BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) - He was called China's

answer to Steve Jobs for taking Xiaomi ( XIACF ) from scrappy

startup to an electronics giant known for its smartphones.

With the launch of a much-hyped and against-the-odds

electric car, Lei Jun, Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) co-founder and CEO, is taking on

Elon Musk with a strategy that takes a page from Tesla's

playbook.

Lei, 54, took the stage in Beijing on Thursday to unveil

Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) SU7 car, a project three years in the making that has

attracted a lot of attention but which, Lei has warned

investors, will lose money.

During Thursday's two-hour event - a livestream millions of

Chinese tuned in to watch - Lei made a jibe at Apple ( AAPL )

for dropping its car project and declared Xiaomi's ( XIACF ) EV superior

to Tesla's Model 3.

Fans dubbed the Xiaomi ( XIACF ) CEO "Thor" on social media, a play on

his surname which means thunder in Chinese. Some commented that

his outfit - a grey blazer over a black t-shirt - looked like

something Musk would wear.

Already a household name in China, Lei's marketing strategy

for his EV borrows directly from Musk, said Yale Zhang, managing

director at Automotive Foresight.

"One person equals an entire marketing team," Zhang said.

"With every word he says, the attention he attracts online is of

a different magnitude."

Born in central China, Lei graduated from Wuhan

University with a degree in computer science before working his

way up to become chief executive of software firm Kingsoft.

In 2010, he co-founded Xiaomi ( XIACF ). By 2014, the tech startup had

a valuation of $46 billion.

The Beiijng-based company has grown with the popularity of

its smartphones and home appliances, beloved in Chinese

households for their affordability and sleek styling.

Last year, Xiaomi ( XIACF ) launched more expensive smartphones to

compete with Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone, but Lei's decision to sell a sporty

EV that draws styling cues from Porsche will test

the Chinese company's ability to shift to a new, premium market.

In 2021, Lei announced Xiaomi ( XIACF ) would build its own EV, an

undertaking he said then would be "the last major

entrepreneurship project" of his life.

"In the three years of developing this car, my biggest

realization is that making cars is extremely difficult," Lei

said on Thursday. "Even a giant like Apple ( AAPL ) gave up on it."

BEIJING BACKING

The SU7 - short for Speed Ultra 7 - enters a crowded China

EV market with an attention-grabbing price tag, under $30,000

for the base model, cheaper than Tesla's Model 3 in China.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) built a Beijing factory capable of producing 200,000

cars annually before it had regulatory approval to start

manufacturing in China. State-owned automaker BAIC Group

disclosed in November it would make the cars for Xiaomi ( XIACF ) - at the

same Xiaomi ( XIACF ) plant.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ), which plans to sell the SU7 only in China for now,

did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lei said without the support of the Beijing authorities, it

would have been "impossible" to complete the car in three years,

according to a transcript posted by auto blogger Chang Yan, who

was among a group of Chinese reporters invited to interview Lei

on Thursday.

Musk also won support from the Shanghai government when

setting up the Tesla factory there. The construction of Tesla's

Shanghai plant took less than a year after it broke ground in

2019.

Analysts remain split on whether Lei's project will go

beyond creating buzz to make money in a hyper-competitive EV

market. "The risk is that they focus too much on the EV space

and lose focus on the sectors and products that got them there,"

said Tu Le, founder of consultancy Sino Auto Insights.

Lei said he had originally planned to sell the high-end

version of the SU7 for around $48,500 before cutting that to

about $41,500 as other automakers slashed prices.

"Xiaomi ( XIACF ) has enough cash reserves to cope with any fierce

competition in the next five years. And if it is possible,

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) will look for ways to accumulate more cash," Lei said.

Xiaomi ( XIACF ) said it had received 50,000 orders in the first 27

minutes of the SU7 going on sale. The company had not posted an

updated number on Friday.

($1 = 7.2277 Chinese yuan renminbi)