[RahulNagaraj]

Xiaomi unveiled its SU7 Ultra Prototype earlier this year. The Chinese electronics giant-turned-carmaker announced at the time of its unveiling that the SU7 Ultra will take on the Nurburgring lap record soon.

Now, staying true to its promise, Xiaomi has driven its SU7 Ultra prototype around the Nurburgring and, in the process, has managed to set a new record. The SU7 Ultra prototype is now the fastest four-door car around the famous track. The Xiaomi 4-door super saloon set a lap time of 6:46.87, beating the previous lap record of 7:07.55 set by the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT in August 2023.



The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype comes with three electric motors, producing a total output of 1,526 BHP. The super-saloon claims a 0-62 mph time of 1.97 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph.

The SU7 Ultra, though, is currently a prototype/pre-production vehicle. Hence, it remains to be seen whether or not the final production-spec SU7 Ultra can replicate the timing at a later stage.

Source: AutoExpress

Link to Team-BHP news

[volkman10]

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is the fastest sedan and the one that did the lap is not even comparable to the Taycan.

[Snowcat]

It's a prototype though, doubt the performance will be there in the homolgation unit.

Frankly It's kinda off putting to see a phone company launching cars these days.
Just copy and slap on the EV tech from other companies and away you go.

[starke]

Originally Posted by Snowcat

It's a prototype though, doubt the performance will be there in the homolgation unit.

Frankly It's kinda off putting to see a phone company launching cars these days.
Just copy and slap on the EV tech from other companies and away you go.

Not exactly a copy and slap for this one. Its easier to make an ordinary EV which just does its job with a huge screen and features, but a sports formfactor which can not only go fast at straight lines, but also curves needs hard-work.

Also Xiaomi making this car within 3 years is unbelievably fast considering new architecture including battery (CATL Qilin) and In-house motors (Hyper V8s) is not an easy job where conventional OEMs still doing catchups with long development times.

[rohitoasis]

There is an influencer known as Misha Charoudin who kind of specializes on Nuburgring. He released a video about this. The video has kind of clickbaity title so i have not shared here. But aside from that Video is decently informative and kind of neutral stance.
He is decently informed on all things Nurburgring and is famously known for questioning the autheniticy of the SSC Tuatara land speed record.

Salient points of the video.

The car is barely a four seater because the rear is basically a roll cage. So while calling it four door is correct. It feels far from genuine calling it four door record compared to the Porsche Taycan. (I thought at this point that he was fanboying Porsche)

But beyond that he goes on to praise Xiaomi on its attempt.

The video does not look fabricated because there is enough evidence in the video including car battery SOC, speed etc.
He expects that a faster lap can be set by this car because.

The attempt was on a rainy day. Not ideal for grip.
The driver was taking it easy in some corner exits because of course the grip levels.
The car had issues with debris blocking one of the wheel speed sensors causing issues with the throttle.
So all in all. It was good to see a competitor to the established order. Porsche must step up their game to catch up though. Their time is already 20+ seconds slower. Can you imagine what might be possible once the weather clears up.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Snowcat

Frankly It's kinda off putting to see a phone company launching cars these days.
Just copy and slap on the EV tech from other companies and away you go.

Barely three years in existence and going for Porsche's throat in Nuburgring timings.

It is normal to feel it as off putting.

[Doge]

One look at the car and it's just a pure race car with 4 doors vs the Porsche which is a normal road car. Seems silly to me to compare a car that is not road legal or a production model with the Porsche.

[SR5471]

I wish EV technology was developed and made popular a few decades ago. It is impressive what can be done with electric motors and batteries.

[MotoBlip]

Originally Posted by Doge

One look at the car and it's just a pure race car with 4 doors vs the Porsche which is a normal road car. Seems silly to me to compare a car that is not road legal or a production model with the Porsche.

FYI, the Porsche that set the Nürburgring record was a pre-production model with track-specific mods like a lowered ride height, roll cage, aero kit, among others. I’ll reserve my judgment until all manufacturers in this target space test a road-legal production model.

[nuew]

Originally Posted by MotoBlip

FYI, the Porsche that set the Nürburgring record was a pre-production model with track-specific mods like a lowered ride height, roll cage, aero kit, among others. I’ll reserve my judgment until all manufacturers in this target space test a road-legal production model.

My thoughts exactly. The veteran (Porsche) flew under the radar with roll cage, racing seats, racing compound tyres etc. while the novice (Xiaomi) is getting criticised just because they performed an unbelievable feat. Be it a production version or not, it's an impressive engineering exercise from a 3 year old car manufacturer.

[volkman10]

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra:

[Venkatesh]

Official video

https://youtu.be/5I7M-ZrvawY?si=yXQxAiS9RjycBEnN

[V0rtex]

Am I the only person that thinks that the back ( from the side profile) looks like an Aston Martin Rapide.

[khanak]

Absolutely mind boggling performance for $115,000! The Taycan Turbo GT is $230,000 before checking any boxes.

[greenhorn]

Meanwhile, also Xiaomi
https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/xi...ad-to-crashes/

I'm finding this occuring fairly regularly with manufacturers these days, I think most recently with the gr Yaris. A manufacturer launches a performance car, sets lap records on tracks, advertises it using a lot of racing context and then suddenly something happens on a track and then it's "our cars are not meant for track use'