Looks like a Porsche, costs €26,000 – Xiaomi's pivot from smartphones to cars
I've been working on this story for months: how the Chinese tech giant is now bringing its cars to Germany – and why Apple gave up on exactly the same mission.
The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi Technology is preparing the big German launch of its cars.
I’ve been working on this story for the past several months – and I’m enormously proud that we have now published it.
📰 The tip: take a look at our Friday cover story. We trace why Xiaomi succeeded in moving from being a smartphone company to a carmaker – and why Apple failed at exactly that same mission.
👨💻 My take: Xiaomi founder Lei Jun always saw Apple as the great role model. Many decisions were modelled on the Californians – even the bet on a car division. But while Apple buried its car ambitions, Lei Jun has built a working car operation with the first models in just three years. 300,000 units of the SU7 have already been delivered, and now the German launch is being prepared in secret.
🔍 The reporting: we spoke to around two dozen partners, insiders and service providers. That allowed us to reconstruct what the secret plans for Europe look like, who is involved, and how the market entry is being prepared. Lazar Backovic, Markus Fasse and Roman Tyborski reported across the auto industry. Joachim Hofer describes how DAX-listed Infineon Technologies stands to benefit. And Martin Benninghoff and Sabine Gusbeth retrace Xiaomi’s profile in China.
⚖️ And yes: Xiaomi’s ambitious course comes at a price. What that means in concrete terms – and what the Chinese company is doing differently from Apple – is in the full story.
I wrote the piece together with Lazar Backovic, Martin Benninghoff, Markus Fasse and Sabine Gusbeth for Handelsblatt. This is a first impression.