Xiaomi jumps 9pc after electric car debut

Xiaomi's (1810) shares jumped 9 percent yesterday as pre-orders for the Chinese smartphone giant's first electric vehicle soared following its launch last Thursday, with deliveries starting today.

The rise added US$4 billion (HK$31.3 billion) to the company's market value as the shares closed at HK$16.28 apiece.

Xiaomi once surged as much as 16 percent, its highest since January 2022, leading to a valuation of US$55 billion at a share price of HK$17.34 - higher than that of US auto giants General Motors and Ford at US$52 billion and US$53 billion respectively.

Xiaomi's SU7 - short for Speed Ultra 7 - enters a crowded China EV market with an attention-grabbing price tag - at 216,900 yuan (HK$ 233,579) for the base model, cheaper than Tesla's Model 3 in China.

Xiaomi has advised potential buyers of its sedan that they could face wait times of four to seven months, a sign of robust demand.

On Friday, the company said it had received 88,898 pre-orders for the car in the first 24 hours of sales.

The company, which earns the majority of its US$37.5 billion revenue from selling smartphones, has already produced 5,000 SU7 vehicles it dubbed the "Founder's Edition" that it says come with additional accessories for early buyers.

Yesterday, Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun said on his social media account that deliveries from that first batch would start across 28 Chinese cities today, marked by a ceremony at its Beijing factory.

Xiaomi said it expects to lose money on the SU7, and some analysts predict the loss to be substantial.

"We maintain our cautious view that ultimately everyone could be a loser" within the 200,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan segment, Citi Research analysts said in a note yesterday.

Meanwhile, EV giant BYD (1211) has reportedly set a sales target of selling 3.3 million units of its two major series in the mainland, and would focus on expansion at the county level, mainland media reported.

And rival XPeng (9868) reveled plans to launch a new brand later this month at an exhibition in Beijing. But its shares lost 5.6 percent.

Meanwhile, a senior Indian government official told CNBC-TV18 that the country has no restrictions on the import of electric vehicles from any country including China under its new EV policy.

In other news, the former chairman of Jianghuai Automobile, An Jin, is under investigation, China's anti-graft watchdog said.