Xiaomi finally announces its first electric vehicle

Chinese tech company Xiaomi Corp finally took the veil off its much-anticipated first electric vehicle on Thursday, as its founder aims to compete with Porsche and Tesla to become one of the world’s top five auto manufacturers in the future.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said at a product launch event in Beijing on Thursday that the sedan dubbed the SU7, came after the company worked hard and invested lots of resources in the development of many key technologies, such as electrical machinery, over the past three years.

"We aim to become one of the world's top 5 automakers via hard work over the next 15 to 20 years," Lei said.

According to him, the company chose sedans rather than SUVs, a very popular model in China, as its first car because "it is more difficult to make sedans which can better represent the spirit of the automobile industry."

Lei said Xiaomi's car will come with cutting-edge autonomous driving capabilities and be equipped with its operating system that can connect with Xiaomi's smartphones, Pads and other electronic devices.

According to him, it will take several months for the SU7 to hit the market.

Xiaomi has pledged to invest $10 billion in autos over a decade to crack the new energy vehicle market which is now highly competitive in China.