Those contended prototypes were part of a bidding process which supposedly was won by BAIC and its plastic molding business. Xiaomi was quick to note that those were real, but not final particulars and the design has been changed a lot since. The story was presumptive and it sounded like Xiaomi could have complimented itself on a job well done for preventing- at least for a moment- the disaster of its first EV oohing way before the sanctioned debut.
Unfortunately for Xiaomi, the leaks did n’t stop there. Within days we followed with another story where we showed the Xiaomi MS11 in its full glory. The blurted images did look veritably much like marketing material and, interestingly enough, featured the cushion design that was supposed to be an early prototype.
That could mean two effects- moreover the prints of the auto were just selling proffers and again were showing an early prototype for reference only. But at this point, the story was getting really stretched and indeed Xiaomi did n’t comment, refusing to confirm or deny whether the MS11 is in fact the first ever electric auto from Xiaomi.
That silence didn’t last long however. According to Reuters, the CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, posted on his particular Weibo account that the company has issued a penalty payment demand to the supplier who blurted the images. The demand is for RMB 1 million( nearly$150,000) and comes with a demand that the supplier strengthens its security and confidentiality measures.
Although there’s no citation BAIC in that note, the earlier information did confirm the blurted cushion images were part of BAIC bidding operation. Xiaomi may be disappointed but it’s too late now, the cat is truly out of the bag and the penalty is a token payment just to show the company is serious about administering confidentiality of itsdesigns.However, that fine wo n’t have a fewest effect on its finances, If the supplier is in fact BAIC.
Xiaomi plans to manufacture as numerous as,000 vehicles in its new plant which should be over and running this time. The full product capacity is anticipated to be reached coming time but for that to be, Xiaomi has to calculate on suppliers. The company can not risk now falling out with BAIC over blurted images, the worst case script would be a complete breakdown of the contract. Looking for a new supplier could put Xiaomi behind the schedule by months.
Xiaomi chose to outsource numerous of the factors for the forthcoming MS11 in order to speed up the process of bringing its first electric auto to the request. It’s a clever approach but bone
that easily comes with a price- keeping the Xiaomi MS11 a secret simply isn’t going to be.