Another Phone on Wheels? Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Might Actually Be Good
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
Xiaomi, a company I mostly associate with those surprisingly decent phones and robot vacuums that occasionally try to eat my socks, has decided that making smartphones simply isn't challenging enough. They've ventured into the shark-infested waters of electric cars. First, they gave us the SU7 sedan, which, against all my better judgment, didn't immediately fall apart. And now, they've pulled the silk sheet off its bigger sibling: the YU7. It's an electric SUV, and it's squaring up to, you guessed it, the Tesla Model Y. Oh, this should be fun.
When I hear "mid-to-large size electric SUV," my eyes usually glaze over faster than a donut in a police station. But Xiaomi seems to be throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this YU7. The YU7 stretches nearly 16.4 feet long, over 6.5 feet wide, and stands about 5.3 feet tall. That's a noticeable chunk bigger than the current Model Y, meaning there's more room for more of whatever it is families put in SUVs these days. The wheelbase is a generous 9.8 feet, which should translate to "limo-like legroom" in marketing speak, or "enough space not to hear the kids ask 'are we there yet?' for an extra five minutes" in parent speak.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
It comes in nine colors, including a green "inspired by Colombian emeralds" and the usual orange and metallic titanium. You can get it with 19-inch or 20-inch wheels, and it weighs somewhere between a hefty 4,718 pounds and a truly substantial 5,423 pounds, depending on how much battery and electric cleverness you opt for. They've even got those inward-folding electric door handles with ambient lighting and UWB tech, so your smartphone becomes the key.
From the outside, it actually is quite impressive. Yes, it looks very much like the Ferrari Purosangue with Mclaren headlights slapped on. I tried not to like it but I have failed. Miserably. And now I can't stop looking at it. Although Xiaomi itself wants the YU7 to compete with the Model Y, I'm seeing more and more similarities to the Ferrari's first SUV - but on that later.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
Step inside, and Xiaomi really wants you to know this is a "luxury" machine. The entire cabin is swathed in leather. The front seats are "zero gravity" Nappa-wrapped affairs that recline to 123 degrees and offer 10-point massage functions. Perfect for when you're stuck in traffic and contemplating the meaning of life, or just need a good pummeling after trying to decipher the charging instructions at a new station. Even rear passengers get electrically adjustable seats and their own little 6.7-inch touchscreen. Because heaven forbid, anyone has to talk to each other.
The dashboard? Dominated by a 1.1-meter-wide "HyperVision" display made of three Mini LED screens. That's 3.6 feet of screen! It's powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, boots up in 1.35 seconds (quicker than my laptop, annoyingly), and gets over-the-air updates in 15 minutes. Impressive, if slightly terrifying.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
What about the go-bits? There are three flavors. The entry-level YU7 RWD (Rear-Wheel Drive) gets a single motor pumping out a perfectly adequate 315 horsepower and 389 lb-ft of torque. It'll shuffle from 0 to 62 mph in just under 5.9 seconds, which is brisk enough, and tops out at 149 mph. Then there's the YU7 Pro AWD (All-Wheel Drive), with dual motors mustering a combined 489 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque. This one hustles to 62 mph in 4.27 seconds, top speed still 149 mph.
But the one that got me hooked, the big daddy, is the YU7 Max AWD. It unleashes a mighty 681 hp and 639 lb-ft of torque. Nought to 62 mph? A smidge over 3.2 seconds. Top speed? A hair-ruffling 157 mph. Not bad for a company that, until recently, I thought only made fitness trackers. And curiously similar to Ferrari Purosangue's stats - the Italian V12 pumps out 715 hp and 528 lb-ft of twisting power, it deals with the 60 mph sprint in 3.2 seconds and tops out at 193 mph. Honestly, if you told me five years ago that one day there would be a Xiaomi electric SUV that looks like a Ferrari, goes like a Ferrari, but costs as little as a half-decent sedan - I'd probably call you names.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, a chap who clearly enjoys a good scrap, says range is paramount. So, all YU7s are built on an 800-volt platform, allowing for "rapid 5.2C charging." In English, this supposedly means you can add up to a claimed 385 miles of range (CLTC, mind you, so let's see what happens on a cold Tuesday in Pittsburgh) in just 15 minutes. The RWD model gets a 96.3 kWh LFP battery, good for a CLTC range of about 519 miles. The Pro AWD uses the same pack for a claimed 478 miles. The top-tier Max AWD has a 101.7 kWh NCM battery, offering a CLTC range of 472 miles. For context, Tesla's Model Y in China offers CLTC ranges of around 368 and 447 miles. So, on paper, Xiaomi is bringing the battery beef.
Thankfully, they haven't skimped on the safety stuff, which is reassuring when you're piloting a 2.5-ton projectile. There's a Nvidia Drive AGX Thor chip with 700 TOPS of computing power for the assisted driving systems (which, by the way, are Xiaomi's own end-to-end developed system, complete with LiDAR and 4D mmWave radar). Air suspension should keep things comfy.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
The vehicle structure sounds like it was designed by a medieval armorer: a "2200 MPa ultra-high-strength steel integrated roll cage," a "20-in-1 aluminum die-cast front frame," and a "steel-aluminum hybrid body dubbed an 'armor cage'." The battery pack even has a "bullet-resistant coating." Are they expecting trouble? Interestingly, the YU7's debut was reportedly nudged back from an earlier April slot after a safety protocol review following an incident with one of their autonomous test vehicles. Good to know they're double-checking their homework.
Xiaomi is pitching this as a "luxury performance SUV" for the "elite of the times." Quite the statement. As for the price, well, they're being coy. Details are promised for a launch event in July 2025. Yes, next month - not in two years. CEO Lei Jun has, however, swatted away rumors of a starting price of around 199,000 RMB (roughly $27,600), which, frankly, sounded too good to be true for this much kit. So, expect it to be more. The car itself is slated to hit the market in July, setting up a proper ding-dong with the Model Y, whose sales in China have taken a bit of a dip.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
Look, it's easy to scoff, but Xiaomi's first EV, the SU7 sedan, launched in March 2024, has reportedly racked up over 258,000 deliveries. That's not insignificant. It made Xiaomi the eighth-largest global battery electric vehicle seller in Q1 of this year with just that one model. Deutsche Bank reckons Xiaomi could shift 100,000 YU7s in 2025, on top of 280,000 SU7s. That's ambitious, especially as SU7 customers are currently facing wait times of 40 to 50 weeks. Clearly, making phones is a tad different from churning out two-ton electric behemoths.
Mr. Jun isn't shy about comparing the YU7 to Tesla, claiming his creation is "way more competitive." That 800-volt charging platform, adding a claimed 385 miles in 15 minutes, is a direct poke at the Model Y, which, according to Jun, takes 27 minutes to go from 10% to 80%. If those numbers hold up in the real world, that's a genuine selling point. The entry-level YU7 RWD boasts that 519-mile CLTC range from its 96.3 kWh battery, versus the Chinese Model Y RWD's 368 miles from a 62.2 kWh pack. The YU7 is bigger, almost 8 inches longer than the Tesla, with a more generous frunk (nearly 5 cubic feet!). Despite being about 870 pounds heavier, it matches the Model Y RWD's 0-62 mph time. Witchcraft, I tell you.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
What's the verdict from someone who's seen more vaporware than a vape convention? I honestly came here expecting to unleash my full arsenal of sarcasm on a phone company playing at cars. And yes, the "elite of the times" guff is a bit much, and "bullet-resistant battery" sounds like something out of a Bond film. But honestly? The Xiaomi YU7, on paper at least, looks surprisingly competent. Even impressive.
The specs are strong, the ambition is colossal, and they've clearly learned a thing or two from their first vehicle. The real tests will be the price, the actual real-world range, the build quality over time, and whether they can actually build enough of them. But for a company best known for things that fit in your pocket to roll out something this substantial, with this much apparent tech and performance? You have to give them credit.
