Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has cracked open the door to the return of one of 2025’s most-discussed EV paint colors. In a June 23, 2026 Weibo post — reshared from a fan photo of a deep, low-saturation blue YU7 — Lei wrote that “Abyss Blue really is beautiful, but very few people chose it. If you all really love it, we can think about bringing it back.” The casual line landed as a soft policy hint, and within hours Chinese EV forums had filled with screenshots, polls and renders begging Xiaomi to reopen the order book.
Why the Color Was Pulled in the First Place
The Made-in-China YU7 launched on June 26, 2025 with nine factory shades. By January 2026 — barely six months in — three of the longer-tail finishes were quietly removed from the configurator: Abyss Blue, Lava Orange and Danxia Purple. According to dealer briefings reported by IT Home and Sina Auto, the Abyss Blue pearlescent finish needed extra spray-paint passes, added roughly 300 RMB ($41) of cost per car, and sat well below the volume colors in take rate. With YU7 demand still running ahead of supply, factory planners simply prioritized the shades that moved metal fastest off the Changping line.
Lei Jun’s “Listening CEO” Playbook
What makes the move interesting beyond the color chart is the operating model behind it. Xiaomi is using the same direct-to-user posture for cars that it built for phones: poll the community in public, listen to the noisy edge cases, and reverse hard manufacturing calls if the data warrants it. Three paths are now circulating in the Chinese press — a limited 500-1,000 unit special edition, a permanent configurator return at a 3,000-5,000 RMB premium, or an anniversary relaunch tied to the YU7’s first delivery birthday on June 28. None is confirmed, but Xiaomi rarely puts the CEO’s name on a “let’s consider it” without an SKU plan already in motion.
Why Western EV Watchers Should Care
The Abyss Blue saga captures a structural gap between how Made-in-China EV brands and Western incumbents treat the long tail of customer preference. Where Ford or Volkswagen typically write off a low-take-rate paint as a sunk cost, Xiaomi is publicly re-voting on it with its own buyers. iEVChina’s full report details the original nine-color launch lineup, the three relaunch scenarios in play, and how the “Listening CEO” model is increasingly defining how China’s premium EVs get built and sold.
Source: Autohome.com
Comments are closed.