Buyers of Tesla’s Chinese rival EV may face monthslong wait for SU7

Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi is reportedly informing buyers of its new SU7 electric vehicle that they could face wait times of up to seven months.

Apparent demand for the Tesla rival’s EV has helped drive potential multi-month delivery wait times for its three models, Reuters reported Monday.

Of the three SU7 models, the Max showed the longest potential delivery wait-time, 27-30 weeks, on Xiaomi’s car app, according to the outlet. The delivery wait times for the base and Pro versions of the SUV could be 18-21 weeks.

Customer orders for the company’s SU7 began late last week. 

Xiaomi notched almost 88,900 orders in the first day of availability, according to Reuters. The company said Thursday on Chinese social media platform Weibo that about 50,000 came in less than half an hour. 

Xiaomi is charging roughly $30,000 for the base model of the SU7, the outlet reported. 

That price level makes it cheaper than the Tesla Model 3 in China. Tesla, run by Elon Musk, asks a starting price of $34,000 for the Model 3 in the country, according to Barron’s.

TESLA HAS NEW COMPETITION WITH A CHINESE EV PRICED LOWER THAN MODEL 3

There are limited numbers of “Founder’s Edition” models of the SU7 too.

Xiaomi has been working on its EV efforts for a few years. About 10 billion yuan worth of research and development helped the company reach the point where it was able to officially introduce the SU7 last week and enter the Chinese EV market.

The company makes most of its yearly revenue from its smartphones and other consumer electronic devices like watches, tablets and appliances.

Reuters contributed to this report.