Xiaomi announces Sky Nomad SUV series, its first EREV

Chinese technology giant Xiaomi officially announced its new Sky Nomad SUV series on Thursday, July 9, marking a significant strategic expansion into the lucrative family vehicle segment. The move accelerates the company's push into the automotive industry as it seeks new growth drivers beyond its core smartphone business.

The Sky Nomad series, which will be branded as Xiaomi Pengcheng in China, represents the company's second major product line following its SU7 and YU7 sedan and crossover models. Founder and CEO Lei Jun framed the new line as an "intelligent, transformable large-space SUV" designed as a "mobile living space," contrasting it with the driver-focused positioning of its existing cars. He said the vehicle's interior, enabled by a completely flat floor and long-rail seating on a new platform called Xiaomi Kunlun, could be reconfigured to serve as a studio, café, reception room, or playground.

The first model, internally codenamed Kunlun N3 and expected to be launched as the N90, is a full-size SUV measuring over 5.3 meters long. In a major shift, it will be Xiaomi's first extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), not a pure battery-electric model. The vehicle uses a...