Chinese Cell Phone Company’s Electric Car Is Officially The Fastest Production Sedan In History

China’s technology giant Xiaomi is typically known for making cell phones though the company’s first automobile, the $30,000 Speed Ultra 7 sedan, made its debut last March and has been selling like hotcakes. The car is billed as a competitor to Tesla’s Model S and Porsche’s Taycan, so naturally the company pushed to build a performance model to go head-to-head with the Model S Plaid and Taycan Turbo GT performance models as well, the SU7 Ultra (yes that’s Speed Ultra 7 Ultra). Equipped with an incredible 1,527 all-electric horsepower from three Xiaomi 35,000 RPM HyperEngine V8s electric motors, this is truly a car built for speed. In fact, during a recent track test of the car it hit a GPS-indicated 215 miles per hour, making it the fastest four-door in the history of the automobile. 

The fastest thing you can buy with four wheels and four doors right now is Lucid’s Air Sapphire hyper-sedan at 205 miles per hour, though faster sedans have been made in the past, including Bentley’s Flying Spur W12 (206 MPH) and the Maserati Ghibli 334 Ultima (208 MPH). China has them all beat. 

This is an impressive leap forward in top speed for the electric automaker, and proves that China really isn’t messing around when it comes to EVs. Perhaps even more impressive is that Xiaomi customers can buy this much performance (and room for four adults) for just $72,800, compared to the Air Sapphire’s $249,000 price tag.

Remember what I said about this new top speed record being set during a track test? Oh yeah, that track was the Nürburgring, and it set a new record for electric production vehicles while it was there. With the car’s optional Racing Package, including sticky tires and absolute mountains of aerodynamic downforce, the SU7 Ultra set a lap time that not only beat Porsche’s mega sedan, but Rimac’s Nevera electric hypercar as well. Running a 7-minute 4.957-second time, the hot Xiaomi is also quicker than the gasoline-powered track machines, Porsche Cayman GT4 RS and Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro. For the record, a Nevera will run you $2.2 million, while a GT4 RS is $164,000 if you can find one at MSRP with no options (I’m pretty sure that doesn’t exist). That track package includes the car’s wild aero wings as well, so it’s entirely possible that a non-Track Package car would produce an even higher top speed! 

The electric sedan is still a good ways off the outright production record at the ‘Ring, a 6-minute 29-second run by the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar, but if EV speed technology keeps developing at this pace it might not be long before that lap record is in danger as well.