Xiaomi Corp. on 26 June unveiled its first electric sport-utility vehicle, the YU7, marking the smartphone maker’s second entry into China’s crowded new-energy vehicle market. Offered in standard, Pro and Pro Max trims and priced from CNY 253,500 (US$35,360) to CNY 329,900, the five-seat model undercuts Tesla’s Model Y by almost 4 percent while touting up to 835 kilometres of range, 0–100 km/h acceleration in 3.23 seconds and a top speed of 253 km/h. Demand was immediate: Xiaomi reported 200,000 paid orders within the first three minutes of sales and 289,000 within an hour, locking in about CNY 1.4 billion in non-refundable deposits. Total orders topped roughly 240,000 in the first 18 hours, sending the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares up as much as 8–10 percent to a record high and intensifying competitive pressure on Tesla in the world’s largest auto market. Production constraints are now testing that enthusiasm. Xiaomi’s app indicates new buyers must wait 38–60 weeks—up to 14 months—for delivery because only a small initial batch was available. More than 400 customers have lodged complaints on Sina’s Black Cat consumer platform seeking refunds of the CNY 5,000 deposit, prompting founder and Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun to promise answers in a livestream. Despite the backlog, Xiaomi began handing over the first YU7s in 58 cities on 6 July. The rollout deepens a price war among Chinese electric crossovers. Two days after the YU7 debut, Xpeng Motors introduced the G7, equipped with an in-house Turing AI chip and starting at CNY 195,800—about CNY 60,000 below Xiaomi’s entry model. The escalating competition underscores how quickly domestic technology firms are redrawing China’s automotive landscape and challenging established players such as Tesla.