Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi seems to have hit the ball out of the park with the launch of its debut EV, the SU7, last week. The launch has pushed its market value up by $4 million, with the company now nearing valuations higher than GM and Ford.
Reuters reports this morning that shares of Xiaomi surged as much as 16% – but still, throwing cold water on the good news, analysts predict that the company still stands to lose a ton of money on each car, equally around $10,000 per car this year.
Xiaomi’s stock reached its highest since January 2022. At the day’s highest, the company had a valuation of $55 billion at a share price of HK$17.34, which nudges it higher than legacy automakers General Motors (valued at $52 billion) and Ford (valued at $53 billion).
Last Thursday, Xiaomi opened up orders for its SU7 sedan – a targeted rival to Tesla’s Model 3 – after releasing competitive prices starting at $29,870, priced about $4,000 less than the Model 3.
Friday, the company said pre-orders reached nearly 90,000 in the first 24 hours. Yesterday Xiaomi’s car app flagged would-be buyers that delivery time for the new SU7 and SU7 Pro could take 18 to 21 weeks. The most expensive model, the AWD SU7 Max (priced at 299,900 yuan/$41,500) would take 27 to 30 weeks.
Still, despite its early signs of success, Xiaomi says that it expects to take a financial hit on the new SU7, with analysts saying that the loss could be substantial.
Citi Research analysts didn’t mince words: “We maintain our cautious view that ultimately everyone could be a loser” within the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($27,649.90 to $41,474.85) segment, reports Reuters.
Xiaomi predicts a volume of 60,000 units this year, which Citi estimates could bring in a net loss of 4.1 billion yuan ($566.82 million). On average, that’s around 68,000 yuan ($9,400) per car, the report said.
Apparently, Xiaomi is also asking suppliers to raise the new EVs monthly production capacity to 10,000 units, “up from 3,000 in March and 6,000 in May,” as reported by Chinese news outlet Yicai and cited by Reuters.
Electrek’s Take
Xiaomi is an interesting case here, for a few reasons. Analysts predict the company will lose money on its lower-priced SU7, but the smartphone maker has a tidy cash reserve of $15 billion to help it weather the price war happening in China. Even Tesla, which has been slashing prices for months, has seen a dip in market share in January, despite being one of the most popular brands in China.
Also, the company has tremendous brand appeal to the Chinese consumer, who are already familiar with its products and user interfaces. In addition to an alluring price point, the SU7 is a connected car that syncs with other devices. Compared to other EV makers, Xiaomi, too, has an edge on software and a jumpstart on autonomous driving, which it has been testing on roads for a few years.
Xiaomi, which was once blacklisted in the US by Trump for its alleged ties to China’s military, is the world’s third-largest smartphone maker after Apple and Samsung and also produces a slew of electronics in addition to e-bikes and scooters. Of course, its products are unavailable in the US, but its biggest markets outside of China are Europe and India.
Still, Xiaomi is jumping into a fiercely dense and competitive market that is already flooded with hundreds of new models from dozens of brands in China, topped by powerhouse BYD. But these early signs of success are sure to inspire investors, so it’s looking good for Xiaomi so far. Plus the company is likely looking to make up for any losses with future models and higher-end variants down the road.
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Hyundai issued a recall for nearly 600,000 vehicles in the US, including the popular Palisade SUV and several IONIQ electric vehicles.
Hyundai Palisade and IONIQ EV recall details
In a notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on September 12, Hyundai announced a recall of 568,580 2020-2025 model year Palisade vehicles.
The recall is due to faulty seat belt buckles in the front and rear, which may fail to latch. Although Hyundai expects only about 1% of the Palisade models actually have the defect, it’s issuing the recall out of an abundance of caution.
Hyundai said those with impacted vehicles may notice a lighter-than-normal “click” when fastening the seatbelt. You can bring it to a Hyundai dealer, where they will fix the seatbelt, free of charge.
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Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed on November 10, 2025. You can contact Hyundai’s customer service at 1-855-371-9460 with any questions. Hyundai’s recall number is 283.
Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Source: Hyundai)
In a separate notice sent to the NHTSA on September 12, Hyundai issued another recall for 31,042 2023 – 2025 IONIQ 6 EV models because the charging port door panel could detach.
Again, Hyundai expects only about 1% of them to have the defect. Those impacted can bring their vehicle to a local Hyundai dealer, where they will fix the port, free of charge.
Owner notification letters will also go out on November 10. Hyundai’s recall number for the IONIQ 6 is 282. Owners can contact Hyundai’s customer service hotline (listed above) with any questions.
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 at a Tesla Supercharger (Source: Hyundai)
But, wait, that’s not all. Hyundai issued a third recall on September 12 for just eight 2025 IONIQ 5 models due to improperly tightened fasteners that could loosen over time. Dealers will replace the bolts, align the wheels, and even replace the tires if needed, free of charge.
If you own any of the recalled vehicles, you can contact Hyundai’s customer service or NHTSA hotline (1-888-327-4236) with questions. You can also visit NHTSA.gov for more information.
Hyundai’s recalls follow Toyota, which issued a recall for over 590,000 vehicles in the US. Between the two, a combined 1.1 million cars have been recalled.
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Tesla has lost another leader of its Optimus humanoid robot program, which is upsetting those who bet on Tesla’s stock (TSLA), as CEO Elon Musk says most of Tesla’s value is tied to the robot.
Musk claims that 80% of Tesla’s future earnings would come from its humanoid robot, which he believes would bring in trillions of dollars and finally justify Tesla trading at more than 200 times earnings.
That’s been hard to believe considering the state of the Optimus program.
Now, we learn that another leader of the Optimus program has left Tesla: Ashish Kumar, who led Tesla’s Optimus AI team for the past two years.
Kumar received a phD in artificial intelligence from Berkeley in 2023 and quickly joined Tesla’s humanoid effort. He was believed to be leading the AI aspect of the program, while Kovac led the overall program, including robotics.
He announced his departure on X:
Decided to leave Tesla.
It’s been an incredible ride leading the Optimus AI team. We went all-in on scalable methods — swapping the classical stack with reinforcement learning & scaling dexterity by learning from videos.
AI is the most significant bit to unlock humanoids.
Kumar confirmed that he joined Meta’s AI team as a researcher. Meta has been aggressively poaching AI researchers over the last year, but Tesla has remained largely unaffected by this effort.
The Facebook owner has been reported to be offering substantial compensation packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions to AI researchers, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
Some Tesla shareholders were visibly upset by Kumar’s announcement and some quickly accused him of taking Meta’s money:
Kumar responded and claimed that Tesla was actually giving him a better deal than Meta:
Financial upside at Tesla was significantly larger. Tesla is known to compensate pretty well, way before Zuck made it cool. If I wanted to optimize for money, I would have stayed at Tesla.
It didn’t stop many Tesla sharehodlers to be mean to him for simply deciding to work on something else than Optimus:
Electrek’s Take
It will not come as a surprise to anyone here, but damn, the Tesla community is really becoming toxic.
This individual dedicated two years of his life working at Tesla. The only appropriate thing to say is: thanks for your hard work and good luck in your next endeavor.
The reason they are being so mean is that they believe Elon Musk’s lies that Optimus will justify Tesla’s insane valuation and become the most valuable company in the world; this guy’s departure challenges their view.
Why would he give up working on the most important product of all time and likely become a billionaire in the process? Maybe because these things won’t happen?
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It looks like electric motorcycle influencer Surronster has landed himself in trouble south of the border, based on an arrest video posted to his social media channels.
A heavily edited video posted on his Instagram page shows the controversial rider in handcuffs being led into a police vehicle by officers in Tijuana, Mexico. The reel appears to have been filmed by a companion in the influencer’s entourage. No additional context was provided in the post, and at the time of writing, details surrounding the arrest remain unclear.
The incident comes just two days after the influencer posted another update to his social media showing that he was being denied entry into Mexico with his Sur Ron electric off-road motorcycle loaded in the bed of his truck.
In the more recent clip, the Tijuana Municipal Police appear to be questioning him and an associate before handcuffing them both. An officer is seen starting to remove the influencer’s helmet, then the clip jumps to a shot of the influencer entering the back of the police truck, edited to avoid showing his unhelmeted face. Surronster has long concealed his identity, always being filmed while wearing a full-face dirt bike helmet.
Surronster has gained a large following online by pushing the limits of electric motorcycles – especially the Sur Ron Light Bee and similar lightweight electric dirt bikes. His content often shows him performing stunts, riding in traffic without a license plate, and usually on electric dirt bikes that are not street legal for use on public roads. His 1M+ following is comprised mainly of young male viewers in their teens and twenties, with many attempting to imitate the riders’ style and stunts. He has risen to become one of the leading influencers in the electric motorbike industry, all while promoting a rebellious image and racking up millions of views on social media.
That notoriety has earned him plenty of fans, but also a long line of critics. Many in the e-bike and e-moto community have called out the influencer for encouraging illegal and unsafe behavior that risks drawing increased regulation and public backlash against electric two-wheelers, not to mention the danger to young riders who may attempt to recreate his stunts. Others defend him as a thrill-seeking entertainer similar to traditional motorsport stunt riders.
A large proportion of his videos feature illegal riding activities, but his strict control over his anonymity has meant that he has effectively operated with impunity. But getting arrested in a foreign country is a serious matter, and it remains to be seen what charges – if any – he’ll face. At the time of publishing, the Tijuana Minicipal Police have not responded to a request for comment.
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