BEIJING, July 9 (Reuters) – China’s Xiaomi on Thursday unveiled an SUV series named Sky Nomad, accelerating the technology company’s push into automobiles as growth slows in its mainstay smartphone market.
The extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) series, branded Xiaomi Pengcheng in Chinese, will comprise “smart, versatile, spacious” SUVs, CEO Lei Jun said on his Weibo micro-blog account along with a teaser poster of one of the vehicles.
EREVs are a type of plug-in hybrid that sit between conventional petrol-electric hybrids and battery-only vehicles, using a combustion engine as a generator to extend battery driving range.
Xiaomi’s announcement represents expansion beyond battery-powered sedans and crossovers into a category popularised by models from automakers such as Li Auto.
With its SU7 sedan and YU7 crossover, Xiaomi’s EV business has become a revenue pillar over the past two years.
The consumer electronics firm expanded into cars in search of new revenue drivers as growth slowed worldwide in the mature smartphone and home appliance markets.
However, the auto business remains costly for the tech firm due to the heavy investment needed and narrower profit margins.
Xiaomi pitches its cars as a high-tech Chinese alternative to models from Tesla, pitting its SU7 and YU7 lines against the U.S. EV maker’s Model 3 and Model Y.
As of the end of June, Xiaomi had delivered 258,232 YU7 crossovers in China since the model’s June 2025 launch, compared with 471,207 Model Y vehicles sold in the country over the same period, showed data from auto information and trading platform DCar.
Xiaomi has locked-in orders for existing models but faces a slowing domestic market and has yet to export its vehicles, unlike many domestic peers. The company plans to launch vehicles in Europe next year.
“They (car owners) want their car to be a second home. For them, a car is not merely a means of transport but another moving space,” Lei said.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Qiaoyi Li; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
