Modern new energy vehicles have long transcended the basic role of transportation. Once-luxury onboard features—including vehicle refrigerators, premium seats, coffee makers, floor heating, outdoor kitchen systems and shower setups—have now become mainstream. Automakers have pushed the in-car comfort competition to its extreme. However, confined by limited interior space, these fully loaded "mobile luxury apartments" have hit a bottleneck in user experience.
With no room left for interior iteration, the evolution of new energy vehicles has shifted from piling up in-car configurations to expanding external application scenarios. This is precisely why factory-installed roof tents have become a promising track targeted by both Xiaomi and Huawei, upgrading vehicles from enclosed mobile living spaces to expandable outdoor lofts.
Recently, the Xiaomi SkyNomad and Huawei Xiangjie G9 were officially launched almost simultaneously, with factory-fitted roof tents as their core selling points. Ironically, Li Auto has long advocated the concept of a "mobile home" and focused on optimizing in-car living experiences, yet it is Xiaomi and Huawei—new entrants in the automotive industry—that have extended the "mobile home" scenario from the cabin to the roof and unlocked outdoor travel possibilities.
A seemingly simple roof tent has opened up a brand-new competitive track for the new energy vehicle industry and completely reshaped the in-car lifestyle. This article analyzes this industrial transformation from three dimensions: product differentiation, user experience advantages and industrial strategic logic.
Two Roof Tent Solutions: Xiaomi’s Minimalist Practicality vs. Huawei’s Sophisticated Versatility
The two new models with factory roof tents share highly consistent product positioning and body specifications. The first model of Xiaomi’s SkyNomad series, codenamed Kunlun N3, features a boxy, rugged body design with a length of over 5.2 meters and a wheelbase of approximately 3.1 meters. It offers 6-seat and 7-seat layouts, positioned officially as a smart SUV with expandable ultra-large space, distinct from the SU7/YU7 series focused on driving performance.
The Huawei Xiangjie G9 boasts more precise dimensional data: 5206×2050×1897mm in body size, and an extended length of 5377mm with an optional storage box, paired with a 3160mm wheelbase. Despite their similar body length, wheelbase and roof available area, the two brands adopt two drastically different design philosophies for their roof tents: minimalist and practical for Xiaomi, and complex and all-round for Huawei.
Xiaomi’s roof tent follows a traditional outdoor design logic with a tilted front-to-rear profile and an upright, spacious interior. It is supported by two hydraulic struts under the roof with a simple and intuitive structure. Its biggest highlight is the ultra-sleek stowed design: the tent fits closely to the roof with almost no protrusions, preserving the vehicle’s original streamlined silhouette and reducing wind noise and energy consumption during daily driving. That said, its four-corner support structure means its lateral wind resistance remains to be verified in real-world scenarios.
In contrast, the Huawei Xiangjie G9 adopts a far more sophisticated design with an innovative dual-shape, four-mode structure that maximizes playability and practicality. It features a basic triangular sloped roof and can be secondarily lifted to form a square spacious area. When fully deployed, double support poles and the roof form a stable double inverted triangle structure. The multi-component support system greatly enhances body rigidity, delivering superior wind resistance, shock resistance and overall stability compared with conventional roof tents.
According to Huawei’s public patent documents, the vehicle’s movable roof panel, combined with the dual-layer lifting structure, enables four flexible usage modes: basic triangular sloped roof, triangular roof with movable top, full square space, and square space with observation top. The tower-like observation roof is a standout feature, allowing occupants to enjoy panoramic outdoor scenery directly from the tent and immerse themselves in nature during camping stops.
It is worth noting that electric roof lifting technology is not entirely new. The Ford Jiangling Bronco was one of the first mass-produced domestic models equipped with an electric lift roof, which can be fully opened in 30 seconds, increasing interior height by 36 centimeters when paired with folded seats. However, Xiaomi and Huawei have taken this technology a step further: instead of merely expanding interior vertical space, they integrate the lifting structure with a dedicated roof tent, realizing exclusive roof space and normalized outdoor scenarios for the first time.
Factory-Installed Roof Tents: Beyond Solving Camping Accommodation Pain Points
Many consumers question why factory roof tents are necessary when most new energy vehicles support fully flat-folding seats to form an in-car bed. However, the bed-mode design has inherent flaws in real outdoor travel scenarios.
When the front and rear seats are folded flat for sleeping, the entire interior storage space is occupied, leaving no room for luggage or outdoor equipment—especially problematic for travel parties of two or more. Additionally, the repetitive workflow of folding seats, organizing luggage and laying out bedding at every stop is time-consuming and labor-intensive, severely compromising travel experience.
The integrated factory-installed roof tent completely optimizes the camping process: users can deploy the tent with one click upon arrival without adjusting interior layouts or tidying luggage, achieving instant outdoor accommodation. Compared with retrofitted roof tents, factory solutions deliver all-round superior value in three core aspects.
First, guaranteed compliance and safety. Aftermarket roof tent modifications are popular among outdoor enthusiasts but suffer from persistent issues of non-compliance, potential safety hazards and invalid warranties. Unauthorized modifications alter the roof’s load-bearing structure, easily causing body abnormal noise and structural deformation, which are not covered by official vehicle warranties. Furthermore, insurance companies may refuse compensation for accidents caused by illegal modifications. In contrast, factory roof tents are developed synchronously with the entire vehicle, undergoing precise load-bearing point calibration, body rigidity verification and full wind tunnel testing, with all risks and faults covered by official after-sales services.
Second, superior daily practicality. Most retrofitted roof tents are extremely bulky when stowed, significantly increasing vehicle height. This leads to higher wind noise and energy consumption, and makes the vehicle unable to access standard underground parking garages, severely limiting daily usability. Xiaomi and Huawei’s factory tents adopt integrated optimized designs with minimal height increment after storage, balancing outdoor functionality and daily commuting adaptability.
Third, in-depth vehicle system integration. Aftermarket tents are independent hardware with no access to vehicle intelligent systems. Factory-installed roof tents can seamlessly connect with the vehicle’s air conditioning, ambient lighting and external power supply systems, enabling constant temperature control, customized lighting and stable power supply inside the tent. This intelligent and comfortable camping experience is unattainable for modified solutions.
Conclusion: Roof Tents Usher in a New Era of Automotive Lifestyle Competition
The new energy vehicle market is trapped in severe configuration homogenization. Long cruising ranges, 3-second-level acceleration, advanced intelligent driving systems, luxury in-car comfort configurations and multi-seat layouts have become standard industry offerings, failing to impress fatigued consumers.
Though seemingly a simple accessory, the factory roof tent serves as a key differentiation breakthrough for automakers escaping homogeneous competition. Its core value lies not in hardware upgrades, but in scenario innovation and lifestyle reconstruction. Traditional configurations create comfortable transportation tools, while roof tents transform vehicles into movable outdoor living spaces.
As Lei Jun stated, luxury in-car configurations and large-size multi-seat layouts are no longer exclusive advantages. The Xiaomi SkyNomad series is built for independent, life-oriented users who pursue diverse outdoor experiences.
The era of all-round comfortable "family daddy cars" is fading. Modern new energy vehicles are now competing for lifestyle empowerment. The compact factory roof tent marks the beginning of the automotive industry’s shift from indoor commuting tools to outdoor lifestyle carriers. Future vehicle competition will no longer focus on acceleration, range and basic comfort configurations, but on how many diverse life scenarios a car can unlock for users.
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