Xiaomi plots European EV push on back of China boom

• Company delivered 81,302 EVs in just one quarter, a staggering 197.7% year-on-year increase.
• If it can translate its China playbook to European soil, the continent’s EV scene could be in for quite the shakeup.

China’s Xiaomi Corporation is plotting a bold leap beyond its homeland: the company has officially set its sights on entering the European electric vehicle (EV) market by 2027.

The ambition follows a period of remarkable domestic progress that’s caught the attention of the global auto and tech scenes.

Xiaomi’s announcement was timed just after releasing a set of stellar financials for the June quarter, which saw a 30.5 per cent jump in quarterly revenue—topping out at 116 billion yuan (around $16.2 billion).

The engine behind this surge? The company’s new smart EV push, its growing AI initiatives, and other new ventures, which contributed 21.3 billion yuan in the second quarter of 2025 alone.

What’s even more impressive is Xiaomi’s performance in vehicle sales: The company delivered 81,302 EVs in just one quarter, a staggering 197.7 per cent year-on-year increase.

Their growing EV footprint now includes 335 retail and service centres in 92 Chinese cities—an impressive net addition of 100 centers in just three months.

Trimming losses

Despite heavy investment in automotive innovation, Xiaomi is making progress toward profitability: the EV division’s losses slimmed down to roughly 300 million yuan and its overall gross margin (counting EVs and AI) spiked to 26.4 per cent for Q2, a major leap from last year’s 15.4 per cent margin.

Zooming out, the entire Chinese auto industry is enjoying a renaissance. In July 2025, Chinese brands sold 2.59 million vehicles—up nearly 15 per cent year-on-year—according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Export growth outpaced even domestic sales, jumping 23 per cent to 575,000 units, showing Chinese ingenuity is making its presence felt worldwide.

Milestones

June saw another Xiaomi milestone with the debut of the YU7, its first battery-electric SUV. The local buzz was electric—over 200,000 orders rolled in just one hour after launch, underlining Xiaomi’s pull with tech-forward Chinese drivers.

Not content to rest, Xiaomi locked down a 50-year lease in Beijing for more than 485,000 square meters. The space will serve as a nucleus for smart automotive and component manufacturing, adding muscle to the company’s vertical integration strategy.

And let’s not forget financing: back in March, Xiaomi made headlines by raising $5.5 billion via a major share placement, securing ample resources to fuel both Chinese operations and the hoped-for European debut.