Chinese consumer tech giant Xiaomi will launch its first-ever EV at a press conference in Beijing Thursday, injecting itself into a fiercely competitive sector in the world's largest car market.
Xiaomi is known around the world for affordable smartphones and sleek home appliances, and CEO Lei Jun says he is now putting his “reputation on the line” with the SU7 EV, and challenging Chinese car giant BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla. Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s president, told CNBC last month that there were around 20 million people who used the company’s premium smartphones, a figure that helped it price the SU7.
“At the beginning of the year, the recovery of automobile consumption was relatively lagging behind, affected by the switch in promotional policies and market price fluctuations,” he wrote. The Defence Headquarters says troops neutralised 121 terrorists, apprehended 253 and rescued 244 kidnapped hostages in different operations nationwide in one week.