Xiaomi Locks in 2027 Europe Entry, Anchored by Munich R&D Center

Xiaomi has confirmed it will begin selling cars in Europe in 2027, with Germany as its first overseas market, the company told Euronews in a feature published May 2. The Chinese automaker is anchoring the push with a new R&D and design center in Munich, led by former BMW M4 GT3 project chief Rudolf Dittrich and staffed by veterans poached from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Lamborghini. The center is tasked with adapting Xiaomi's vehicles to European regulations, infrastructure and customer expectations.

The 2027 timeline mirrors statements Xiaomi EV president Lu Weibing made at MWC 2025 in Barcelona and again during a German road trip in November when he test-drove an SU7 Ultra across the country. The first model engineered with Munich input is expected to be the YU7 GT, an SUV positioned against the Tesla Model Y Performance and slated for a China debut in late May. Xiaomi has already opened a Munich design studio in 2025 and has been spotted testing SU7 prototypes in France, Poland and the Netherlands, suggesting homologation work is well underway.

For European buyers, this is still a 2027-or-later story — no dealers, no pricing, no order books before then. The realistic risk is slippage: Xiaomi's domestic order book is enormous (80,000 locked-in SU7 orders in 48 days, 550,000-unit 2026 target), and Lei Jun has historically prioritized China supply over export volume. The Munich hire-up is the first hard signal that 2027 is more than a slide-deck date, but the first overseas deliveries will almost certainly land in Germany before the UK, France or the Nordics see allocation.