By ZHOU Shuqi, ZHU Xiaoyu
With the promised launch of Xiaomi's first new EV only a few short months away, preparations are underway at a Beijing factory with about 50 prototype vehicles being produced each week.
Trial production is one of the final steps before mass production, allowing testing and debugging.
In addition to equipment debugging, recruitment is underway with the factory preparing to hire around 100 workers, and the requirements are stringent. Workers with experience at Mercedes-Benz and Tesla have been eliminated.
By the end of this year or early next, Xiaomi plans a massive recruitment drive.
The rigorous recruitment standards highlight Xiaomi's ambitions in the automotive industry. Xiaomi's Q2 financial report revealed that the company had invested 1.4 billion yuan (US$190 million) in EVs with much more to come.
Xiaomi's aim - to become one of the top five EVs in the world – remains a very long way off. Many tech companies are unable to obtain production qualifications for EVs and resort to cooperating with car manufacturers.
Xiaomi expects to be qualified by the end of the year.
