Proactive Investors - Xiaomi (HK:1810) shares gained 9% on Tuesday on the first day of trading since the smartphone maker released its electric vehicle (EV) ahead of the Easter weekend.
Priced at 215,900 yuan (US$30,408), Xiaomi’s standard SU7 was listed on late Thursday as cheaper than Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s Model 3 in a familiar sign of China’s heated EV market.
Xiaomi had said orders for over 50,000 cars were placed in less than half an hour after the SU7 was launched on Thursday night.
The firm’s online store showed wait times of more than five months for the basic SU7 on Tuesday morning, meanwhile.
Xiaomi boss Lei Jun has previously highlighted the SU7’s faster acceleration and longer range than rival Tesla, adding to pressure on Elon Musk’s firm in China.
Tesla, which led a string of price cuts to encourage demand over the past year, was overtaken as the world’s largest EV firm by BYD last year, with the Chinese market, in particular, emerging as highly competitive.
Domestic rivals Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) and Nio unveiled car purchase subsidies on Monday, following the release of Xiaomi’s SU7, as manufacturers battle for customers on the back of what appears to be slowing market growth.
Xiaomi climbed 9.4% to 16.34 Hong Kong dollars.