Xiaomi CEO reveals the company bought three Tesla Model Ys and ripped them apart to learn their secrets

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun revealed that his team bought three Tesla Model Y vehicles to study them closely while developing their first electric SUV, the YU7.

The charismatic founder of the Chinese tech giant revealed this detail during his annual keynote speech in Beijing.

He told the crowd that Xiaomi engineers painstakingly disassembled the Teslas to study every component in detail.

Far from mocking his rival, Lei praised the Model Y as an ‘outstanding’ car, even suggesting it as an alternative for buyers who don’t go for Xiaomi’s new YU7 SUV.

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The Xiaomi YU7 is based on the Model Y

Lei’s comments highlight just how seriously Xiaomi is approaching the electric vehicle market, which it officially entered this year with the YU7.

During his speech, Lei stood before a massive screen showing side-by-side comparisons of the Tesla Model Y and Xiaomi’s YU7, emphasizing how much thought went into the design of his company’s first EV.

“We bought 3 Model Ys at the start of this year, disassembling the parts one by one, and studied every component, one at a time,” he said.

He explained that Xiaomi engineers focused heavily on optimizing the YU7’s internal space, a feature he believes rivals Tesla’s design.

“The final version of the YU7 definitely does not lose to the Model Y,” Lei told the crowd.

He also touched on battery life and efficiency, claiming Xiaomi had achieved strong performance at an attractive price point.

The Xiaomi CEO praised Tesla many times

Importantly, Lei balanced his comparison with genuine respect for Tesla.

“I’m not criticizing the Model Y. The Model Y is a very, very outstanding car,” he said.

This is not the first time the Xiaomi CEO has praised Tesla, as he also praised the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) technology earlier this year.

It seems like Xiaomi’s strategy is less about undercutting Tesla’s image and more about learning from one of the most successful EV producers in the world.

In that sense, it seems like the company’s plan is working.

When Xiaomi opened preorders for the YU7 in June, it racked up over 200,000 orders in just three minutes.

With Tesla’s China sales dipping 4 percent year-over-year in August, competition from local brands like Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Nio is intensifying.

However, the American carmaker has made a bit of a comeback, as its new Model Y L, which is only available in China, has received 40,000 orders in just one day.

By reverse-engineering Tesla’s flagship SUV while launching its own, Xiaomi is signaling that it wants to play in the same league, or even surpass it one day.

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