Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun on Monday teased the worth of the Chinese language agency’s first electrical car forward of its official launch this week.

“The aim of the Xiaomi SU7 is to be the very best wanting, finest driving, and most clever sedan below 500,000 yuan ($69,328),” Lei mentioned in a put up on Chinese language social media service Weibo.

It’s the first time Xiaomi has confirmed the higher finish of the worth vary. On Thursday, Xiaomi will formally launch the SU7 electrical car and start taking orders.

The automobile is on show throughout Xiaomi shops in China in 29 cities, in keeping with one other Weibo put up by Lei. He mentioned that check drives will start on Thursday.

Xiaomi Group President Weibing Lu advised CNBC beforehand that the corporate is concentrating on the premium section of the electrical automobile market.

That will pit it towards the likes of Tesla in China. For comparability, Tesla’s Mannequin S sedan begins at 698,900 yuan whereas the Mannequin 3 begins at 245,900 yuan.

Xiaomi will even be competing towards a slew of home gamers together with large BYD, Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, a lot of that are additionally concentrating on the premium finish of the EV market.

Xiaomi is best-known as a smartphone and client electronics firm. However in 2021, the corporate introduced plans to enter the EV race. Three years later it’s dealing with a really totally different electrical automobile market in China — one that’s probably dealing with a slowdown and the place competitors is cut-throat.

The EV market is within the midst of a worth conflict which was sparked by Tesla on the finish of 2022. This has compelled different electrical automobile corporations to slash costs with a purpose to stoke demand and keep aggressive, which has pressured margins and profitability throughout the trade.

Pricing might be key for Xiaomi in such a aggressive market and one the place the corporate has no prior historical past. The massive wager on EVs from Xiaomi just isn’t misplaced on CEO Lei.

“Three years in the past, I introduced that Xiaomi was going to enter the EV market. That is my closing new enterprise — I’m placing my fame on the road to combat for a imaginative and prescient I deeply believed in,” Lei mentioned in a put up on X.