Monthly production of Xiaomi SU7 is expected to reach 24,000 units in November-December, with capacity utilization close to 200 percent, according to local media.

Capacity at Xiaomi's (HKG: 1810, OTCMKTS: XIACY) electric vehicle (EV) plant is expected to grow further in the remaining two months of 2024, as orders continue to increase.

In November-December this year, monthly production of Xiaomi's SU7 is expected to reach 24,000 units, local media outlet 36kr said in a report today.

The SU7 -- the first model of the Xiaomi EV -- was officially launched on March 28 and is being produced at a factory in Beijing, where Xiaomi is headquartered. The first phase of the plant has an annual capacity of 150,000 units, and a second phase of the plant is under construction.

Xiaomi EV's phase 1 plant, which has a design capacity of 12,500 units per month, had a capacity utilization rate of 160 percent in October, considering the SU7 delivered more than 20,000 units in October, the report noted.

The company is challenging a monthly production of 24,000 units to ease the delivery pressure, meaning that capacity utilization is close to 200 percent, the report said.

The Xiaomi EV plant started double-shift production in June and performed production line tuning and maintenance in July, Xiaomi said in its second-quarter earnings report.

Xiaomi was expecting to meet its target of 100,000 cumulative deliveries of the SU7 series ahead of schedule in November, and the company would challenge a new target of 120,000 full-year deliveries in 2024, it previously said.

The lack of production capacity means customers will have to wait a long time for deliveries, with those ordering the SU7 currently having to wait at least 21 weeks for delivery, according to CnEVPost's daily monitoring.

Despite this, orders for the SU7 continue to grow. Since August, the new orders for the model has stabilized at an average of 4,000 units per week, according to 36kr's report today.

In addition to the regular SU7, Xiaomi began pre-sales for the production version of the SU7 Ultra on October 29, with the official release set for March 2025.

The pre-sales starting price for the more powerful variant is RMB 814,900 ($114,720), nearly four times the regular SU7's RMB 215,900 starting price.

The model received 3,680 pre-orders 10 minutes after the pre-sales began, Xiaomi EV previously announced on Weibo.

In addition to the production version of the SU7 Ultra, Xiaomi will launch an SUV (sport utility vehicle) model codenamed MX11 in 2025, according to 36kr.

To produce these models next year, the phase 1 Xiaomi EV plant, which has an annual capacity plan of 150,000 units, is apparently a bit overstretched, and the construction of the phase 2 plant is pressing, the report noted.

Xiaomi has asked for the phase two plant to go into production as soon as possible, and the current plan is for it to be completed by June 2025, 36kr said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The second phase of the factory will be ready for production as soon as July next year and August at the latest, the source said.

Upon completion of the construction of the phase 2 plant, the two plants will provide a combined annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, which will effectively ease the pressure on the delivery, the report said.

Late last month, local media outlet National Business Daily in a report cited several workers at the construction site as saying that construction workers at the phase 2 plant worked in double shifts.

Construction of the plant's main structure was expected to be completed by the end of this year and is scheduled to be finished by June 15 next year, the National Business Daily said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

($1 = RMB 7.1033)

China EV insurance registrations for week ending Nov 3: Nio 4,400, Tesla 15,700, Xiaomi 3,100, BYD 96,300