Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xiaomi garnered nearly 300,000 pre-orders in just one hour for its inaugural sport utility vehicles, a development the company described as a “miraculous” event for the industry.
Lei Jun, the founder and CEO of the electronics-turned-automobile firm, expressed his surprise at the overwhelming response from customers.
“My goodness, in just two minutes, we received 196,000 paid pre-orders and 128,000 lock-in orders,” Lei said in a video distributed after the vehicle’s launch on Thursday night.
The company’s electric vehicle division announced later on its official Weibo account that it had received 289,000 pre-orders for the five-seat YU7, which is priced starting at 253,500 yuan (approximately $35,000), within the initial hour of sales.
Xiaomi’s shares, traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, surged by eight per cent at one point before retracting some of those gains and ultimately closing at an all-time high.
The Beijing-based technology giant ventured into car manufacturing last year with its SU7 EV model as part of a larger industry initiative to increase domestic consumption.
Initial excitement regarding intelligent driving capabilities in these vehicles was diminished following a fatal accident involving a Xiaomi SU7 in March, where the vehicle was in assisted driving mode before the crash that took the lives of three students.
During the World Economic Forum in Tianjin this week, Premier Li Qiang articulated China’s goal to become a “major consumption powerhouse,” highlighting policies targeting stimulating demand for high-value products such as electric vehicles.
