(Yicai) June 17 -- Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun has attributed the Chinese tech giant’s rapid success in the electric vehicle market partly to its smart manufacturing capabilities together with Beijing’s supportive industrial ecosystem.

Located in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, “Xiaomi’s car factory has achieved a high level of automation, with most processes completed entirely by machines," Lei told the media, including Yicai, during a group interview yesterday. “It can now produce 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles per month.”

Xiaomi Auto’s success is also inseparable from Beijing’s favorable industrial environment, which has a well‑developed local supply chain and strong support from government at all levels among other benefits, said Lei, who is also the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.

The Xiaomi SU7, the Beijing-based company’s first car model, was launched in March last year, and has sold over 258,000 of the sedans. Xiaomi had planned to launch its second car, the high-performance YU7 sport utility vehicle, next month, but has brought that forward to the end of this month, Lei posted on Weibo yesterday.

Since its establishment 15 years ago, Xiaomi has formed a unique business model that enables the firm to accurately grasp user needs while achieving breakthroughs in core technologies, he said in the interview.

The company has built up cross-industry experience and learned from setbacks, so it approached the car production business with a sense of awe, added Li Xiaoshuang, vice president of Xiaomi Auto.

Operating in an industry with extremely high technical complexity, Xiaomi Auto benchmarks its operations against leading competitors, including Tesla as a leader in electrification and Porsche as a leader in mechanical quality, Li pointed out.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione