Six minutes, twenty-two seconds. That's long—or really, how little—it took a stripped-out prototype version "China's Apple Car" to lap the 12.9-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife.
This is not the first time that a variant of the Xiaomi SU7 has set a wild lap time at the Nürburgring. Last fall, the same car did the lap in 6:46.874, beating out even the mighty Porsche Taycan Turbo GT (though the two exist in different classes, so it's not a true one-to-one comparison).
Today, however, the Chinese tech giant announced that it's beaten that record by a wide margin. "Under optimal conditions, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Prototype achieved an even faster lap time, improving by 24 seconds to 6:22.091," the automaker announced. That's a new prototype lap record, and it puts the car in third place on the Nordschleife leaderboard.
But the crazy prototype is one thing: the production model is another. And the consumer-focused SU7 Ultra did 7:04.957, the automaker announced recently, officially beating out that Taycan by a good three seconds. To commemorate this achievement, Xiaomi is releasing a Nürburgring Limited Edition version of the SU7, complete with the Track Package and loads of carbon fiber.
Gallery: Xiaomi SU7 Ultra "Nürburgring Limited Edition"
It's priced at 814,900 yuan in China, or about $114,000 at current exchange rates. But anyone in China who's interested probably already has one on order; only 10 will be made in 2025, and 100 will ever be made in total. "The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra 'Nürburgring Limited Edition' represents the ultimate factory-built, road-legal four-door car with championship-level equipment," the automaker said in a statement.
While it can feel hard to care about something sold only in China—for now, anyway—the point is this: the smartphone, tablet and tech giant Xiaomi is very serious about the EV market, and very serious about challenging the best on their home turf. Powered by a 93.7-kilowatt-hour battery and packing three electric motors, the SU7 Ultra packs 1,526 horsepower and can do zero to 60 mph (0-100 km/h) in a little under two seconds. It's nothing less than a direct shot at Porsche and the like.
The news came amid a raft of other announcements today from Xiaomi as it expands further into the EV space, including about the YU7 SUV, a hotly anticipated Tesla Model Y competitor coming soon. Drawing on its experience in the battery and software space, Xiaomi is quickly becoming one of the technology leaders in the automotive sector as well—and clearly, it's got something to prove to the rest of the world.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
