(Yicai Global) June 27 -- Xiaomi Group has not yet priced its first auto, Wang Hua, head of public relations at the Chinese tech giant, said following a rumor.

According to the rumor, the car would be priced from CNY149,900 (USD20,790), but Wang said yesterday that this was based on a response given to questions about the car by Xiaomi’s artificial intelligence voice assistant Xiaoai.

The response merely repeated previous press speculation, Wang said, adding that AI cannot actively verify whether the information obtained is true.

Shares of Xiaomi [HKG: 1810] ended 1.7 percent higher at HKD10.60 (USD1.35) apiece in Hong Kong today, after gaining 4.3 percent yesterday.

In the first quarter, Beijing-based Xiaomi lifted its spending on research and development by 18 percent to CNY4.1 billion (USD568.7 million) from a year ago, of which CNY1.1 billion was allocated to innovative businesses such as smart electric vehicles.

Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said on its first-quarter earnings conference call that Xiaomi cars had made steady progress in the past two years, and the company will conduct further tests this summer and winter before launching them in the first half of next year.

At Xiaomi’s investor day in February, Chairman and CEO Lei Jun said the firm had spent over CNY3 billion on new businesses alone last year, with an vehicle R&D team of more than 2,300 people. He also said that Xiaomi Automobile aimed to be among the world’s top five in 15 to 20 years, and disclosed that he was dedicating half of his time to the project.

Xiaomi Automobile, a wholly owned unit, was founded in March 2021 to produce smart EVs. The company invested CNY10 billion initially and plans to spend another USD10 billion over the next decade.

Xiaomi is building an auto assembly line in Beijing in two phases, which will have a combined annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles when completed. The first phase is expected to be finished this June, with mass production set to start in the first half of 2024.

Editor: Tom Litting