Chinese tech megacorp Xiaomi is back at it again, putting the world on notice that it builds the quickest and fastest electric vehicles anywhere. The old standard for proving the mettle of a sports car, a fast lap of the Nürburgring Nordschliefe in Germany, just got completely obliterated by a normal everyday sedan.
The current record for a production vehicle, held by AMG’s One hypercar, is a once-thought-impossible six-minute 29.09 second lap, putting the F1-inspired machine in rarified air. With an (admittedly modified) version of the production Speed Ultra 7 Ultra sedan, Xiaomi has delivered an even faster track-only prototype, obliterating the AMG One’s record by seven seconds. With some more aggressive Porsche GT3 RS-style aero, lightweight carbon fiber panels, and a set of Pirelli super sticky slicks, the 1,527 horsepower three-motor ran an impressive 6:22.09 lap.
Xiaomi has been running this prototype for nearly a year, with its first unveiling coming last July. The car’s first ‘Ring record came last October when it became the “fastest four-door car in history” at the circuit with a 6:46.874 lap time. After six months of development the car has been upgraded in ways that aren’t immediately clear. Comparing the two laps back to back, however, you can immediately see that top speed was certainly a factor, as the car maxed out along the Döttinger Höhe with a top speed of 201 miles per hour last October, while the new record saw a top speed approaching 213. Perhaps this was accomplished with more power, better gearing, or a reduction in the car’s drag, but speedy it is.
How does it compare?
Xiaomi announced it will sell a 100-unit limited edition SU7 Ultra Nürburgring with all of the track tricks used on this car, including hardcore stuff like harnesses, deleted rear seats, and all the carbon fiber you can handle. The car used here may be merely a prototype at the moment, but it’s a harbinger of presumably street-legal performance to come. According to sources who were in attendance at the announcement event in China, this version will be available for the extremely reasonable equivalent of $113,000.
That sound you hear is a Chinese cellphone company laughing in the face of Porsche’s Taycan Turbo GT and Tesla’s Model S Plaid, not to mention the multi-million dollar Rimac Nevera electric hypercar. There isn’t a single street-legal production car anywhere in the world capable of a lap time like this. If you want to go fast on track, it’s got to be electric, and for the foreseeable future, it’s got to be a Xiaomi.
