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Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi revealed the SU7 saloon earlier this year and within 28 days secured over 75,000 sales of its Tesla Model 3 rival. Now a new version called the Ultra, which is merely a prototype at this stage, looks set to take on the fastest EVs on sale.
Xiaomi claims the SU7 Ultra can accelerate from 0 to 62mph in 1.97 seconds (0.8 seconds faster than the dual-motor SU7 Max) and top out at over 217mph while the standard car has a 130mph to speed.
In order to generate the extra straight-line speed, Xiaomi has fitted the SU7 Ultra with three electric motors, with the two large ones confusingly called ‘V8s’ and the smaller one called ‘V6’. In total the motors produce 1,526bhp. Xiaomi hasn’t said what battery the SU7 Ultra will use but we expect the same 101kWh unit as the Max.
The Ultra also gets an uprated braking system to go with the extra punch - courtesy of six-piston AP Racing calipers and huge ventilated discs. Xiaomi says that coupled with the regenerative braking force of the electric motors (0.6G) the Ultra can produce up to 2.36G of braking power.
Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, announced on social media that the Ultra will take on the Nurburgring where it’ll have to beat the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT that completed a 7:07:55 lap in August 2023. While the SU7 Ultra has the German beaten on power by over 400bhp, it’s also lighter by 334kg, at 1,900kg. This has been achieved by using a carbon fibre body, composite components in the chassis plus some weight reduction for the interior such as removing the air-conditioning.
In order for the SU7 Ultra to ‘fly close to the ground’ as Xiaomi puts it, there’s a huge amount of aerodynamic downforce from a revised body. At 217mph, the Ultra will produce 2,145kg of downforce from a huge fixed rear wing combined with a massive rear diffuser, open wheel arches and a splitter that funnels air through the bonnet.
We can expect the SU7 Ultra to take on the Nurburgring in October, although Xiaomi hasn’t said if it’ll put the SU7 Ultra into production, referring to the car as a ‘prototype’. We’ve seen Chinese manufacturers tackle the famous ‘Green Hell’ before, most notably Nio in 2017 with its EP9 electric hypercar that achieved a time of 6mins and 45.9 seconds - although this was done on bespoke tyres, voiding its eligibility for the coveted Nurburgring production car lap record.
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