Xiaomi SU7 Debuts in China As Tech Giant’s First EV Model

The all-new Xiaomi SU7 lands in China as the brand's first EV model

Besides Huawei and Baidu, yet another Chinese tech giant has also meddled into the automotive industry, this time being the renowned smartphone maker Xiaomi. Launched today into the Chinese stiff EV market is Xiaomi’s first-ever EV model, dubbed the SU7.

Codenamed MS11, the SU7 measures 4,997 MM long, 1,963 MM wide, 1,440 MM tall, with a wheelbase of 3,000 MM – thus putting it in the same segment as the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S. More importantly, thanks to its sleek and sporty design, the SU7 boasts a drag coefficient of only 0.195, allowing for better EV range and drive performance.

Design-wise, Xiaomi has employed the help of former BMW design boss Chris Bangle, who served as the design consultant for the SU7. As a result, the SU7 sports a very familiar front face, with its LED headlights and front bumper design inspired by several McLaren models. Unlike most Chinese EVs, however, the SU7 does not come with flushed or hidden door handles, plus it rides on ‘normal-looking’ wheels with no aerodynamic covers installed.

At the back, this sleek EV saloon gets a single taillight unit featuring a full-width LED bar with C-shaped ends, with a small ducktail lip spoiler crowning above it. While the top half of its tailgate looks clean, the lower half sports some stylish black-hued accents and what appears to be a rear diffuser, flanked by a pair of side air vents.

As expected, the SU7 boasts a slew of hi-tech onboard equipment and amenities

Under its sporty and sleek facade, the SU7 hides some of the best cabin tech the world has ever seen, as expected from a globally-renowned tech company. For starters, the car runs on Xiaomi’s proprietary HyperOS powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, which covers both its 16.1-inch main infotainment unit as well as the onboard drive system. Drivers, on the other hand, get both the slim digital instrument cluster and the expansive head-up display (HUD) with integrated navigation display.

For rear passengers, there’s a pair of dedicated mounting points for iPads located behind the two front seats. Known as CarloT, this third-party integration allows passengers to connect their iPads to the car, which in-turn grants them control of some vehicle functions like climate controls, seat adjustments, and media playback.

Underpinning Xiaomi’s new 800-volt Modena EV architecture, the SU7 comes in three powertrain flavours for the Chinese markets, cordially named V6, V6s, and V8s.

Starting with the baseline V6, it gets a single, rear-mounted (RWD) motor setup rated at 295 HP (220 kW) and 400 NM, pushing the car from nought to 100 KM/H in 5.28 seconds. Only featuring a 400-volt battery architecture, the V6 model is juiced by a 73.6-kWh battery pack, which is good for up to 668 KM of EV range, Xiaomi claims.

As for the mid-specced V6s, this model operates with an 800-volt battery, with the same single-motor RWD setup now outputting 369 HP (275 kW) and 500 NM. Both its century sprint and battery figures, however, were not mentioned by the Chinese tech giant-turned automaker.

The top-dog V8s model, on the other hand, gets a much peppier dual-motor AWD setup that generates 664 HP (495 kW) and 838 NM, allowing it for a century sprint finish of only 2.78 seconds en route to its Taycan-beating V-max of 265 KM/H. Juice is provided by a sizable 101-kWh battery pack, which grants the SU7 800 KM of maximum EV range – more than the Model S could garner.

Thanks to its 800-volt battery architecture, a 5-minute charge can grant the SU7 V8s up to 220 KM of EV range, though no specific DCFC figures were given by Xiaomi.

Set to be produced at BAIC Group’s production facility in Beijing, the all-new Xiaomi SU7 EV will spearhead Xiaomi’s ambitious goal to become one of the world’s top five automakers in the next 15 or 20 years. With no price tags revealed during its launch, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun preempted that the SU7 wouldn’t be cheap, as expected for a model with the Porsche Taycan locked in its crosshairs.