Xiaomi EV Forms International Business Department Ahead of Planned European Entry

Xiaomi's electric-vehicle business has established an International Business Department, putting its overseas expansion work into a formal operating structure, Sina Technology reported on November 6. The report says automotive vice president Yu Liguo will also serve as the department's general manager.

Yu will report jointly to Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun, who also heads the automotive business, and group president Lu Weibing, according to Sina. The appointment follows the overseas business preparation group created in May, which Yu also led. The change is therefore an organizational follow-through rather than the first announcement that Xiaomi intends to sell cars abroad.

The new department includes go-to-market, sales, network development, delivery and logistics, user services, general management and regional overseas teams. Sina says those units report to Yu. That scope covers the operating chain needed to take vehicles from market preparation through customer handover and after-sales support.

An automotive international marketing unit will have a separate dual reporting line to Yu and Xiaomi's group marketing leadership, the report says. The structure distinguishes international marketing responsibilities from regional execution, sales channels and service operations, rather than placing every overseas function under a single undifferentiated team.

The organizational changes align with Xiaomi's previously stated schedule. Sina cites Lu as saying the automotive business expects to begin its international expansion in the second half of 2027, starting in Europe, followed by right-hand-drive markets in the first half of 2028.

The same Chinese report says Xiaomi announced at IFA 2026 that it would enter European markets including Germany in 2027. It also signed memorandums of understanding with eight German automotive dealer groups as an initial step toward a retail and service network. Those memorandums indicate preparatory partnerships, not evidence that overseas deliveries have already begun.

The latest report does not identify the first export model, country-by-country prices, sales targets or a confirmed customer delivery date. Its concrete new detail is the department and the division of responsibilities. Turning that structure into a functioning overseas business will still involve the sales, logistics, delivery and customer-service work assigned to its teams.

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