Xiaomi's €20 Billion Buyback Fails to Mask the Sky Nomad Dilemma
Published on 06/24/2026 at 13:53 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The strategy is bold, but the market is not buying it. Xiaomi is shifting gears with a new sub-brand called Sky Nomad, launching its first extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) SUV in the fourth quarter of 2026 — a radical departure from its pure-EV approach. Yet the announcement does little to reassure investors who have watched the stock sink 62% from its June 2025 high to a fresh 52-week low of €2.51.
The first Sky Nomad model, the Kunlun N3 (also referred to as the N90 in early leaks), is a full-size SUV stretching more than 5.3 metres. It packs a battery with at least 70 kilowatt-hours of capacity and a small petrol generator that extends total range beyond 1,500 kilometres. The company targets the outdoor lifestyle segment with an integrated roof tent and is expected to price the vehicle at around €25,200. That positions the N90 directly against market leaders Li Auto and Aito.
But the timing could not be worse. China’s EREV wholesale market suffered its steepest monthly decline in five years this May, tumbling nearly 25%. Li Auto’s flagship L9 saw deliveries plunge 74% in the first four months of 2026. Xiaomi is entering a segment where the pioneers are already bleeding momentum.
The pivot reflects deepening pain in Xiaomi’s core EV business. Every vehicle it builds loses about $5,600, and the division posted an operating loss of 3.1 billion yuan in the first quarter — on revenue of 19.9 billion yuan. The broader adjusted net profit at the conglomerate collapsed 43% to 6.1 billion yuan, hammered by soaring memory-chip costs that the smartphone side can barely pass through on handsets mostly priced below $200.
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Delivery numbers paint an equally stark picture. Xiaomi handed over 32,759 vehicles in May — a 10.7% drop month-on-month and a pace that leaves the full-year target of 550,000 units hanging by a thread. To reach that goal, the company would need to deliver roughly 57,500 cars each month from June to December, a full 15% above its all-time monthly record of 50,000 set last December. Analysts at Jefferies have already trimmed their forecast to 495,000 and cut the valuation multiple for the EV unit.
Management has tried to stem the bleeding with Xiaomi’s largest-ever share buyback — up to 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, launched at the start of June. By mid-month, roughly 30 million shares had been repurchased, but the program has failed to arrest the slide. Short sellers still hold about 9% of the free float, betting on further downside. The stock’s relative strength index has dropped to 26.9, a level that technical analysts consider deeply oversold, yet no sustained recovery has materialised.
On the software front, Xiaomi is preparing HyperOS 4, based on Android 17 and built from scratch after the company scraped the old MIUI code. President Lu Weibing has slated the system for a Chinese launch in late summer, with a global rollout beginning in October. The new operating system is expected to debut alongside the Xiaomi 18 smartphone series in September. The Pro models are slated to reach Europe by the end of that month, skipping the usual six-month delay that has historically plagued the region.
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The company also announced a revamped battery supply chain for the Sky Nomad. Sunwoda will provide 60% of the packs, while CALB takes the remaining 40% — a move designed to cut costs and reduce single-source risk as production scales.
Investors' next major test comes on June's delivery figures, due before the second-quarter earnings report on 26 August. Until then, the market will weigh whether the Sky Nomad bet can ever deliver the turnaround that the buyback could not.
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