As soon as Chinese tech billionaire and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun took the wraps off the world’s first car produced by a smartphone company, automotive enthusiasts instantly knew the source of the design’s inspiration: the Taycan by the 93-year-old German carmaker Porsche.
The Xiaomi SU7, unveiled in December and launched in March, has rocked the world’s biggest car market. Xiaomi had orders for more than 88,000 cars by the end of April. Last month, the company raised its sales target for this year to 120,000 vehicles from 100,000.
Porsche, by comparison, suffered a 24 per cent year-on-year decline in first-quarter sales in China to 16,340 cars.