On the evening of November 1, Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, hosted a live broadcast event, marking his first appearance since the Xiaomi 15 series launch. During the live broadcast, Lei Jun discussed the pricing strategy for the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra. He stated that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra outperformed Tesla's Model S Plaid in many performance metrics and asked the team if they had the courage and confidence to price it at the same level as Tesla. Lei Jun emphasized that Xiaomi has always been committed to delivering higher-quality products at more competitive prices. However, if the pricing matched Tesla's, the company could allocate part of the profit to increased R&D investment.
Lei Jun disclosed that the company had been debating the pricing of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra for several months. "In the end, everyone listened to my opinion. The pricing of the SU7 was also the subject of extensive discussion, but it ultimately proved that my approach was correct," he said. He further noted that as of the end of September, the R&D costs for the Xiaomi SU7 had reached 13 billion yuan, which is a significant figure.
Additionally, Lei Jun announced that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is expected to officially launch in March next year and will begin a nationwide tour soon. The car will also be showcased at the Guangzhou Auto Show in two weeks, where the actual vehicle will be on display.
Explaining why the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra chose to challenge the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Lei Jun mentioned that many of Xiaomi's engineers are fans of Porsche, considering it a benchmark in the automotive industry. Therefore, they decided to benchmark Tesla for intelligence and Porsche for mechanical performance. Achieving the level of Porsche has become their lifelong belief and pursuit. Lei Jun also highlighted that Porsche uses the Nürburgring Nordschleife as a testing ground for all new models, setting a high standard for performance. Xiaomi adopted this goal as a guiding principle for its technological development.