Xiaomi raises EV deliveries goal again on surging demand

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Nov 18 (Reuters) – China’s Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK),  said on Monday it aimed to deliver 130,000 electric vehicles this year, raising its forecast for the third time as the automaker upstart posted a 30.5% jump in third-quarter revenue.

CEO Lei Jun said on his social media account that the electronics maker was raising its goal from a previous target to deliver 120,000 of its first EV, the SU7 sedan, as demand surges. This is also far more than an initial goal of 76,000 it set when it launched the SU7 early this year.

Xiaomi launched the car, which takes styling cues from Porsche, in March, entering a crowded Chinese EV market with an attention-grabbing price tag – under $30,000 for the base model, $4,000 cheaper than that of Tesla’s (TSLA.O),  Model 3 in China.

EV and plug-in hybrid sales in China have grown to account for over half of overall sales in the world’s largest auto maker. In October they grew by 56.7% from the prior year, marking the fourth consecutive month battery-powered autos including plug-ins outsold gasoline cars in the country.

To keep up with demand, Xiaomi has doubled production shifts since June and launched the premium SU7 Ultra model priced at more than $110,000.

Xiaomi’s President Lu Weibing told a post-earnings call that its factory now could make 20,000 cars each month and that he still saw scope for that to grow.

“Our investment is still very substantial and we continue to improve our hardware and software. And basically, it doesn’t matter what the ultimate delivery level is, we are still investing very heavily. We are working on R&D (research and development) for new models,” he said.

One of the areas Xiaomi was working on was developing autonomous driving technology, he added.

Revenue was 92.5 billion yuan ($12.77 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, beating an LSEG consensus estimate from 15 analysts of 91.1 billion yuan.

Huatai Securities has forecast Xiaomi will deliver 400,000 EVs in 2025 when electric cars will grow to account for roughly a fifth of revenue compared with 8% for this year.

Xiaomi’s auto business though is still operating at a loss. The unit reported an adjusted loss of 1.5 billion yuan for the quarter, with a gross profit margin of 17.1%.

During the quarter, Xiaomi maintained its position as the world’s third-largest smartphone maker with shipments of 42.8 million units, up 3% and capturing 14% of the market, according to research firm Canalys.

Lu said the company planned to increase the number of offline retail stores in mainland China from 13,000 to 15,000 by the end of the year and 20,000 to next year, and was investing heavily in technology to grow its market share.

Xiaomi reported adjusted net profit up 4.4% to 6.25 billion yuan, versus a consensus estimate of 5.92 billion yuan.

($1 = 7.2438 Chinese yuan renminbi)