Credit：Xiaomi
Xiaomi announced Tuesday the prototype of SU7 Ultra, a hypercar variant of its first EV model SU7, completed its lap speed challenge on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, achieving a time of 6'46"874 and thereby breaking the seven-year-old fastest four-door car lap record at the Nürburgring. This marks a splendid milestone for Xiaomi EV, just three years into its journey.
”As a newcomer to the automotive industry, Xiaomi has shown great determination and courage by taking on the Nürburgring challenge with its first car,” Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said in a post at Chinese social media Weibo Tuesday.
The Nürburgring Nordschleife is renowned worldwide for its extreme difficulty, complexity, and challenge, making it a dream venue for testing vehicle performance, tuning, and reliability among global car enthusiasts. Since 2014, only seven pure electric vehicles have made it onto the Nürburgring list. Xiaomi EV officially announced its intention to compete on the Nürburgring track in July, intending to become the "fastest four-door electric car at the Nürburgring within ten years." Xiaomi EV's challenge plan is divided into two phases: the first phase involves using a prototype car to challenge the non-production lap records at the Nürburgring in October 2024; the second phase aims to use a production model to officially target the production car lap records at the Nürburgring in 2025.
Xiaomi unveiled SU7 Ultra prototype in August. The variant can go 0-100 kilometer/hour (km/h), or 0-62 mph, in a scorching 1.97 seconds, and features a top speed of over 350 (217.48 mph), along with an acceleration from 0-100 km/h in 1.97 seconds (0-60 mph in around 1.9 seconds), and 1,548 horsepower. It generates a remarkable maximum downforce of 2145kg, enabling exceptional grip and stability during high-speed maneuvers.The all-carbon exterior design of SU7 Ultra prototype ensures lightweight construction, thus contributing to a weight reduction of 500 kilograms.
Xiaomi said in August the production version of SU7 Ultra will maintain most of the rest of its current tech, including three V8s electric motors and 800V architecture powered by CATL’s fast-charging Qilin II batteries that can recharge from 0-100% in twelve minutes.
At an event Tuesday, Lei called the mass-produced SU7 Ultra a sedan powered by top tech. and someChinese media commented the variant is "suitable for both street and race." Xiaomi started presales of SU7 Ultra that day with a price of RMB 814,900 (US$114,200). The car will hit the market in March, 2025. Initial signs showed it has triggered enthusiam among Chinese consumers. Xiaomi’s auto unit said orders topped 3,680 units within 10 minutes since the presale started.
Xiaomi officially launched SU7 on March 28, with starting price cheaper than its major competitor: Tesla’s affordable Model 3. CEO Lei presented that day SU7 has a layered pricing since it has three variants. The standard SU7 costs RMB215,900 (US$29,872), and the Pro and Max version are priced at RMB245,900 and RMB299,000, respectively. Lei said the SU7 is RMB30,000 cheaper than Model 3, which starts at RMB245,900 in China.
Xiaomi started presales for SU7 on the day of launch and offered a hand of freebies worth of up to RMB22,000, such as Nappa leather seats and a built-in fridge, to anyone who place the order of the Standard and the Pro version by April 30. The company disclosed at Chinese social media Weibo that it received more than 10,000 preorders in just four minutes since the launch, and preorders topped 50,000 within 27 minutes. These preorders come from customers who had paid a deposit of RMB5,000 that is refundable within seven days since the order is effective.
As of September, Xiaomi has maintained monthly delivery of more than 10,000 units for a fourth straight month. At the beginning of this month, the company reiterated its delivery target of 100,000 EVs for the year is expected to be met in November, a month ahead of original schedule.
