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Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun bought 3 Tesla Model Ys earlier this twelvemonth and tore them down portion by piece—a bold determination to ace the codification down Elon Musk's bestselling electrical SUV. Speaking to a packed assemblage astatine the Beijing National Convention Center this week, the 55-year-old enforcement revealed his squad meticulously studied each constituent to technologist Xiaomi's rival YU7 SUV."We bought 3 Model Ys astatine the commencement of this year, disassembling the parts 1 by one, and studied each component, 1 astatine a time," Lei told attendees, with side-by-side images of some vehicles projected down him. The exhaustive investigation paid off: Xiaomi's YU7 racked up implicit 240,000 preorders wrong 24 hours of launching successful June.
Reverse-engineering Tesla: How Chinese automakers adjacent the gap
Yet Lei didn't trash-talk his American rival. Instead, helium praised the Model Y arsenic "very, precise outstanding" and adjacent suggested buyers who skip the YU7 could opt for Tesla's offering.
Still, helium insisted Xiaomi's interior abstraction and artillery show lucifer oregon bushed the Model Y astatine a much charismatic terms point—critical successful a marketplace wherever each yuan counts.
Battle for China heats up arsenic Tesla loses crushed to homegrown rivals
The teardown strategy underscores the brutal contention Tesla faces successful its second-largest market. Sales successful China slipped 4% successful August to 83,200 vehicles, pressured by assertive section players similar Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Nio undercutting connected price.
Around 50% of caller cars sold successful China are present electric, compared to conscionable 10% successful the US.Dismantling competitors' vehicles is modular signifier crossed the car industry. Ford CEO Jim Farley called his ain Tesla teardown "shocking," discovering his Mustang Mach-E carried 1.6 kilometers much wiring than Tesla's models—excess value that drove up artillery costs and dimmed Ford's competitory edge.
