Xiaomi (小米) will not sell cars priced below ¥100,000 for "the next few years", CEO Lei Jun says

Price floor tied to smarter, costlier electric cars

Xiaomi (小米) founder Lei Jun (雷军) told viewers during a livestream that the company will not produce passenger-car models priced under ¥100,000 for “the next few years.” Why the sudden price floor? Because, he said, making electric vehicles that are genuinely smart pushes up component and integration costs, and those costs are “hard to control” below the roughly US$14,000 mark.

Live demo, defensive tone

The comments came during a Beijing–Shanghai range challenge for Xiaomi’s new SU7 electric sedan. Lei Jun also acknowledged the pressure of speaking publicly about the car—“can’t say the wrong thing,” he said—fearing critics would seize on any misstatement. He added that he decided to “stand up” and explain products directly after a year of sustained negative public opinion.

Upgrades and pricing trade-offs

It has been reported that the next-generation SU7 includes more than 100 upgrades and that material costs alone rose by about ¥20,000, yet Xiaomi limited the list-price increase to only ¥4,000 for the full range to avoid surprising buyers after vehicle tax reductions. The company’s decision to prioritize higher-value, software-rich cars fits a broader trend in China’s EV industry toward premiumization as subsidies fade and component costs rise.

Strategic and geopolitical context

Xiaomi’s choice also reflects external pressures: global supply-chain tensions and Western export controls on advanced semiconductors have pushed Chinese automakers to balance local innovation with rising hardware costs. For Western readers: this is not just a pricing call — it signals Xiaomi’s intent to compete on smart features and integration rather than on low upfront sticker prices.