Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has registered its first ever vehicle in Europe, as the company plans to start sales outside China from 2027.
The company’s president and head of the Smartphone unit, [William]Lu Weibing, shared over the weekend a picture on social media posing in Germany next to the Ultra trim of the brand’s debut model, the SU7.
“Today I test-drove the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra in Munich, Germany. This is also our first test vehicle to be registered in Europe,” he wrote. “The license plate is M SU7088E — what do you all think of it?”
In May, the media outlet 36kr reported that the company has auto unit established an R&D center in Munich — the same city where the picture was taken.
The center has “fewer than 50 staff, mostly senior managers and technical specialists.”
Xiaomi has recently launched the Nurburgring edition of the SU7 Ultra, a high-performance variant in honor of the iconic German track.
The Nurburgring edition starts at 814,900 yuan ($113,700).
The picture of the testing vehicle, taken at the MotorWorld in Munich, Germany, comes a few days after Xiaomi‘s co-founder and CEO Lei Jun announced that sales outside won’t begin next year.
The YU7 SUV, launched last week, has currently delivery times of over 14 months after the company secured 240,000 locked-in orders in the first 18 hours.
Xiaomi delivered more than 25,000 electric vehicles in its home market in June — down from the “over 28,000” recorded in May. The company does not communicate the exact number of monthly deliveries.
Considering it delivered “over 28,000” units both in April and May, the EV unit of the smartphone manufacturer delivered more than 81,000 vehicles in the second quarter of the year.
Xiaomi‘s chief praised the EV maker Nio last week for its battery swapping technology and service quality, citing them as “significant contributions” to China’s premium electric vehicle segment.
