The Xiaomi SU7 (Image source: Xiaomi)
There were talks that Xiaomi was going to be making an electric car and it's finally here. It's called the SU7 (pronounced as Sue-Qi, Qi is Chinese for seven) and with it, Xiaomi wants to go up against the likes of Porsche and Tesla.
Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun spent three hours presenting the car and said that the car was developed at a cost of over 10 billion yuan (~S$1.87 billion). He also said that the SU7 will be measurably better than the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S – its main rivals.
Xiaomi will offer the SU7 in two versions: SU7 and SU7 Max. The base model will be rear-wheel drive and have an output of 295hp and 400Nm of torque. This will let it go from 0 to 100km/h in just 5.28 seconds. The battery capacity is 73.6kWh and the claimed range under the CLTC (China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle) standard is 668km.
(Image source: Xiaomi)
The SU7 Max will be all-wheel drive and have two motors that put out 570hp and 838Nm of torque. 0-100km/h takes just 2.78 seconds and 0-200km/h happens in just 10.67 seconds. These figures, Xiaomi is keen to point out, are better than the Taycan Turbo. The SU7 Max has a larger 101kWh battery and the claimed range under the CLTC standard is 800km.
Not only is the SU7 faster than its contemporaries, but it will also have more space. It's roughly the size of a BMW 5 series but the carrying capacity of the boot is 517L and the frunk has an additional 105L of space.
The SU7 will also have a lot of tech. Each SU7 will be powered by two NVIDIA Drive Orin chips and the two cars drove themselves onto the stage during the unveiling. Lei Jun said that Xiaomi aims to complete autonomous driving tests across 100 cities in China by the end of 2024. However, it remains to be seen if Chinese authorities will allow users to employ its autonomous driving capabilities on the roads.
The interior is generally quite conventional-looking. The main display is 16.1 inches and has 3K resolution. (Image source: Xiaomi)
The infotainment system runs HyperOS (Xiaomi's new mobile OS) and will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8295 processor and reportedly takes just 1.49 seconds to boot. The central display is a whopping 16.1 inches in size and has 3K resolution. The sound system has 23 Dolby Atmos speakers.
Based on first impressions, the SU7 sounds very promising and if Xiaomi can deliver it at an attractive price like most of its other products, other EV makers should be worried. What's also interesting to me is that it didn't pursue an SUV, which is arguably the most popular type of car today.
Pricing and availability
Xiaomi didn't share any pricing and availability details of the SU7 at the launch event. It only said that mass production will be in the first half of 2024 and that the car will compete against the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S, so don't expect it to be cheap. Some reports expect prices of the SU7 to start around 300,000 yuan (~S$55,748). Xiaomi also didn't say if it will be coming to other markets outside of China.
Source: Engadget, Car News China
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