EV Maker’s Factory Tour So Popular It Needs a Lottery

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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.