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Factory tours commonly come to mind for
tourists looking to experience local landmarks.
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Boeing, Jelly Belly, and Louisville Slugger all
offer popular behind the scenes audience,
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but it’s doubtful any of them are as popular as
what Xiaomi is offering in China.
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The consumer electronics giant recently broke
into the automotive space.
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It currently offers the SU-7 full-size sedan,
and it’s working on the YU 7 mid-size.
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It’s sold just 135,000 vehicles in 2024, though
it expects to more than double that number this
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year.
But its factory tours have already become so
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popular that Xiaomi had to introduce a lottery.
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Wired produced an in-depth look at the EV
factory tour craze in China and specifically
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highlighted Xiaomi’s, which the company opened
to the public at the beginning of 2025.
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What started as just 3 tours per month for 20
visitors.
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At a time has quickly become a daily occurrence
with even more tours on the weekend.
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Xiaomi thought that would be enough, but when
it opened registration in July,
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it got 27,000 applications in one day.
So you need to be lucky if you want to go on
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the Xiaomi tour.
To be fair, the tour does sound pretty cool,
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so it makes sense why so many people would want
to go.
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Besides getting to check out some advanced
robotics and automation.
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Visitors can test drive the SU-7 on a racetrack
where they can try out the vehicle’s insanely
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fast 0 to 60 acceleration.
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According to the report, the factory tour also
includes affordable meals and a gift shop.
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The crowds clamoring to get a glimpse of the
production process at Xiaomi and other
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China-based EV makers like Neo reflect the
growing.
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Presence of Chinese electric vehicles among the
leaders in sales.
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According to Clean Technica, the Tesla Model Y
is still the best selling EV in the world as of
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March 2025, but models from BYD, Wuling, and
other China-based manufacturers dominated
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nearly the entire list.
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I’m Ben Munson, and this is manufacturing now.