Xiaomi builds early dealer network in Germany ahead of 2027 European market entry

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is establishing a German sales and service network more than a year before its planned electric vehicle launch, signalling a strategic move to secure its foothold in Europe’s competitive EV market by 2027.

Xiaomi has started building a German sales and service structure for its electric cars more than a year before any planned showroom launch, signing non-binding agreements with eight dealer groups at IFA in Berlin as it targets a 2027 entry into Germany and other European markets. The move gives the Chinese group a local retail foothold early, but it does not yet settle how many outlets it will have, which territories each partner will cover, or which models will arrive first. (electrive.com)

The prospective partners are Ernst Dello, Dinnebier, Emil Frey Germany, Fett & Wirtz, Hahn Automobile, LUEG Mobility, Penske-Jacobs Innovation and SPT Avior. Autohaus reported that Xiaomi presented the agreements in Berlin on 3 September and described them as the first step in creating a European distribution and service network, while also saying it wanted to recruit additional dealer groups elsewhere in Europe. Dr. Yu Liguo, Xiaomi Auto’s vice-president and head of international business, said: “Von Berlin aus freuen wir uns, dieses neue Kapitel gemeinsam mit acht der angesehensten Automobilhandelspartner in Deutschland aufzuschlagen”. (autohaus.de)

The Berlin announcement turns a longer-running plan into something more concrete. Electrive reported that Xiaomi president William Lu had already said in March 2025 that the company intended to sell electric vehicles outside China from 2027, with Europe identified early as a priority. By 25 September 2025, Xiaomi had opened what it described as its first electric-vehicle research, development and design centre outside its home market, in Munich. Job advertisements tied to that site covered retail operations, vehicle logistics, homologation – the formal certification needed to sell a vehicle – and after-sales work, indicating that Xiaomi was preparing the compliance and support functions as well as the engineering effort. (electrive.com)

That Munich base is meant to do more than provide a mailing address. Euronews reported in May that Xiaomi was adapting its cars to European regulations and local customer preferences, while CarNewsChina said the site had drawn in veterans from BMW, Porsche and Lamborghini. The combination suggests Xiaomi is trying to localise both engineering and market fit rather than merely shipping a Chinese domestic product unchanged. Euronews also described the company’s stand at Auto China 2026 as one of the busiest at the show, underlining the level of attention now surrounding a carmaker that only entered production in spring 2024. (electrive.net)

Its case for European expansion rests heavily on demand at home. Xiaomi’s second-quarter 2026 results said the SU7 series had passed 500,000 cumulative deliveries by 17 August 2026, and Electrive reported total deliveries across the company’s electric-car range at more than 700,000 units. Reuters, in reporting on the launch of the YU7 sport utility vehicle, said Xiaomi logged about 240,000 locked-in orders within 18 hours, after saying in the first hour that orders had reached 289,000. Reuters also noted Lei Jun’s warning that some of those early orders were likely to have come from scalpers trying to trade places in the delivery queue. (ir.mi.com)

The YU7’s reception matters because it shows the kind of pricing and specification pressure Xiaomi could eventually bring to Europe. Reuters said the model starts at 253,500 yuan, or about $35,360 at the time of publication, nearly 4% below Tesla’s Model Y in China. The same report said the base YU7 carries a 96.3 kWh battery and a quoted range of up to 835km on one charge, and that its driver-assistance package is included in the vehicle price rather than sold as a separate premium feature. Lei Jun acknowledged that Tesla’s software remained stronger in that area, Reuters said, while arguing that Xiaomi held advantages elsewhere. (investing.com)

The expansion drive is arriving while the automotive business is still expensive to build. Xiaomi’s second-quarter filing showed revenue of RMB24.9 billion for its smart EV, AI and other new initiatives segment, but an operating loss of RMB2.6 billion. Electrive said the deficit had narrowed from the previous quarter, yet the numbers still show that high delivery volumes do not remove the cost of product development, new-market compliance, service infrastructure and retail build-out. Autohaus likewise reported that Xiaomi is still withholding detail on the final shape of its sales network, leaving open questions on outlet numbers, binding franchise terms and the precise timing of a 2027 launch. (ir.mi.com)

What Xiaomi has done in Berlin, then, is not to begin selling cars in Europe but to reduce the execution risk of doing so. Euronews earlier highlighted founder Lei Jun’s April 2026 drive of an SU7 Pro from Beijing to Shanghai – roughly 1,300km with a single charging stop – as a public demonstration of range and performance, and the dealer agreements show how Xiaomi is trying to translate that domestic narrative into a credible European offer. Germany is the immediate focus, but the company has made clear that it sees the country as a launch platform for a wider continental push. (autohaus.de)