October 22, 2026 – Lei Jun has announced that Xiaomi Auto’s new Beijing Design Center is officially operational, located inside the company’s Beijing super factory, and has publicly invited senior automotive designers to join the team.
Lei posted photos from his visit alongside Xiaomi Auto’s chief designer Li Tianyuan. The center now brings together exterior styling, interior design, color and materials, digital modeling and design review under one roof, replacing the previously dispersed design workflow.
The opening coincides with the Xiaomi Pengcheng Auto Design Exhibition, which runs until October 25 and shows previously unpublished sketches, full-size tape drawings and early design studies for the Pengcheng program. Pengcheng is positioned as a smart, variable-space SUV built around the concept “The Space of Skynomad,” with a focus on flexible seating, long sliding rails and outdoor-oriented scenarios.
Xiaomi said its current production models, including SU7 and YU7, share a long-hood proportion that references the classic L113 design metric, a long-established benchmark for balanced vehicle proportions. The company has also attracted attention for its interior layout and accessory ecosystem, which several rivals have begun to emulate.
Lei’s recruitment call did not list specific roles, but directed interested designers to contact Li Tianyuan directly. The move signals that Xiaomi Auto is moving from building its first successful models toward establishing a more systematic, in-house design capability as its product lineup expands.
