The latest electric vehicle from smartphone maker Xiaomi has seen startling demand from customers in mainland China after it began accepting pre-orders for its new YU7 SUV late last week, raising the possibility that the new vehicle could top the sales of Tesla’s Model Y, the mainland’s best-selling SUV.

After launching the YU7 a month ago, Xiaomi said it received 200,000 pre-orders in the first three minutes after it opened pre-orders at 10pm local time on Thursday, rising to 240,000 by 4pm on Friday.

The orders require a non-refundable deposit of 5,000 yuan ($697, £509) for the vehicles, which are priced from 253,500 yuan to 329,900 yuan.

Strong demand

The level of demand for the new vehicle is unprecedented in China, with the YU7’s sales in its first three minutes outpacing the annual deliveries of many other electric car assemblers, according to local media reports.

Monthly sales of 10,000 units for a single model are typically considered a success in the country’s highly competitive EV industry.

Tesla’s Model Y, manufactured at the company’s Gigafactory in Shanghai, sold more than all other SUVs, including petrol-powered ones, on the mainland last year with deliveries of more than 480,000 units, according to China Passenger Car Association figures.

Rosalie Chen, a senior analyst at Third Bridge, said in a research note that the new vehicle would serve as an early test of whether Xiaomi could broaden its appeal beyond early adopters and tech enthusiasts to become a serious player in the mass-market EV segment.

She said production capacity for the YU7 should exceed 10,000 units per month by September and that the vehicle could see deliveries of more than 400,000 this year.

Tesla competitor

Xiaomi said it would begin delivering the new vehicle this week.

The company brought forward the launch of YU7 sales from July to the end of June due to strong consumer interest, as it ramped up production capacity to keep pace with demand, the firm said earlier in June.

Chief executive Lei Jun said at the time the EV unit was expected to make a profit in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

In the first quarter the EV unit generated 18.1bn yuan in revenue with deliveries of 75,869 SU7 vehicles, on a net loss of 500m yuan.

In April Xiaomi delivered more than 28,000 SU7s, compared to 8,747 for Tesla’s competing Model 3 vehicle.