Xiaomi is Now Building Cars Faster Than Hypercars
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
Right, let's get this straight. For decades, we've been told that to go truly, mind-bending fast around the world's most terrifying racetrack, you needed a few things: a gargantuan gasoline engine, the aerodynamic profile of a cheese wedge, and a team of engineers with names like "Günther" and "Klaus."
Then, a few years ago, the electric wizards showed up and told us batteries were the future. We nodded along. And now, a company best known for making the shiny rectangle in your pocket has decided that not only will it build a car, but it will build a four-door family sedan that casually strolls onto the Nürburgring and sets a time that makes dedicated, multi-million-dollar hypercars look a bit… slow.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
This is the point where you might want to sit down and grab a cold but powerful beverage. Xiaomi, the tech giant, has just sent a prototype of its SU7 Ultra sedan around the Green Hell in 6 minutes and 22.091 seconds. That's not just fast for a sedan. That's not just fast for an EV. That is, and I say this with a wry smile, absurdly, galactically, hilariously fast. Xiaomi didn't just beat its own previous record. The whole team - the engineers and the driver - simply obliterated it, carving off nearly 24 seconds.
This new time plonks the SU7 Ultra prototype into third place on the all-time leaderboard for prototypes. It just leapfrogged the purpose-built Lotus Evija X, a car that looks like it was designed to hunt down TIE fighters. The only things ahead of it are the Volkswagen ID.R, a single-minded electric racing weapon, and the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, a machine so advanced it's practically a spaceship with wheels. For a four-door sedan to be breathing that kind of rarefied air is simply staggering.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
But what is this prototype version, then? It's a stripped-out SU7 Ultra with full carbon fiber bodywork. It has a roll cage, lightweight windows, racing slicks, and nothing else that isn't required for a record-breaking run. The "less is more" recipe has clearly worked. On a grand scale of things, this SU7 is seven seconds quicker than the Mercedes-AMG One - an F1-inspired missile on wheels. It is 40 seconds quicker than the Rimac Nevera and an entire collection of what I thought were very fast Porsches and Lamborghinis.
Now, I'll admit, Xiaomi is making things a tad confusing, in a charmingly chaotic sort of way. They've got two different Nürburgring records they like to talk about. There's this new "prototype" time, and then there's the record for the actual production version of the SU7. The road-legal car you can buy lapped the 'Ring in 7:04.957. While that's slower, it might be even more impressive. Why? Because to get that time, it had to beat the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. And yes, the Croatian electric hyper-thing with a price tag that would make an oil sheik blush was slower than this Chinese sedan. Again.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
My question is: How does a phone company achieve this level of lunacy? Underneath that sleek, Porsche-esque body lies a tri-motor setup pumping out a combined 1,527 horsepower and 1,306 pound-feet of torque. These are not numbers you typically associate with a vehicle that has four doors and comfortable seating. That's enough torque to alter the Earth's rotation if you're not careful.
Of course, a record is one thing, but bragging rights are best served when you can actually sell something resembling the record-breaker. And oh boy, are they. Xiaomi, in a fit of glorious celebration, has announced two special editions. The first is the "Track Package," a surprisingly reasonable option for existing SU7 Ultra owners. For about $14,000, they'll bolt on beefier cooling and brakes, and a suspension tuned on the very track it just conquered. The cherry on top? An unrestricted top speed of 217 miles per hour. That's a fairly spicy upgrade for the price of a decent used hatchback.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
But for the ten most dedicated (and wealthiest) fans in 2025, there is something even more special. It's called the "Nürburgring Edition," and it is wonderfully unhinged. For around $114,000, you get a car that has thrown practicality out the window in the pursuit of speed. The back seats? Gone. In their place sits a proper steel roll cage. It gets unique aerodynamic panels underneath and a few other exterior tweaks to let everyone know you bought the "serious" one. Production is capped at 100 units total, so exclusivity is guaranteed. It's the perfect car for someone whose morning commute involves shaving seconds off their personal best lap time before picking up groceries.
What we're witnessing here is more than just a fast lap. For years, the established titans of the automotive world have been trading blows, refining their art over a century. Now, a tech company has walked onto their playground, picked up the ball, and thrown it clean over the fence. The line between a car company and a tech company is blurring into non-existence, and the result is a four-door sedan that can put legitimate hypercar manufacturers out of business.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
But the bit that really made me sit back and take a long, deep sigh is something that has been bothering me since I learned to drive many, many years ago. Something that has always been the holy grail for car enthusiasts. The mythical "one car" that can do it all. Something that's comfortable for the daily drive, spacious enough for the family, and yet, at the flick of a switch, can transform into a track-shredding monster that frightens supercars. We've all dreamed of it, sketched it on napkins, and argued about it in pubs.
That's why AMG was created; that's why Alpina was so popular for so many years. That's why we always drool over the Black Wing editions from Cadillac - family haulers with a nasty personality barely hiding under the thin layer of paint. Brabus has been the choice for lunatics among us who enjoyed frightening the living daylights out of their kids on the way to school. The search for that automotive unicorn is as old as the automobile itself.
Image Credit: Xiaomi.
And now, it seems it's finally here, but not the way I imagined it. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is electric, it's got four doors, and it's made by a company that also sells a very nice smartphone. The future of speed is here, and it apparently comes with a warranty and an operating system.
