Xiaomi has appointed two senior executives to steer its electric vehicle division through its next phase of growth, pairing a veteran insider with a former Tesla manufacturing chief as the company prepares for its first overseas car sales.
New Leadership for Global Ambitions
Auto division vice president Yu Liguo has been named head of Xiaomi’s overseas business preparation team, reporting directly to CEO Lei Jun and president Lu Weibing, according to a report by S&P Global’s AutoTech Insight published May 7. Days later, former Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory manufacturing vice president Song Gang officially joined Xiaomi Auto as vice president and chief of staff, taking charge of manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, and system operations, also reporting to Lei Jun.
Song previously worked at GM and Ford before joining Tesla in 2018, where he led the localization rollout of the Model 3 and helped launch the Model Y production line at the Shanghai plant. He was credited with pushing the factory’s local parts sourcing ratio above 95 percent. Song left Tesla in December 2024 and briefly joined Envision Energy in a supply chain role before making the move to Xiaomi.
Europe First, Then Right-Hand-Drive Markets
The executive reshuffle underscores a timeline that Xiaomi president Lu Weibing has laid out publicly: the company intends to begin official vehicle sales in Europe in the second half of 2027, with Germany as its first market, followed by entry into right-hand-drive markets in the first half of 2028.
Xiaomi opened an EV research and development center in Munich in 2025, led by former BMW executive Rudolf Dittrich alongside designers recruited from Porsche and Lamborghini. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez toured Xiaomi’s Beijing headquarters in April, inspecting the YU7 SUV as the company eyes broader European interest.
Domestic Momentum Builds the Foundation
The leadership changes come as Xiaomi Auto’s domestic business accelerates. The company delivered more than 30,000 vehicles in April 2026, a roughly 50 percent jump from March, bringing cumulative 2026 deliveries past 109,000 units. The updated SU7 sedan, which began deliveries on March 23, amassed over 80,000 locked-in orders within 48 days of launch. Xiaomi is targeting 550,000 total EV deliveries for 2026, up from more than 410,000 in 2025.
Song’s manufacturing expertise is expected to help stabilize large-scale production and tighten supply chain coordination as Xiaomi simultaneously ramps domestic output and prepares export-ready vehicles for European regulatory standards.
