Xiaomi finishes registration of automobile company

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Xiaomi has completed the Industrial and Commercial registration of its automobile company, which has a registered capital of RMB10 billion, and Lei Jun, the phone maker’s founder and CEO, will serve as the new company’s legal representative, Xiaomi announced today.

Photo credit: Xiaomi

At the end of March this year, Xiaomi announced its foray into the electric vehicle industry. The initial investment in its car-making company will be RMB10 billion while the total investment in the next 10 years will be around $10 billion. Lei Jun will become the CEO of the new company.

In the past five months, Xiaomi held talks with many companies, including automakers and suppliers, as well as making investment in other firms. On August 25, the company announced its acquisition of DEEPMOTION TECH, a Beijing-based startup, for $77.37 million.

Xiaomi is also busy with building up its team for automotive business. At the end of July, Lei Jun posted a job ad via his Weibo account for the company's autonomous driving business unit, which intends to enlist 500 technicians for in-house developed Level 4 smart driving capability. According the company, its automotive business team has about 300 staff after receiving over 20,000 applications. In terms of the whole group, there are more than 16,000 engineers.

The group’s revenue and net profit of the second quarter hit a new high, which will offer strong support for its automotive business. Its quarterly revenue surges 64% year on year to RMB87.8 billion while its adjusted net profit soared 87.4% from a year ago to RMB6.3 billion.