Xiaomi planning Munich R&D center

The Chinese firm is reportedly planning to build a research and development center in Munich, Germany, where it will develop its engineering and design capabilities. The company, which launched its first EV last year, aims to start selling EVs outside of China from 2027.

This is according to reports by news outlet Nikkei Asia, which says a Xiaomi spokesperson informed them of the plans on Wednesday. However, no further details were provided and Xiaomi has not publicly confirmed the plans.

A number of Chinese media outlets have claimed that a small center of operations in Germany has already been established by Xiaomi, with a skeleton staff of less than 50 people. According to 36 Krypton, a Chinese EV news site, the Munich team is working on performance tuning for Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra Nürburgring edition as well as broader vehicle development. The report also claims the center is being headed up by former BMW executive Rudolf Dittrich.

Writing in Chinese, the article states: “Xiaomi hopes to form a BMW-like, Porsche-like R&D system: develop and test new technologies on the car, and then continuously decentralise the technology to a [mass production] model. This is a strategy commonly used by traditional luxury sports brands.”

With Xiaomi set to expand its EV sales outside of China by 2027, though, the creation of a new R&D institute in Munich is perfectly in line with the company’s ambitions. At MWC 2025 in March, Xiaomi President William Lu confirmed the expansion plans, adding that the domestic Chinese market remains a priority: “Our main plan is to create a strong position in the Chinese market, as without it, it would be hard to expand overseas.” Lu added: “After each earnings conference, we communicated with investors, and everyone tended to think that Xiaomi was late and missed the best opportunity. And that the car business can drag down the mobile phone business if unsuccessful.”

Since entering the Chinese EV market in 2024, Xiaomi has undergone a period of sustained growth – with more than 200,000 vehicles registered since April 2024. The firm surpassed its 2024 sales targets to such an extent that it has increased its 2025 vehicle delivery target from 300,000 to 350,000 – selling one year’s worth of production of the SU7 Ultra in two hours.

36kr.com (Chinese), nikkei.com