Smart cars, faster phones: Is South Africa entering a new digital era?
Meet the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, a fully electric smart vehicle that has already wowed global audiences and is set to bring that same energy to South African streets in the future. Stylish, smart, and built for speed, the SU7 Ultra isn't just a car, it's a vision of the future in motion.
Designed with Xiaomi's signature precision, the SU7 Ultra fuses cutting-edge tech, breathtaking performance, and modern luxury, capturing the spirit of motorsport while embracing the elegance and sustainability of next-generation electric mobility.
More than a car, a connected lifestyle
Already beloved for its sleek smartphones and smart home innovations, Xiaomi is now accelerating its lifestyle journey in South Africa. Whether you're capturing memories on a Xiaomi 5G smartphone, dimming your lights with a voice command, Xiaomi's connected ecosystem is designed to enhance everyday living with intelligence, style, and ease.
In Q2 of 2025, Xiaomi secured its place as the top smartphone vendor in South Africa, ranking #3 in the market, with a 12% market share and an annual growth rate of 3%. These milestones signal not just strong performance, but deep trust from South African consumers and a growing appetite for premium yet accessible technology.
Power meets poise
Xiaomi SU7 Ultra production model has set the Fastest Electric Executive Vehicle record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a blistering lap time of 7:04.957 minutes. Equipped with the optional track package, Xiaomi SU7 Ultra conquered the legendary circuit on its first attempt, establishing itself as the undisputed leader in high-performance electric vehicles.
Innovation that's premium and for everyone
At the heart of Xiaomi's philosophy is the belief that Innovation is for Everyone, a guiding principle that promises premium design, intelligent features, and environmental responsibility, without the premium price tag.
Whether you're living smart with Xiaomi's home tech, navigating your day with a Xiaomi wearable, you're tapping into a world where performance, sustainability, and design meet to elevate the everyday.
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2 hours ago
- Yahoo
East Africa Metals Inc. Announces MOU for the Development of the Magambazi/Handeni Mining Project in Tanzania
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 15, 2025) - East Africa Metals Inc. (TSXV: EAM) ("EAM" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Ubora Minerals Company Limited ("Ubora") to acquire and develop the Company's Magambazi and Handeni mining project in Tanzania. Ubora is a subsidiary company of Anchises Capital Precious Metal Fund LLC ("Anchises"), which holds 50,200,000 common shares of the Company, representing approximately 18.66% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares. Accordingly, Ubora is a "Non-Arm's Length Party" of the Company, as defined under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. Terms of the MOU include: Cash payment of US$1.0 million upon signing of a definitive agreement that replaces the MOU (a "Definitive Agreement"), in lieu of US$1.7 million owed to EAM by PMM Mining Company Limited ("PMM"). 4% Net Smelter Returns royalty, subject to annual minimum royalty, advanced royalties, and cumulative 10-year guarantee payment terms. Buyout of PMM's interest in the Magambazi/Handeni project. Project development within 48 months after obtaining all necessary approvals and acquiring control of the project, as required by applicable regulatory authorities. A minimum annual production rate of 40,000 ounces of gold within 48 months of commercial production. In October 2020, the Company signed a Share Purchase Agreement and Gold Purchase Agreement with PMM, a Tanzanian private company, to develop the Magambazi mining project. In December 2022 due to PMM's lack of performance, non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the Mining License Agreement respecting the project and a litany of breaches to PMM's agreements with the Company, the Tanzanian Ministry of Minerals suspended PMM's operations at the project site and the renewal of the mining licenses. Since that time EAM's management has been engaged with the Tanzanian government and PMM to resolve issues inhibiting the development of commercial mining operations at Magambazi. In August 2024, the Tanzanian Government intervened again to mediate a resolution to PMM's non-compliance. The Minister of Minerals imposed a process under which EAM and PMM were instructed to engage in discussions and develop an MOU to mutually agree on appointing a third-party developer to advance the Magambazi Project. The MOU and the transaction represented thereunder is subject to a number of conditions, including approval by the Tanzanian Mining Commission and other relevant government authorities, the entering of a Definitive Agreement, and approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. As noted above, Ubora is an affiliate of Anchises, and accordingly the transaction contemplated in the MOU is a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). The transaction is exempt from the formal valuation requirement under MI 61-101 because no securities of the Company are listed on any of the markets specified in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and is exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirement under MI 61-101 because the aggregate fair market value of the transaction does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. About East Africa Metals Inc. The Company's principal assets include a 30% Net Profits Interest in the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mines (collectively "Adyabo Property") and a 70% project interest in the Harvest polymetallic VMS Exploration Project in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. In addition, the Company has a 30% Net Streaming Interest in the Magambazi Mine in the Tanga Region of Tanzania. EAM has invested US$66.8M in African exploration since 2005 and has identified a total of 2.8 million ounces of gold and gold-equivalent resources representing an average discovery cost per ounce of US$24. More information on the Company can be viewed at the Company's website: For further information please contact: Nick Watters, Business DevelopmentTelephone +1 (604) 488-0822Email investors@ Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified using forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", "indicate" or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: timing of receipt of mining permit; timing of mining development; projected heap leach recoveries ; early exploration; the closing of the agreement with the exploration and development company to advance the Magambazi Project or identify any other corporate opportunities for the Company; mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo, Harvest and Magambazi Properties; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africa's management's discussion and analysis for the three months and nine months ended December 31, 2024 and for the year ended March 31, 2024, and East Africa's listing application dated July 8, 2013. Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the timely closing of the financing; the timely execution of the Handeni Property Definitive Agreement and closing thereunder; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the renewal or extension of exploration Licenses; the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The American Car Industry Can't Go On Like This
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. Last year, Ford CEO Jim Farley commuted in a car that wasn't made by his own company. In an effort to scope out the competition, Farley spent six months driving around in a Xiaomi SU7. The Chinese-made electric sedan is one of the world's most impressive cars: It can accelerate faster than many Porsches, has a giant touch screen that lets you turn off the lights at your house, and comes with a built-in AI assistant—all for roughly $30,000 in China. 'It's fantastic,' Farley said about the Xiaomi SU7 on a podcast last fall. 'I don't want to give it up.' Farley has openly feared what might happen to Ford if more Americans can get behind the wheel of the Xiaomi SU7. Ford was able to import a Xiaomi from Shanghai for testing purposes, but for now, regular Americans cannot buy the SU7 or another one of the many affordable and highly advanced EVs made in China. Stiff tariffs and restrictions on Chinese technology have kept them out of the U.S. If things changed, Ford—along with all other automakers in the U.S.—would be in serious danger. Chinese EVs can be so cheap and high tech that they risk outcompeting all cars, not just electric ones. In the rest of the world, traditional automakers are already struggling as Chinese cars hit the market. In Europe, Chinese brands now have roughly as much share of the market as Mercedes-Benz. 'We are in a global competition with China,' Farley said earlier this year. 'And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.' It might sound a bit overblown. American auto executives delivered similar warnings about Japan in the '80s—and Ford's still standing today. But this week, Ford signaled, in unusually clear terms for the auto industry, that it sees China as an existential threat. At a Ford factory in Louisville, Kentucky, Farley announced a series of drastic countermeasures to begin making cheaper electric cars that can compete with Xiaomi and other Chinese companies. The changes are so fundamental that Ford is retooling the assembly line itself—the very thing Henry Ford used to get the world motoring a century ago. Ford's answer to China starts with—what else?—a pickup truck. In 2027, the Louisville plant will produce a new electric truck starting at $30,000. By today's standards, this would be one of the cheapest new EVs you can buy in America. It will cost far less than Ford's current electric truck, the F-150 Lightning Pro, which starts at about $55,000. Plenty of Americans might get excited about a decent, affordable electric truck. But what's more important than the price is how it'll be made. Ford's other EVs, including the F-150 Lightning and electric Mustang Mach-E, were heavily adapted from existing gas-powered models. Those vehicles are built by cobbling together a hodgepodge of individual components that evolved independently of one another over time, like a house that's been slowly renovated several times across decades. Retrofitting a design for a big, expensive EV battery comes with all kinds of compromises, including high costs. Ford realized early on that it was spending billions of dollars on wiring, among other things that its competitors such as Tesla didn't need to deal with, because their electric cars are purpose-built from the ground up. No wonder, then, that Ford's electric division has racked up $2 billion in losses in just the first half of this year alone. Ford's approach with its new truck is more like bulldozing the entire house and starting from scratch. A small team full of former Tesla and Apple engineers, working out of California, designed the process. The new truck will be made with 20 percent fewer parts than a traditional gas vehicle, Ford has said, and half as many cooling hoses. The company has 'no illusion that we have one whiz-bang idea' to keep costs down, says Alan Clarke, Ford's head of advanced EV development, who spent a dozen years as a top Tesla engineer. 'We've had to do hundreds of things to be able to meet this price point.' For Ford, a single $30,000 electric truck is hardly a sufficient answer to China's inexpensive EVs. The bigger development might be the factory itself. Besides adding robots, the company's assembly line hadn't changed much since the days of Henry Ford. At the revamped Louisville plant, Ford is using what it's calling an 'assembly tree' system: three 'branches' where the vehicle's battery and major body parts converge to make the car with fewer parts. By doing so, Ford says, it'll crank out trucks up to 15 percent more quickly than the plant's current vehicles. It's one factory and one vehicle for now, Clarke says, but if successful, this approach could spread throughout Ford. 'It is certainly the future of EV-making, one way or another,' he told me. In some ways, Ford is simply catching up to what China has already been doing. 'Broadly, what Ford announced this week is already being done—just not by them,' Tu Le, the founder of Sino Auto Insights, a research firm, told me. With EVs, the battery became the most expensive part of a vehicle—so carmakers, starting with Tesla, began to rethink how body parts and other components were made and come together, in order to cut costs. China ran with many of those ideas. Ford's plans will be challenging to pull off. China has immense government subsidies, a huge pool of engineering talent, the world's best battery technology, and ultra-low labor costs. (According to Reuters, BYD, the Chinese EV giant, recently advertised a factory position that pays roughly $850 a month.) Meanwhile, Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act just gutted many EV subsidies and incentives that would have helped America catch up to China. Legacy automakers have made big promises before about a forthcoming EV revolution, only to retreat, retrench, and rethink when things got hard, or when they got a pass from environmental regulators. Last year, Ford canceled a large electric SUV, and its current EV lineup is getting old while competitors such as General Motors have been rolling out new models all of the time. Ford's new truck is at least two years away, and China isn't waiting around. Chinese EVs are surging in developing countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Djibouti, and Ethiopia—where more limited gasoline infrastructure and lower EV-maintenance costs make them especially appealing. That competition is bad news for a company like Ford, which builds and sells cars all over the world. Ford's new car is designed to be exported as well, though the automaker won't say where yet. A lot is riding on a $30,000 truck. As Chinese EVs take over the world, keeping them out of the U.S. becomes a tougher and tougher sell. It's not hard to imagine a company like BYD eventually getting the go-ahead to build a factory in the U.S. 'I see a Chinese EV being built in the U.S. within Trump's current term,' Le predicted. Those cars won't be as dirt cheap as they are in China when built with American labor, but they would still be considerably more advanced. Henry Ford's company once reinvented how cars were built. The most alarming possibility for Ford is that it could do so all over again—and somehow, even that might not be enough. Article originally published at The Atlantic Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
South African auto industry hit by job cuts and shutdowns
The South African automotive sector has been grappling with significant challenges, leading to the shutdowns of 12 companies and the loss of more than 4,000 jobs within a span of two years. This troubling development was highlighted by Trade Minister Parks Tau during an auto parts conference, as reported by Reuters. The nation, which has traditionally been a stronghold for automotive firms such as Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, recorded sales of 515,850 locally manufactured cars in 2024. This figure falls substantially short of the South Africa Automotive Masterplan 2035's goal of 784,509 vehicles. A critical issue facing the industry is the high percentage of imported vehicles, which currently stands at 64%. Moreover, the localisation rate, which measures the extent of local assembly, labour, and components, remains stuck at around 39%, significantly below the desired 60% threshold. Tau noted that compounding the industry's woes are the US tariffs that have adversely affected South Africa's R28.7bn ($1.64bn) automotive exports. These tariffs pose a threat to jobs, particularly as some companies have lost contracts in the American market. In response to the tariffs, which were imposed by US President Donald Trump last week at a rate of 30%, South Africa submitted a revised offer for a trade deal with Washington this week. Despite months of negotiations, the two countries have yet to reach a satisfactory trade agreement, leaving South African exports to the US to face the highest tariff rate in sub-Saharan Africa. To address these challenges, the South African government has expanded its incentive scheme for local manufacturing to include electric vehicles (EVs) and related components, added the minister. Stellantis and China's Chery are considering setting up production in South Africa. In July 2025, Stellantis announced plans to expand its South African automotive market presence with the introduction of Leapmotor brand EVs. The first model, the C10 REEV, will be available at select Stellantis dealers starting in September, with more models anticipated to be released in 2026. The South African automotive industry is a critical employer in the country, with 115,000 individuals directly employed and more than 80,000 working in component manufacturing. "South African auto industry hit by job cuts and shutdowns" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
