Infantile EV automaker Xiaomi Automotive has capped off 2025 with delivery numbers that cannot be ignored. The company has delivered an impressive 135,000 units of its flagship SU7 EV… after launching it in late March 2024. Looking ahead to 2025, Xiaomi looks to more than double that EV output with the help of a second model and an additional phase of its production footprint.
If you haven’t heard of Xiaomi Automobile, chances are you will soon. The EV business spun out from smartphone and electronics manufacturer Xiaomi Inc., which was founded three years ago and has been evolving at a lightning-fast pace ever since.
The electronics specialist used all of its manufacturing know-how to develop and produce its flagship model, the 2025 Xiaomi SU7 EV. After faster-than-expected development, Xiaomi launched the SU7 in late 2023 and quickly secured over 50,000 orders in the first 27 minutes.
Xiaomi initially targeted the assembly of 60,000 EVs in 2024, but the SU7’s monumental demand led the young automaker to bolster production to keep up. Shortly after the March 2024 launch, Xiaomi shared that it had already built 10,000 EVs in 32 days but would need to continue ramping up production to keep up with growing orders in China.
By July, Xiaomi said its bolstered production lines were complete, hinting at the prospect of doubling its initial production targets for the year. In mid-November, Xiaomi’s founder shared that the company had reached 100,000 EV builds earlier than expected and could reach 120,000 units before 2025 arrived.
As we bid farewell to 2024 today, Xiaomi Automobile has once again surpassed its targets and is showing no signs of slowing down as we enter 2025.
The Xiaomi SU7 15th anniversary limited edition color, which goes on sale January 1 / Source: Xiaomi Automobile / Weibo
Xiaomi targets 300,000 EV deliveries in 2025
The featured image above was posted by Xiaomi Automobile on Weibo, celebrating it had surpassed 130,000 deliveries of its SU7 EV as of December 27, 2024. However, during a recent live video chat with Chinese media, Xiaomi founder, chairman, and CEO Lei Jun shared that the number had exceeded 135,000 deliveries for the year.
As such, Jun relayed that the SU7 has achieved all of Xiaomi’s 2024 goals ahead of schedule. Per the Weibo post:
In the new year, the Xiaomi Motors factory will continue to increase production and speed up delivery to ensure that your car will be delivered to you as soon as possible.
Xiaomi’s EVs are built at a facility in Beijing that was announced in November 2021. The facility consists of two construction phases. So far, only phase one has been used to achieve the company’s delivery targets. We previously learned that construction of the main structure of phase two of the Xiaomi factory was expected to be completed by the end of 2024 and fully completed by June 15, 2025.
That process appears on track, and per Xiaomi, it should enable the company to produce up to 300,000 vehicles per year when complete. Judging by the company’s progress, 300,000 units is not impossible in less than two years of building cars.
Earlier this month, Xiaomi unveiled its second model, an SUV called the YU7, which is expected to launch in China in the summer of 2025. Demand for that model could help bring in more money and enable the young automaker to max out its new facility. We will have to reevaluate at the end of 2025 and see if Xiaomi hits 300,000 deliveries. At this rate, the better question may not be if it achieves that target but how far ahead of schedule it does so.
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Kia’s electric sports car will smoke a Ferrari and Lamborghini off the line, and it’s already less than half the cost. Now, Kia’s 576 horsepower EV6 GT is even cheaper to drive with nearly $20,000 in lease savings. Here’s how you can get your hands on one.
The EV6 GT arrived in 2022 as the “most powerful Kia production vehicle ever.” With up to 576 horsepower, Kia’s electric sports car can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds.
Kia went all out, adding fun features and different drive modes, such as “GT” and “drift.” The GT drive mode adjusts the vehicle’s motor, brakes, steering, suspension, and more for better performance.
To prove its power, Kia put its EV sports car up against a Ferrari Roma and Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder. Certified by an independent test from AMCI, the Kia EV6 GT beat both off the line. Not only is the Kia faster, but it’s also about half the cost.
The 2024 Kia EV6 GT starts at $61,600. A 2024 Ferrari Roma will run you about $245,000, while a new 2024 Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder starts at just over $300,000.
2024 Kia EV6 GT (Source: Kia)
According to online car research firm CarsDirect, the 2024 Kia EV6 GT now features $19,050 in lease cash (24-month lease). With the option of Single Pay leases, you can also score lower lease rates.
If you’re looking for something with a little less performance (and a lower price), Kia is offering $10,000 in Customer Cash on all 2024 EV6 models. The EV6 Light Long Range RWD ($45,950 MSRP) is listed for lease at just $179 for 24 months, with $3,499 due upfront.
The discounts come with the new 2025 model year arriving, which has an even longer driving range (319 miles Kia-est) and an NACS port for charging at Tesla Superchargers. The new EV6 GT trim will also pull additional features from Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 N, including a Virtual Gear Shift (VGS) function.
India will cooperate with international sanctions, the country’s oil minister told CNBC on Tuesday, as markets eye future U.S. policy under the new administration of President Donald Trump.
“We play by the rules. If there is an international sanction, which is anchored, we would not want to go around it or anything,” India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah on the sidelines of the annual India Energy Week conference.
“On Russia, yes, there was a price cap, and we adhered strictly to the price cap. Going forward, if there are issues, we will address them.”
India’s refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil since Western and G7 energy sanctions barred many consumers from Moscow’s supplies, in an effort to whittle down Russia’s war coffers after its invasion of Ukraine. Countries not subject to the measures have been able to use insurance and shipping providers to facilitate the acquisition and transport of Russian crude procured under a price threshold.
New Delhi has repeatedly defended its purchases as a matter of national interest.
“There is no sanctioned country, first of all. It’s a lot of misrepresentation that’s taking place. Today, Europe still buys 25% of its gas from Russia. They buy other critical energy from there. So there’s no sanction,” the energy minister said Tuesday.
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He also signaled that the government of Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, had endorsed India’s bolstered intake of Russian oil.
“I’ve had a chat with the Americans, the previous administration. They said, please buy as much as you like. Just make sure that you buy it within the price cap. And that’s what we did,” Puri said. CNBC has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.
India met about 88% of its oil needs via imports between April and November 2024, little changed from a year earlier, official data showed. As of January, about 40% of those imports came from Russia, data from trade intelligence firm Kpler suggests.
In 2021, Russian oil accounted for just 12% of the country’s oil imports by volume. By 2024, that share had surged to over 37%, according to Kpler data.
Sanctions in focus
The U.S. has been key in shaping global energy policy through sanctions over the past decade. In January, the U.S. imposed sweeping measures targeting Russia’s energy firms and the operators of vessels transporting oil — a move that analysts believe will make it harder for buyers like India to continue importing cheap Russian crude.
Investors have been waiting to see whether the newly installed Trump will pursue a ramp-up or relaxation of U.S. energy restrictions — critical to markets because the U.S. dollar denominates crude and oil product commodities.
Trump imposed sanctions affecting the Iranian and Venezuelan energy sectors during his first mandate and has taken an “America First” approach that could further incentivize domestic output — amid questions over the impact that threatened U.S. tariffs could have on global supply elsewhere.
Puri signaled his country would not be adverse to additional acquisitions of U.S. volumes. “If Americans are putting in more energy onto the global market, somebody asked me: ‘Are you going to buy more? I said: ‘I’d be surprised if we don’t.’ Because it’s in the natural flow,” he added.
The sanctions and trade developments are coinciding with a period when India’s oil consumption growth has outpaced that of China, contributing to 25% of the global increase in oil consumption.
“I am convinced that geopolitical tensions need to be managed,” Puri said Tuesday, noting current characterizations of supply-demand fundamentals in the oil market are “depending on whom you’re talking to and depending on where they stand on the equation,” as producers or consumers.
“A country like India, with a robust demand and a current consumption of 5.5 million barrels [per day] has a contribution to make in terms of which way the market goes. And we… we plan to use that leverage,” the oil minister added.
US EV prices held steady in January, and incentive spending dropped 3.1% from December, according to the latest monthly new-vehicle average transaction price (ATP) report from Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.
Average transaction prices for EVs in January, at $55,614, were higher by nearly 1% compared to a downwardly revised December. EV prices last month were lower year-over-year by 1.4%. Incentive spending on EVs in January decreased by 3.1% compared to December but was higher by 48.6% year-over-year.
Overall, EV costs are falling – compared to the overall auto industry, EV ATPs were higher by 14.3%. A year ago, the price premium versus the industry was 17.4%.
ATPs for market leader Tesla, at $55,380, were higher year-over-year by 4.5%. Cybertruck prices fell year-over-year by 6.5% to just under $98,000. Model X prices were also lower year-over-year.
The two most popular EVs in the US, the Model Y and Model 3, both saw transaction prices increase year-over-year by 2.2% and 6.2%, respectively.
The $7,500 tax credit is now missing from the Tesla website. What will Tesla’s February sales volume look like?
As for total new-vehicle sales volume in January, it was higher year-over-year by 5.1% but lower by more than 25% compared to a robust December. New-vehicle inventory at the beginning of January was below 3 million units for the first time since late October.
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