a public appearance and discussed widely on Chinese tech platforms, marks a fresh milestone for Xiaomi’s auto unit as it moves from product launch cycles toward more frequent updates and tighter integration with the group’s consumer-electronics ecosystem.
Lei Jun also revealed a personal endorsement: he plans to buy the new-generation SU7 as his next car while currently favoring another Xiaomi model, the YU7, for daily driving. That private vote of confidence comes amid an intense public conversation in China about Xiaomi’s rapid pivot from smartphone maker to carmaker — a shift that combines the company’s software strengths with a capital- and supply-chain-intensive manufacturing challenge.
Beyond chassis and drivetrain, Xiaomi has signalled that software and user experience will be key differentiators. Lei Jun and company engineers have publicly discussed features such as ‘Xiao Ai’ voice interactions and security measures that would require owner voiceprints to activate car-exterior voice assistants, reflecting the firm’s emphasis on AI-driven services and privacy controls in a vehicle context.
The timing matters. China’s electric-vehicle market is crowded — legacy automakers, Tesla, and dozens of domestic startups are all vying for share — and product cadence now shapes brand credibility. Completing a new-generation model’s R&D suggests Xiaomi is trying to compress the cycle between launches, cement a reputation for rapid innovation and iteratively improve areas that have invited scrutiny, including after-sales service, reliability and second-hand value.
Xiaomi’s car programme has already provoked heated online debate in China: users and commentators have circulated stories about crashes, battery incidents, delivery fluctuations and resale-price anxieties alongside praise for engineering features such as novel battery layouts and hardware choices. For a consumer-tech company used to controlling a closed hardware-and-software experience, translating that approach to full-vehicle ownership — with its regulatory and safety demands — remains a major test.
If the new-generation SU7 ships on schedule and addresses quality and service concerns, Xiaomi could deepen the halo effect that helped it climb to a leading position among China’s new EV entrants. But success will depend on more than engineering: production scale, supply-chain resilience, regulatory compliance and convincing buyers that a mobile-phone maker can deliver long-term vehicle reliability are equally decisive.