Xiaomi’s Munich R&D Hub and 1,360-HP Concept Car Reveal a Split-Screen Reality

Xiaomi unveils a 1,360-horsepower concept car and poaches German auto engineers, but its stock nears a 52-week low despite strong EV sales and a buyback blitz.

Xiaomi is sending two very different signals from the global auto stage this week. On the floor of the Beijing Auto Show, the company is flaunting a 1,360-horsepower concept car that can theoretically sprint from zero to 100 km/h in under a second. Across the world in Munich, it is poaching engineers from BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz to staff a new research and development centre. Yet for all the horsepower and headhunting, the stock is trading barely above its 52-week low.

The Vision GT: A Digital Dream Made Metal

The centrepiece of Xiaomi’s Beijing stand is the Vision GT, a concept that first appeared at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February. It marks the first time a Chinese brand has participated in Gran Turismo’s Vision Gran Turismo project, the video-game franchise’s long-running collaboration with real-world automakers.

The numbers are deliberately outrageous: four electric motors, a 900-volt silicon-carbide platform, more than 1,000 kilowatts of system power, and a claimed 0–100 km/h time of under one second. Xiaomi has not committed to production, and the car remains, for now, a statement of intent rather than a product plan.

The YU7 GT: A More Tangible Ambition

More concrete is the YU7 GT, a performance SUV that will receive its official unveiling at the end of May. Founder Lei Jun has described it as a “pure-blooded GT,” tuned on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and fitted with new aerodynamic packages and performance components derived from the standard YU7. The vehicle targets the premium segment with more than 1,000 PS — a direct challenge to the established German players Xiaomi is now hiring from.

That Munich operation is being led by Rudolf Dittrich, who previously developed performance models for BMW. Claus Dieter Groll, another BMW veteran, has joined to oversee vehicle dynamics. Their expertise will feed directly into the YU7 GT and subsequent models, giving Xiaomi a claim to engineering credibility that goes beyond marketing.

A Full Line-Up, But a Bruised Stock

Xiaomi is also showing its complete production-car range in Beijing: the second-generation SU7, the YU7 SUV, and the SU7 Ultra. The SU7 Gen 2, launched in March, sold 15,000 units in its first 34 minutes. In the first quarter, Xiaomi Auto delivered an estimated 80,000 vehicles, with January alone accounting for more than 39,000.

Last year, the company delivered 258,164 units of the SU7 — nearly 30 percent more than the Tesla Model 3 managed in China. If Xiaomi hits its 2026 delivery target, it could become one of the fastest automakers ever to cross one million cumulative deliveries.

None of this is lifting the share price. The stock closed on Friday at €3.42, down nearly 24 percent since the start of the year and roughly 49 percent below its 52-week high. It is hovering dangerously close to the year’s low of €3.38.

The Buyback Blitz

Management is trying to stem the slide. On Friday, Xiaomi bought another block of its own shares on the open market. Since mid-2025, the company has repurchased approximately 363 million shares, equivalent to just over one percent of total share capital.

The market is not impressed. Goldman Sachs analysts cut their revenue and net profit forecasts earlier this year, pointing to the heavy investment required by the EV division and costly developments in artificial intelligence. The gap between operational momentum and market sentiment is one of the widest in China’s electric-vehicle sector.

The Munich Reckoning

The YU7 GT’s official launch at the end of May will provide concrete data on range and technology — the kind of detail that could either justify the Munich expansion or expose it to uncomfortable scrutiny. A successful entry into the premium segment is essential to validate the development costs of the new German outpost. Until then, Xiaomi’s auto ambitions and its stock price remain on different trajectories.