The company’s financial statements underpin confidence in its car-making endeavor, which Lei Jun, the charismatic founder and CEO of Xiaomi, described as “the last mission“ of his career as a serial entrepreneur.

Xiaomi is likely to make a greater push to advance its car-making initiative, after the firm disclosed a maximum HKD 10 billion ($1.28 billion) share repurchase plan following the release of the company’s Q4 2021 and full-year financial results.

According to the company’s statement, its vehicle-making business “exceeded expectations,” as its R&D team has expanded to comprise over 1,000 employees and it looks to achieve mass production of its first model in the first half of 2024.

Luo Baojun, general manager of Xiaomi’s branch for the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, revealed to the media recently that the prototype of Xiaomi EV will be released in Q3 this year. Market watchers pointed out that Xiaomi’s EVs will be the last piece to form a closed loop for the company, which seeks to build an IoT ecosystem that fosters the connectivity of everything from smartphone to intelligent terminal gadgets.

A year ago, Xiaomi announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it will establish a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for smart electric vehicle business. Lei Jun, the group’s founder and CEO, also pledged an initial investment of CNY 10 billion, and an aggregate investment of $10 billion over the next 10 years. Lei will serve as the CEO of Xiaomi EV.

Since the company announced its foray into car-making, following in the footsteps of other tech titans like Baidu and Huawei, Xiaomi has made strategic investments in areas including batteries, chips, and autonomous driving technology.

For power batteries, it invested in GanfengLithium Energy, SVolt Energy Technology, China Aviation Lithium Battery, and Zhuhai Cosmx Battery. It also poured funds into autonomous driving startups such as ZongMu Technology, Momenta, Idriverplus, and DeepMotion.

Xiaomi has been making these investments amid a critical car ship shortage and soaring raw material prices like nickel and lithium, which have put upward pressure on the prices of upstream suppliers like cell battery makers.

Xiaomi EV’s domestic competitors include traditional carmakers including Geely, SAIC and GAIC, new EV makers like NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, and other tech companies such as Baidu and Huawei.