Chinese Gen-Z are buying Xiaomi SU7s… and this fluffy accessory is partly why

Xiaomi is showing something a lot of traditional car brands still don’t fully understand:

Young people are not just buying a car. They are buying a product that needs to fit into their identity, lifestyle, aesthetics, and online life.

And that is exactly where Xiaomi is changing the game in China’s automotive industry.

A lot of legacy automakers still sell cars like consumers are making purely rational decisions — comparing horsepower, range, specs, and price in a vacuum. Of course those things still matter. But for younger generations, especially in China, that is no longer the full story.

Today, a car also needs to feel personal. It needs to feel culturally relevant. It needs to feel like something you want to post, customize, talk about, and emotionally attach to.

That is why Xiaomi’s EV strategy feels so different.

It is not just building a car. It is building a consumer-tech lifestyle product around the car. From design language to accessories, from ecosystem integration to the overall owner experience, Xiaomi understands that modern consumption is driven by emotion just as much as function.

And the numbers are already backing it up.

In 2025, Xiaomi EV delivered 411,082 vehicles, generated RMB 106.1 billion in revenue from its EV and AI segment, reached an average selling price of RMB 251,171, and posted its first full-year operating profit of RMB 900 million. Its EV and AI segment also achieved a 24.3% gross margin in 2025.

That is not just “good for a newcomer.” That is a serious signal that a different kind of automotive playbook is working in China.

The real disruption may not be that Xiaomi can build an EV.

It is that Xiaomi understands how to make young consumers want one.