BEIJING, September 8 (TMTPost)— Xiaomi Corporation is drawing near its automaking dream, thus furthering expansion in the red-hot electric vehicle (EV) market.

Credit：Visual China

Xiaomi’s EV unit has started pilot production for less than a month in its factory in Yizhuang, a town in the southeast suburbs of Beijing, and there are about 50 vehicles to be built per week for test, Chinese digital news media outlet Jiemian learned this week. The pilot run suggests Xiaomi is making the final preparation for mass production as the Chinese smartphone maker has less than half of a year to launch its first EV as schedule, the media reported.

Reports earlier this year said Xiaomi Auto’s Yizhuang facility, built in two phases, is set to have a total annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, with 150,000 units of each phase, and construction of its first phase has completed and passed acceptance testing in June. 

Xiaomi’s venture has obtained approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner that regulates production capacity and investments in auto industry, to produce EVs, Reuters reported two weeks ago. Xiaomi Auto is the fourth to get NDRC’s green light since late 2017, as NDRC has been cautious in approving new EV production plans due to concerns on overcapacity and slowing demand in the sector, according to the report.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will approve Xiaomi’s EV production in the coming two months, by the end of the year at the latest, allowing it to begin full-scale production, people familiar with the matter told Jiemian. Jiemian said Xiaomi is hiring around 100 workers, offering average monthly salaries ranging from RMB 6,000 ($819) to RMB 7,000 ($956) for an 8-hour workday with weekends off. The hiring was said to only make preliminary preparation for mass production, and the company will launch a large-scale recruitment at the end of the year or early next year, accordingly adjusting its policy of working hours and time off.

Jiemian’s report is one of the latest signs that Xiaomi’s long-awaited EV project is beginning its final countdown.

Xiaomi Auto started to hire general workers in August, and the hiring process is very fast, Chinese news media outlet Sina Tech learned from a recruiting that month. The EV unit was reported to have more than one hundred job openings, including operators and maintenance workers at the painting facility, the battery facility and the welding facility. All the jobs were said to be located in factory in Yizhuang.

News circulated at social media in late August showcased Xiaomi has changed its low-profile approach to its EV business, which also signaled the company is more likely to launch its first vehicles as schedule. Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun posted a picture at Weibo, showing a group of people held a banner that said Fight for Xiao Auto. The picture was taken in Xinjiang, an autonomous region in northwestern China. Then local netizens revealed four Xiaomi EVs are under driving test in the region.

Xiaomi announced in March, 2021 to set up a wholly owned subsidiary to make EVs, with the initial investment of RMB10 billion and the total input in the coming decade expected amount to US$10 billion. Lei Jun said in August 2022 that his company established an R&D team of more than 500 talents, and plans to create a fleet of 140 test vehicles in the first phase of the technology development, targeting to become a leader in the smart EV industry in 2024.

Xiaomi aims to become one of the top five automakers in the world within the coming 15 to 20 years, Lei Jun said in an interview in March. “We are on track to achieve our goal of mass production in the first half of 2024,” Xiaomi disclosed in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the same month.

At an earnings conference for the first quarter in May, Xiaomi management said development of EV project is still very well, so they maintained the previous target of mass production in the first half of 2024. Xiaomi President Lu Weibing told analysts at an earnings call last week that the EV business has very well progress, and part of recent progress has even much better than the company’s expectations. He said Xiaomi didn’t change its plan to mass produce EVs in 2024. 

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