Chinese-Tech-Firm-Xiaomi-To-Develop-Electric-Vehicle-(EV)

Chinese Technology Firm Xiaomi Announced Today That It Has Entered The Electric Vehicle (EV) Manufacturing Industry.

Chinese Technology Firm Xiaomi Announced Today That It Has Entered The Electric Vehicle (EV) Manufacturing Industry, after investing 10bn yuan ($1.5bn) to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary to develop intelligent EVs. The Beijing-headquartered firm’s chief executive officer (CEO) Lei Jun will also serve as CEO of the EV subsidiary, which may build a plant in China to manufacture EVs.

Xiaomi will inject an additional $10bn in the next 10 years into its EV business. Other details of the potential plant were undisclosed. The firm will likely partner with China’s major automaker Great Wall to produce EVs, according to market participants.

Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, home appliances, bags, shoes and consumer electronics, among other products. Xiaomi surpassed US technology firm Apple to become the third-largest smartphone maker globally by shipment volume in October 2020, shipping 46.2mn handsets in the third quarter of 2020.

More Chinese firms from various industries have stepped into the EV industry after China’s state council last year announced a development plan that aims for NEVs to account for 20pc of the country’s total vehicles sales by 2035.

The country produced 124,000 NEVs in February, up by 720pc from a year earlier but down by 36.1pc from January because of lower output during the 11-17 February lunar new year holiday, according to China’s automotive manufacturers association (CAAM). China’s internet integrated services firm Baidu and domestic auto manufacturer Geely earlier this month also set up a joint venture, Jidu, to develop the NEV market.

This news was originally published at Argusmedia.