Xiaomi hits customers with year-long delivery delays for newly launched YU7 EV

Xiaomi is receiving backlash from its buyers after revealing that the delivery of their newly launched YU7 electric SUV will take up to a year.

After celebrating an impressive 300,000 orders for their newly launched vehicle, Xiaomi is under fire for being unable to commit to a fast delivery timeline for the orders.

Xiaomi hits customers with year-long delivery delays

Xiaomi is under fire from a wave of angry customers after revealing that the deliveries of its newly launched YU7 electric SUV could take up to 60 weeks.

The YU7, which debuted on June 27, 2025, attracted widespread interest. According to Xiaomi, it received around 240,000 orders in just 18 hours. However, only a limited number of units were available for immediate delivery.

By Tuesday, Xiaomi’s official app showed estimated wait times of between 38 to 60 weeks for new orders, sparking outrage among buyers who say they were blindsided by the delay.

Customers let off some steam on  Sina’s Black Cat complaint platform, a Chinese consumer rights website. Since Friday, more than 400 buyers have submitted formal complaints, citing that Xiaomi was not transparent about the delivery timeline.

The customers are complaining that the company did not reveal the extended delivery window until after they had completed their orders, at which point they had already made a non-refundable deposit of 5,000 yuan, approximately $698.

“I would not have placed the order if I had known it would take over a year,” one user wrote on the Black Cat platform. Dozens of other buyers echoed this sentiment. Customers also raised concerns about possible financial penalties, particularly the risk of missing out on China’s current tax exemption for electric vehicles, which is scheduled to expire at the end of 2025.

A delayed delivery into 2026 could leave some buyers paying thousands more than they initially anticipated.

Xiaomi has not officially commented on the controversy. However, the company’s CEO, Lei Jun announced on Weibo that he would address “frequently asked questions” about the YU7 rollout during a livestream event scheduled for Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi dealt with consumer frustration over a fatal crash involving its first model, the SU7 sedan, and over delivery timelines and unclear options for that vehicle as well.

The reality of EV production

The YU7’s launch was widely anticipated. The vehicle was positioned as a direct rival to Tesla’s Model Y, the best-selling SUV in China currently. The YU7 comes in at a base price of 253,500 yuan, approximately $35,360, which is about 4% cheaper than the Model Y.

Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, has repeatedly stated that the company intends to challenge Tesla’s dominance in the SUV industry with the YU7, just as the SU7 has outperformed Tesla’s Model 3 in monthly sales since December.

But the YU7’s popularity probably beat the company’s expectations, which impacted its ability to deliver.

On its part, Xiaomi’s EV production facility in Beijing has grown aggressively. Monthly output increased from 4,000 units in March 2024 to 28,000 units in May 2025, and it plans to expand further with new factories on two nearby plots of land.

However, the delivery delays bring the discrepancies between Xiaomi’s marketing ambitions and its operational capacity in the EV industry to the fore.

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