Xiaomi’s EV Boom Meets a Bumpy Road: 60,000 Orders Can’t Lift a Stalled Stock

Xiaomi's SU7 orders hit 60,000, but stock nears 52-week low amid profit drops, price war fears, and delivery gaps as EV unit scales up.

Xiaomi is living a tale of two realities. On one hand, its newly refreshed SU7 sedan has racked up 60,000 firm orders since its March 19 launch, with 26,000 units already delivered by April 23. On the other, the stock is languishing near its 52-week low, having shed roughly 24% since the start of 2026 and nearly 37% over the past twelve months. At €3.40, the shares are just 0.52% above the trough hit on April 15.

The disconnect between operational momentum and market sentiment is stark — and investors are laser-focused on the cost of that growth.

A Price War in Disguise

The revamped SU7 starts at 219,900 yuan, a modest 4,000 yuan increase over its predecessor. That places it roughly 15,600 yuan below the entry-level Tesla Model 3 — a deliberate pricing strategy that has spooked the market. On the day of the launch, Xiaomi’s Hong Kong-listed shares cratered 8.59%. The fear: that volume is being prioritised over profitability, a concern amplified by the company’s recent financials.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, group profit tumbled more than 27% year-on-year. The smartphone division, long Xiaomi’s cash cow, saw its gross profit plunge over 40% — a blow compounded by surging memory-chip costs, which rose as much as 90% in the first quarter of 2026. Xiaomi is pursuing a dual strategy to defend its target segment margin of 8%, but details remain scarce.

New Blood in the C-Suite

On April 17, Xiaomi appointed Hu Zhengnan as vice president and the first-ever chief technology officer of its automotive unit — a role that did not exist when the division was founded in 2021. Hu brings nearly three decades of experience, having led development of Geely’s Boyue SUV and its SEA electric architecture, and later advising Shunwei Capital during the SU7’s early development. In parallel, Song Gang, a former Tesla factory director, was named vice president and chief of staff for the auto unit.

These hires signal a push to professionalise the EV division’s technical leadership just as Xiaomi embarks on an aggressive expansion. At the Beijing Auto Show, which runs through May 3, CEO Lei Jun showcased the full vehicle lineup — the SU7, YU7 SUV, and SU7 Ultra — and announced that the YU7 GT series will launch at the end of May. For 2026, Xiaomi plans four to six new models, spanning pure EVs and range-extender vehicles priced between 200,000 and 550,000 yuan. Europe is the next international target, set for 2027.

The Delivery Gap

Despite the order boom, the first quarter of 2026 was sobering. Xiaomi delivered roughly 79,000 vehicles — a sharp drop from the more than 145,000 units shipped in the final quarter of 2025. To hit its full-year target of 550,000 deliveries, the company now needs to average more than 52,000 units per month for the rest of the year.

Lei Jun’s announcement of 26,000 SU7 deliveries by April 23 suggests demand is real. Whether production capacity can keep pace is the open question. The sequential delivery decline remains the central argument for investors sceptical of a re-rating.

A Reckoning in May

The first-quarter earnings report, due on May 27, 2026, will be the next major test. It will reveal how deeply chip-cost inflation has cut into operating profit and whether Xiaomi’s countermeasures are gaining traction. For now, the stock is pricing in a scenario where the EV division’s promise is outweighed by the margin squeeze in smartphones and the heavy investment required to scale auto production. The SU7’s 60,000 orders may be a headline-grabber, but the market is waiting for proof that they can translate into sustainable earnings.