Xiaomi wants to show that its electric sedan can do anything that Porsches and Teslas can.
The Chinese electronic giant’s SU7 Ultra just demolished the lap record for a four-door vehicle at the Nürburgring. The lightning-quick is just a prototype, so the mark doesn’t count, but the company plans to make an official run at the record sometime next year.
Xiaomi announced Tuesday that the upcoming high-performance version of its first sedan was able to circle the motorsports complex’s notorious 12.9-mile Nordschleife loop track—nicknamed “The Green Hell”—in 6:48:874 minutes. That time bested the circuit’s official record by nearly 20 seconds. That mark was set by the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT earlier this year when it circled the winding 12.9-mile course in 7:07.55 minutes. Before that, the record belonged to a Tesla Model S Plaid completed the go around the track in 7:25.23 minutes.
The SU7 Ultra may have shattered the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT’s record but it won’t be going into the Nürburgring record book—at least not yet. That’s because the EV was just a prototype, something clear from the video the company shared of the record-setting run. Just after the 4:00 minute mark of the clip, the EV’s accelerator pedal temporarily fails, something that (hopefully) won’t be an issue on the finished sedan. The Nürburgring records that really matter—or at least are the ones that brands brag about loudest—are for production models.
As impressive as the SU7 Ultra’s performance may have been at the racetrack, it didn’t come out of nowhere. Ever since the variant was announced earlier this summer, Xiaomi has made clear that its super sedan would make a run at the Nürburgring record. While this may have sounded like marketing hype at the time, the SU7 Ultra also has all the making of a boundary-pushing EV. The production version will feature a tri-motor powertrain that produces 1,548 hp and is able to rocket from zero to 60 mph in 1.97 seconds and hit a top speed of 217 mph. That’s why the company will require drivers to pass a test before they can buy the vehicle.
At the time Xiaomi outlined a two-phase strategy for setting the new mark. Setting the unofficial mark sometime this fall was the first part, and targeting the second sometime next year was the second. We have a feeling the company has a chance at actually achieving its goal.
