(Written by Zhang Jiadong and edited by Zhang Guangkai).
On January 31, it was reported in China that Xiaomi Auto plans to start mass production of its first model SU7 in mid-to-late February, enter the SOP (Start of Production) stage, and is expected to reach a monthly production of 10,000 units in July.
It is reported that in the first month after the SOP, Xiaomi Auto plans to produce about 2,000 SU7s, and then gradually complete the ramp-up of production capacity, and the output is expected to reach more than 10,000 units in July.
The Observer Network asked Xiaomi insiders for verification of the authenticity of the above information, but failed to receive a clear answer.
Prior to this, it was reported that the Xiaomi SU7 had entered the fifth verification phase (PT5) in December 2023, and plans to produce 300 units in the same month for exhibition cars and other uses.
On January 31, Lei Jun also released the SU7 Heihe winter test taken by his own engineers on social **, and this batch of test vehicles may be the products that Xiaomi has verified the production line at the same time.
According to the SOP process of automobile companies in the past, before SOP, the R&D department needs to complete almost all R&D and verification tests to ensure the functionality and safety of the whole vehicle. At the same time, it is also necessary to solve the problem of the first chain, so that the parts that meet the standards can appear in the production workshop within the specified time with quality and quantity.
SOP is the signal that the product has officially entered the market, and for a new car manufacturer, it is also the most critical step for it to officially enter the market. Therefore, after the verification process, the general car company needs to go through the pre-production stage (PP) to prepare the production line, and then it generally takes at least 1-3 months to start the SOP.
Of course, the authenticity of this message remains to be verified. After all, Xiaomi's SOP node is stuck after the Spring Festival holiday, which also means that the debugging and optimization of the production line in the final stage of pre-production will become a problem for Xiaomi during the Spring Festival holiday.
It is worth mentioning that if the mass production of Xiaomi cars is imminent, then the official launch time of SU7 may also be earlier than previously expected.
At the Xiaomi car communication meeting in December last year, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, made it clear that Xiaomi cars will be launched in the first half of this year, but the price of SU7 has always been confusing.
Since the end of the communication meeting, Lei Jun has repeatedly responded to low-price rumors, emphasizing that the performance of Xiaomi cars is comparable to that of high-end models in traditional fuel vehicles, and bluntly said that "it will not be 9."90,000、It won't be 14.90,000, it won't be 1990,000", and indicates that its pricing is relatively high. And the day before yesterday, the outside world went viral "36The high-end version of the 140,000 yuan Xiaomi SU7 insurance policy was also denied by Xiaomi Auto.
However, Wang Hua, general manager of the public relations department of Xiaomi Group, mentioned in his response: "Internal vehicles have begun to be licensed, in order to test the sales and delivery process", which means that Xiaomi is making final preparations for the product to enter the market.
At the same time, Xiaomi has also recently launched the site selection and construction of Shanghai Songjiang and some direct sales and dealer stores in Beijing, and the rapid follow-up of these systematic construction also shows that Xiaomi is carrying out the final work before mass production and delivery.
Although there are still different speculations about Xiaomi cars, with the acceleration of the pace of Xiaomi car SOP, the announcement of its final price will not be far away.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer.com, and it is not allowed to be unauthorized and shall not be allowed.