“There is a favorable market situation for SU7” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Alexander Levi tells what is known about the sedan from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer.

Most people’s lives are now spent on their smartphones. This seemingly obvious observation was shared by Volvo CEO Jim Rowan in an interview with The Verge. With this consideration, the head of the automobile brand explained the company’s strategy when choosing an infotainment system for its cars.

Volvo buyers, Mr. Rowan assured, have a choice between Android Auto, CarPlay or the manufacturer’s proprietary software. He also appealed to popularity and security. Taken together, these arguments can easily be taken as an admission that Google, Apple or other mobile vendors are at least as good as automakers in developing automotive software.

Almost simultaneously with the interview with the head of Volvo, Xiaomi applied for a license to sell its first electric car in China. The sedan will be presented in only three trim levels: SU7, SU7 Pro and SU7 Max. Don’t get confused, these are still cars – not smartphones. They will be produced at the facilities of the BAIC auto holding. What is known about the infotainment system of the new product is that its interface is based on the HyperOS shell, which is used in Xiaomi smartphones.

In the appearance of the presented electric car, I saw features of models from Porsche, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla. Older versions of the SU7 will receive a LiDAR sensor and an active wing. There will be only two power plants: 299 hp. With. with rear wheel drive and 673 hp. With. with full. Deliveries of the Xiaomi electric car will begin in February next year. By this point, it will become known for sure whether the vendor will introduce support for Android Auto and, most interestingly, CarPlay.

But even without this, the market environment is favorable for SU7. In October, global sales of electric vehicles grew by 34%, Reuters reports. China, where Xiaomi is primarily targeting, is up 29%, and so far these are record figures for the Middle Kingdom.

Meanwhile, car brand Polestar showed a teaser of its first smartphone. Premium device priced at about 130 thousand rubles. strongly resembles the Meizu 20 Pro model. This is not surprising – Polestar and Meizu belong to the Chinese company Geely.

After this, I would like to expand a little on the thesis of the Volvo CEO. Most people’s lives are now spent in their smartphones and cars. And it seems that pretty soon it will become a single space.