Sales of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s first electric car have been 3-5 times higher than expected, CEO Lei Jun said on Thursday, as the company began delivering standard versions of the so-called SU7 to buyers ahead of schedule.
Lei, Xiaomi’s founder, made the comments during a two-hour livestream on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, that garnered over 34 million viewers.
Xiaomi launched its car, which draws styling cues from Porsche, late last month, entering a crowded China EV market with an attention-grabbing price tag – under $30,000 for the base model, which is $4,000 cheaper than the base model of Tesla’s Model 3 in China.
