Rivian Purchases Xiaomi SU7 for Benchmarking, Praises Chinese Automakers' Cost Advantages

TapTechNews September 14th news, the automotive media insideevs released a blog post on September 12th, reporting that the American electric vehicle upstart Rivian has purchased the Xiaomi SU7 for benchmarking analysis.

This media highly praised the Xiaomi SU7, and even titled it as the Chinese version of the AppleCar.

At the 12th annual Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference this week, when answering the question raised by analyst Adam Jonas, Rivian's CEO RJScaringe confirmed that the company bought a Xiaomi SU7 for benchmarking analysis.

TapTechNews translates Scaringe's view as follows:

The Chinese automotive industry is extremely competitive, with traditional automakers and new car-making forces constantly competing for the market.

Chinese automakers represented by BYD have launched many models that have left a deep impression in terms of cost and the overall corporate perspective, so Chinese brand cars are often disassembled and their internal structures are carefully studied.

Scaringe confirmed that the company bought a Xiaomi SU7, but did not specifically mention the SU7 in the interview, emphasizing that reducing costs is one of the important reasons that Rivian focuses on, and he said:

The cars of Chinese automakers have been disassembled many times and their internal structures have been examined many times.

In many cases, there is no such magic unique secret. When you disassemble it and look at it, you won't exclaim: Oh, this is completely beyond my expectations.

But its cost advantage is reflected in every nut, every screw, every wire and every panel of the vehicle.

Every individual part... is 20% to 30% cheaper than the similar parts or components we purchase in the Western market, and sometimes even 40% cheaper.