A Porsche at Camry Prices Shouldn’t Scare Europe
Chinese carmakers are coming for the continent. Rivals need to speed up the transition to electric and hang on to their talent.
Chinese carmakers are taking on Europe.
Photographer: Liesa Johannssen/BloombergFor a beaten-down European car industry, the news that Xiaomi Corp. is on its way must feel like a death knell.
The Chinese phone-maker’s first electric vehicle, the SU7 sedan, has been a hit in its home market. With the looks of a Porsche Panamera at the price of a Toyota Camry, it’s earned rave reviews from Jim Farley, chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., and sells for as little as 215,900 yuan ($30,000). Xiaomi will start shipping EV models to Europe from 2027, the company’s President Lu Weibing told investors last week, adding that fans in the UK and Germany are already importing them on the grey market. An SUV-styled companion, the YU7, is selling out in China.