Xiaomi ventures into EV business with $1.5 billion investment

Xiaomi just confirmed its foray into the EV business and revealed it is investing $10 billion that will be used in the next 10 years. In its investor filing, the Chinese electronic company stated it would build a wholly-owned subsidiary to operate an electric vehicle business.

Xiaomi aiming its EVs at the mass market

Xiaomi’s filing is a verification of an earlier report that it will start making EVs under its own brand. It is hoping that it could launch electric cars in the market and effectively broaden the company’s position in the electronic products trade.

The smartphone maker is said to be currently in talks with officials so it can be allowed to use one of the Great Wall Motor’s plants in China for the development and production of its electric cars. One of the reasons why Xiaomi ventured into the EV trade is because of the growing number of tech firms teaming up to develop smart vehicles.

These vehicles are being created using technologies that are also similar to smartphones and gadgets. Xiaomi has these technologies too, and the company feels confident it can develop autonomous cars and smart cabins too.

Furthermore, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder, and CEO believes his company’s expertise in hardware manufacturing will surely help in developing advanced EV design for production. With the company’s new line of work, the CEO will also serve as the EV unit’s head.

In any case, it was reported that Xiaomi only began considering the idea of making electric cars several months ago. But despite this short time, it already decided to get into the EV business. There are also rumors that Huawei is also exploring this type of pursuit.

The official filing for Xiaomi’s electric car unit

As per Reuters, the total investment goal for the expanse of 10 years is $10 billion, and initially, Xiaomi will put in $1.52 billion for its EV subsidiary. This week, the company formally filed for the business after months of consideration for the project.

Once Xiaomi successfully produced its first electric vehicle, it is expected to compete with other smartphone makers that also set up their EV business, such as Apple. Huawei is likely to join the growing list of tech companies that are manufacturing their own version of smart cars as the auto industry is slowly shifting to eco-friendly models.