Xiaomi's first EV to be priced under $70k

Xiaomi's first electric vehicle, the SU7, will be priced under $70,000, according to Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, in a recent statement. Jun added that the Xiaomi SU7 aims to be "the best looking, easiest to drive and smartest car" available in the market under the 500,000 yuan ($69,424) price tag.

The company will later on the week announce its official price range and start taking orders for the SU7, short for Speed Ultra 7. CEO Lei Jun's comments, made on his official Weibo account, mark the first time the company has confirmed the upper end of its price range.

The SU7 will come in two versions - one with a driving range of up to 668 km (415 miles) on a single charge and another with a range of up to 800 km. By comparison, Tesla's Model S has a range of up to 650 km.

Anticipation for the car has been building up since Xiaomi unveiled the vehicle in December and announced it aimed to become one of the world's top five automakers. Lei has touted it as having technology capable of delivering acceleration better than Tesla cars and Porsche's EVs.

Seventy-six Xiaomi stores in 29 Chinese cities began displaying the car on Monday, with prospective customers and car bloggers lining up in one central Beijing showroom to get a close view of the 'ocean blue' and other versions. The company also uploaded its 'Xiaomi Car' app to Chinese app stores.

Xiaomi has pledged to invest $10 billion in autos over a decade and is one of the few new players in China's EV market to gain approval from authorities, who have been reluctant to add to the supply glut.

Its cars are being produced by a unit of state-owned automaker BAIC Group in a Beijing factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles.