- Xiaomi is one of China's biggest smartphone brands, and it did what Apple couldn't: Launch its own car.
- The SU7 has been an immediate sales hit, with over 135,000 deliveries in 2024, according to a new report.
- Xiaomi will launch an SUV later this year, which should help it keep its wild sales-growth momentum.
The Xiaomi SU7, known on the internet as "China's Apple car," burst onto the global EV scene with little notice in December 2023. It’s proving sedans can still sell well, at least in China, even as the global market shifts toward crossovers and SUVs. The SU7 is the smartphone giant's only EV, but it’s proved very popular, selling at least 20,000 units monthly for the last four months straight.
Gallery: Xiaomi SU7 2024
CnEVPost reports that Xiaomi delivered over 135,000 vehicles in 2024. It doesn't expect growth to stop there, either. The company is targeting 300,000 sales in 2025. Xiaomi plans to achieve this by adding a second model to its lineup, the YU7, a high-riding crossover sibling to the SU7. The YU7 should prove even more successful than the sedan, with impressive range, charging and performance specs. Plus it's got a great design, with more than a passing resemblance to a certain Maranello-made super SUV.
While closer in size to the Tesla Model S than the Model 3, the SU7 is priced to undercut the latter, which sounds like a great deal given that it's a bigger car. In China, the SU7 costs just under $31,000 (around $1,000 less than a Model 3). The range-topping, bonkers-quick, 1,500-horsepower SU7 Ultra has a price tag of around $114,000. This variant was specifically designed to dethrone the Porsche Cayman Turbo GT around a lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
The SU7 beat another hot new electric sedan on the Chinese sales charts, the Xpeng P7+, which is about the same size but undercuts Xiaomi on price. The P7+ sold around 20,000 units combined in December and January, as per CnEVPost.
In base Standard trim, the SU7 has a 73.6 kilowatt-hour battery. The midrange Pro gets a 94.3 kWh pack and the top Max model offers 101 kWh of energy, with even larger-capacity batteries planned for release this year. The two smaller packs feature a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, while the larger pack is of the nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC) variety. It gives the SU7 Max a claimed CLTC range of up to 497 miles (800 kilometers).
The Ferrari Purosangue’s Chinese electric lookalike, the Xiaomi YU7, has the same wheelbase and overall body length as the SU7. But it’s been designed to attract SUV buyers who prefer a raised driving position and a roomier interior. The platform is the same, and we expect the motors and batteries to be the same, too. Official specs haven’t been confirmed yet. The YU7 probably won’t get a 1,500-hp Ultra model, though, as that’s reserved for the track-focused sedan.
With amazing momentum and a new crossover heading to showrooms soon, Xiaomi looks set to achieve its ambitious yearly sales figure. It currently only sells cars in China, but it has showcased the SU7 outside the People’s Republic, including in Europe. Xiaomi says it intends to sell vehicles in Europe in the future, although there’s no clear timeline for its debut on the continent. Ford CEO Jim Farley drove an SU7 for six months, and he liked it so much that he said he wanted to keep driving it. Clearly, the company has found a winning formula. Now, it's going to try to press its advantage with new markets and new models.
