BRIEF: Xiaomi SU7 in new fatal accident, shares slump over 5%

Xiaomi’s electric vehicle (EV) division faced new safety concerns after one of its SU7 vehicles caught fire following an early Monday morning collision in Sichuan province, killing the driver. Local police later confirmed that the 31-year-old male driver, surnamed Deng, was suspected of drunk driving.

Shares of Xiaomi Corp. (1810.HK) tumbled by more than 8% during the Monday session in Hong Kong before closing down 5.71% at HK$49.08, wiping out nearly HK$77 billion ($9.9 billion) in market value. Since late last month, the stock has fallen about 13%.

This was the third Xiaomi accident this year resulting in fatalities after a vehicle caught fire, according to financial media Caixin. In March, an SU7 in the city of Tongling in Anhui province crashed into a highway divider and burst into flames, killing three people. Another fatal crash in April in Guangdong province involved an SU7 colliding with an electric scooter, resulting in two deaths. Xiaomi said at the time the fire was triggered by an explosion of the scooter’s lithium-battery.

Launched in March 2024, the Xiaomi SU7 has sold nearly 340,000 units to date. In this year’s second quarter, Xiaomi’s smart EV and AI businesses posted a gross margin of 26.4%, up 3.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter, signaling that despite setbacks, the company’s automotive operations are quickly gaining traction.

By Lee Shih Ta

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