On 3 June, Xiaomi founder, chairman and CEO Lei Jun told investors at a conference that Xiaomi Auto is expected to be profitable by the second half of this year. Lei also responded to the current rumours around the YU7 EV.
The tech company’s “record-breaking” Q1 financial report shows that Xiaomi Auto’s income grew to 18.1 billion RMB (2.51 billion USD), up from 18.4 million RMB (2.55 million USD) in Q1 2024, a year-on-year increase of nearly 1,000 times. However, due to the huge investment in research and development, Xiaomi Auto still incurred a loss of 500 million RMB (69.5 million USD) in Q1. Xiaomi Auto’s gross margin has also been increasing and reached 23.2% in Q1, compared to 20.4% in Q4 2024. This growth signalled that Xiaomi Auto is on its way to becoming profitable.
Regarding Xiaomi’s automotive venture, there have been intense speculations towards the pricing of the newly announced YU7 electric SUV. Lei Jun clarified that the price wouldn’t be decided until one or two days before the vehicle’s official launch date, and that the widely circulated 239,000 RMB (33,174.63 USD) would be impossible. At the official unveiling of the model back on 22 May, Lei already refuted the then-speculation of 199,000 RMB (27,622.39 USD) and said that with its features benchmarked against the Tesla Model Y, it is likely to be over 300,000 RMB (41,641.80 USD).
On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the topic “Lei Jun responds to YU7 pricing” (#雷军回应YU7定价#) reached number 33 on the Hot Search list with 10.29 million views. Lei’s previous online war of words with Richard Yu Chengdong (余承东) has also commanded the interest of netizens’. The pricing, however, will continue to be widely discussed until the SUV’s official launch in July.