Many “Wait and See” on Xiaomi EV Store’s Opening Day

(AsianFin)— At noon on Monday in Ingka Centers, Beijing, one of Xiaomi’s first batch of electric vehicle stores, there was not a line of visitors for entering the store despite a lineup area at the entrance.

Most of the customers in the store did not make appointments. The majority dropped by randomly while shopping in the mall. Overall, an endless stream of customers flowed to the store, but the number was not impressive.

The first batch of Xiaomi EV stores were opened on Monday, after much fanfare from Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi Group. On March 12, Lei announced the launch event for the Xiaomi SU7, set for March 28, along with the release of the list of the first batch of sales stores nationwide. A total of 59 stores in 29 cities nationwide and 15 limited-time experience showrooms started to offer appointments for car viewing.

One day after the appointment registration started, Lei announced that the number of appointments had jumped by over 100,000. He also mentioned that they were finalizing the list of cities for the second batch of stores. This move created a buzz for the Xiaomi SU7 even before its official launch.

A salesperson said that the team had been busy until the early hours of the morning for Monday’s opening and had already received batches of customers, barely taking any breaks in between. He mentioned that due to the large number of customers to be contacted, his corporate WeChat account had encountered difficulties in adding friends, and he could only use his personal WeChat account to add customers as WeChat friends.

However, he also mentioned that customers could only see the appearance of the vehicles for now, and they have to check out the interior through the car window. Moreover, since the price has not yet been announced and the official booking channel has not been available, many customers only glanced at the vehicles and left hastily.

One user visiting the store said that he could only accept price starting from 220,000 yuan, and several onlookers nearby expressed similar views. Their reasoning was that the low-end version of Xiaomi SU7 only had a 400V architecture, and its performance in terms of power, endurance, and acceleration was at a conventional level. Furthermore, the low-end version did not have a laser radar, so the intelligent driving ability was likely average, unable to compete with current leading smart electric vehicles.

"I'll wait and see," One user said, echoed by several others.

A salesperson in the store added that there were currently two configurations, low-end and high-end, and three color options for the car body. However, the specific configurations and the number of color options would be based on the actual announcement at the launch event scheduled for March 28. He told TMTPost that the main targets for the Xiaomi SU7 were primarily the Xpeng P7 and Tesla Model 3, "slightly more focused on the Model 3."

An interesting phenomenon observed among customers who visited the store on March 25 was that those who showed further interest and engaged in deeper communication with sales staff appeared to be older customers, with one user in his 40s discussing the fast-charging power of the Xiaomi SU7 with a salesperson. Another user born in the 1970s stayed in the store for at least half an hour. In contrast, young people who loved Xiaomi phones generally took a quick look around the store and left without leaving their contact information with the sales staff.

According to a report by the automotive consulting firm LandRoads, approximately 13% of new energy vehicle owners also used Xiaomi phones in 2023-2024. The report showed that the proportion of owners of young, technologically-oriented, and entry-level models using Xiaomi phones was relatively high, including brands such as Xpeng, Deep Blue, Leapmotor, and BYD.

As the countdown to the price announcement of the Xiaomi SU7 begins, Lei has already piqued everyone's interest. How much will it ultimately sell for to make "Mi fans" ecstatic? The answer will soon be revealed.