Tech companies are getting into car manufacturing, thanks in large part to the success of Tesla and its electric cars — Elon Musk’s brand has shown that it is possible to apply the Silicon Valley philosophy to cars and break the market.
It is the reason why, years after abandoning it, Apple has reinitiated the development of the Apple Car. Now, for Xiaomi, the inspiration from Tesla is more direct. CEO and co-founder of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, traveled to the US twice in 2013 to meet with Elon Musk himself. No alliance emerged from those talks, but since then, Jun would have been planning to get into the sector.
Xiaomi would design and manufacture its own car, which is considered a “strategic decision” within the company, driven by Lei Jun himself. However, sources also warn that there is still nothing definitive and that there is too many variables to take into account. For now, Xiaomi has not offered any statement regarding the original source.
In fact, this would not be the first time that Xiaomi has considered something similar. Sources reveal that in 2015 Lei Jun contacted members of the auto industry to launch a car with his brand, but that the reaction was not positive, and the project did not go ahead. It was only in 2018, with Xiaomi already well established, that the idea of the car returned, but it was not until recently that it would have materialized.
