Xiaomi has confirmed that it currently has no plans to launch its SU7 electric vehicles in South Africa beyond bringing one model into the country to act as a marketing showpiece.
This follows reporting from several publications that the smartphone company would launch its high-performance SU7 Ultra in South Africa.
These reports stemmed from a statement made by Xiaomi that seemed to indicate that the SU7 would be coming to South Africa in the future.
The statement includes lines such as:
- Xiaomi South Africa will deliver the kind of engineering excellence and adrenaline-pumping innovation that fans are craving, not on the track, but on the road. Enter the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, a fully electric smart vehicle that has already begun turning heads globally.
- The SU7 Ultra isn’t just an EV, it’s a symbol of where technology and performance meet, right here on South African soil.
This was followed by a TechCentral report stating that a Xiaomi spokeswoman had confirmed the vehicle’s arrival and that the only issue was timing.
However, MyBroadband followed this up by contacting Xiaomi South Africa.
Xiaomi South Africa marketing executive Nonto Zulu stated in his response to the query that there are no current plans to launch the car in South Africa.
He noted that he’d prefer not to create any false expectations. He explained that the statement meant that the car would be brought to South Africa in a limited capacity and would not be available for sale.
“The statement implies the car will be present in South Africa in some capacity, likely for promotional purposes, but it does not confirm that it will be available for sale locally,” he said.
Therefore, the car may be used as a showpiece at Xiaomi launch events for other products or general marketing purposes.
Top seller
While the arrival of the SU7 in South Africa isn’t as initially believed, there is reason for the assumption.
The SU7 was launched in December 2023 and has since achieved massive success despite being Xiaomi’s first car.
Within a month of its launch, it secured over 75,000 “lock-in” orders, and nine months after orders had opened, this number grew to 248,000.
The SU7 also attracted Ford’s attention, with the company importing it for testing, and its CEO, Jim Farley, noted how impressed he was with it.
Along with this, the top-end model of the SU7 has set the fastest lap time of any production EV or four-door production car on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Given Xiaomi’s solid growth in the South African market in recent years, it is not too far-fetched to think the company could attempt to enter the local automotive industry.
However, with current exchange rates and relative to other vehicles with similar features and specifications, if the SU7 Ultra were to come to South Africa for sale, it would have a price tag hovering around the R2 million mark.
Since Xiaomi has built a reputation for good value for money, bringing such an expensive car to the market might conflict with its image.
Loading ...
