Xiaomi Auto used the media day at IFA Berlin on 3 September 2026 to do something more binding than show a car. It signed memoranda of understanding with eight German dealer groups, and in doing so answered the question that mattered most about its European plans: how it intends to sell.
Who signed
The eight groups are Ernst Dello, Autohaus Dinnebier, Emil Frey Germany, Fett & Wirtz Automobile, Hahn Automobile, LUEG Mobility, Penske-Jacobs Innovation and SPT Avior. Several are among the larger multi-brand retail groups in Germany, with existing showrooms, workshops and trade-in operations.
Yu Liguo, Xiaomi vice president and head of international business, said the company is "committed to long-term investment in Europe", pointing to its European R&D centre in Munich "and a growing network of sales and service partners".
The part that concerns Tesla
Tesla entered Europe by refusing the dealer model. It built its own stores, its own service centres and its own delivery logistics, took orders through its website, and treated the absence of a franchise network as a structural advantage — no dealer margin, no negotiation, direct control of the customer.
Xiaomi has chosen the opposite. Rather than fund a retail estate from scratch, it is renting the one German dealer groups already own: the premises, the technicians, the local reputation and the used-car desks. That trades margin and control for coverage and speed, and it means Xiaomi could have national service coverage on day one instead of building toward it for a decade.
Which model wins is genuinely unsettled. Tesla's approach gave it pricing control that carmakers now envy, and several legacy brands have spent years trying to copy it. But it is also the reason Tesla's European service capacity has been a persistent owner complaint, and the reason its coverage remains thin outside major metros.
The timing, and a correction
Europe is scheduled for 2027, beginning in Germany. Reporting from the same announcements puts the European launch in the second half of 2027, with right-hand-drive markets — the UK, Japan, Australia and India — following in the first half of 2028.
That reverses the sequence in our earlier report on Xiaomi naming Europe for 2027, which had right-hand drive going first. On the current account, left-hand-drive Europe leads and Germany is the opening market. France and Italy are expected to follow.
Xiaomi also showed the SU7, the SU7 Ultra and the Vision Gran Turismo concept at IFA, on a stand of more than 3,300 m² carrying roughly 380 products across its "Human × Car × Home" line-up.
What Europe still does not know
No European pricing. No confirmed launch model. No volume target, and no statement on how Xiaomi intends to handle EU tariffs on Chinese-built electric cars — the constraint that has reshaped every recent Chinese entry into Europe.
The cars themselves are proven in their home market: the SU7 has passed 500,000 deliveries, and the YU7 SUV is aimed at the Model Y. Signing eight dealer groups does not make Xiaomi a European carmaker. It does mean the 2027 date now has infrastructure behind it rather than a website.