The new Xiaomi YU7 has taken the electric luxury SUV segment in China by storm. Days after launch, Xiaomi claimed it had 289.000 orders. The YU7 looks fantastic, it packs loads of power and tech, and prices start at only $39K. The question I get a lot from people less familiar with the Chinese market but aware of the hype is: What is Xiaomi, and where does it come from?
Xiaomi (小米) – which is pronounced like so – is a consumer electronics and smartphone company founded in 2010 and based in Beijing. The founder and CEO is Lei Jun (雷军), born in 1969 in Wuhan. The success of the car business propelled Lei to the 32nd spot on Forbes’ World Billionaires List, with a net worth of $45.1B.
Xiaomi is the third-largest smartphone maker in the world. It also makes everything from hairdryers to laptops, air conditioning systems, water purifiers, sound systems, robo vacuum cleaners, televisions, and much more. The company is also involved in AI, chip development, and robotics. Xiaomi’s stores in China are fantastic, full of tech, noise, and trendy folks. You can pick up a car and a washing machine at the same time.
Xiaomi Auto
In 2021, Xiaomi founded a new subsidiary called Xiaomi Auto (小米汽车) to get into China’s EV boom. The company went to work, and fast. Within 3 years, it had an R&D center, a design studio, a distribution network, and a factory in the southeast of Beijing.
Construction of the first phase of the factory began in 2021, and it was ready in 2023, with an initial annual capacity of 150K cars. Construction of phase 2 started immediately and will be completed later this year, doubling capacity to 300K. Xiaomi recently purchased land for phase 3, with construction set to start next year. Xiaomi calls it the Hyper Factory.
Launch of the SU7 sedan
The SU7 was Xiaomi’s first car, and the highest-anticipated new car ever in China. Months before launch, social media and automotive news were loaded with SU7 stories, discussing everything from power to colors. When it finally launched in early 2024, Xiaomi received hundreds of thousands of orders.
I have been following the Chinese automotive industry since 2001, and I have never seen a brand rise as fast as Xiaomi. Out of nowhere, and with only one model, Xiaomi reached the 40th place (of 107) in China’s brand ranking in April 2024, after just one month of sales. Growth continued like crazy, peaking at the 19th spot in February 2025. Sales have since gone down a bit, to the 22nd spot in May, with 28,013 units sold. What made Xiaomi such a sudden success?
Part of this has to do with its image. Xiaomi is a popular brand in China. It is seen as trendy, young, and cool. That gives Xiaomi a huge advantage over other new EV makers: massive positive brand recognition right from the start. Xiaomi made another smart connection: matching colors and names. Like a Lava Orange car with a smartphone in the same color, or an SU7 Pro matching a Xiaomi Pad 7 Pro.
More Bang For Your Bucks, Or Revs For Your Renminbis
All cars in China are cheap. But Xiaomi offers an almost unbelievable bang for the buck. Initially, its top-spec car was the SU7 Max with 673 hp for $42K. Then, Xiaomi launched the SU7 Ultra, a tri-motor record-breaking monster with 1,548 hp for only $78K.
Chinese consumers like to be connected with everything, all the time. Xiaomi has the brilliantly-named HyperOS operating system. It runs on Xiaomi’s phones, computers, smart-home systems, household appliances, and the car’s infotainment system. All are seamlessly connected via Xiaomi’s ecosystem. When a user gets into a car, the Xiaomi smartphone immediately connects with the infotainment – they are the same, no need to press any button. If the user downloads an app on the infotainment, it will pop up on the user’s phone, and the other way around.
Finally, Xiaomi offers an endless number of official factory accessories. Chinese consumers love electronic trinkets. Most other brands, like Tesla, don’t bother with this kind of stuff, leaving the market to third-party suppliers. But Xiaomi is a consumer electronics business, so it can make everything in-house. The extras include physical buttons, extra dials, an air freshener, walkie-talkies, and a karaoke set with wireless microphones.
This isn’t to say the company is a completely unmitigated success. Xiaomi had trouble scaling up production capacity, and delivery times went up to over a year. Then came a notable large number of crashes with the SU7, widely shared on social media, which led to rising insurance prices, which led to protests by Xiaomi owners. Next, Xiaomi got involved in an embarrassing scandal; a hood accessory billed as an air vent to improve downforce proved to be just a piece of plastic with two holes in it.
That Was Just The Appetizer, The Xiaomi YU7 Is The Main Dish
The YU7 is Xiaomi’s second car. Xiaomi launched it on June 26 at a high-profile event that lasted almost 3 hours. The YU7 is a sporty 5-seat SUV with a long hood, wide fenders, and 19-inch wheels. The wild design is a mix of original Xiaomi, Ferrari Purosangue, and Aston Martin DB7.
It has a black roof, frameless doors, flush door handles, black wheel arches, two rear spoilers, and sporty five-spoke alloy wheels with yellow Brembo brake calipers.
The rear with a sleek light bar and a diffuser.
The SU7 has the largest clamshell hood in the world, spanning 33.5 square feet (77×62.5 inches).
The drag coefficient is 0.245 Cd, helped by various vents and spoilers. The most interesting one channels air from inlets above the front lights to vents in the hood.
There’s even more interesting stuff on the inside.
The interior is clean, sporty, and luxurious, with Nappa leather seats. It has a large-diameter 3-spoke steering wheel, a 16.1-inch touch screen, and a 43-inch wide ‘Xiaomi HyperVision’ panoramic display. The operating system is HyperOS, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 chipset. The system also supports Apple CarPlay and Baidu CarLife.
In the center tunnel are two heated & cooled cup holders and two 80-watt wireless chargers. That’s a record. Most in-car wireless chargers have 30 to 50W. The YU7 is furthermore equipped with a 25-speaker Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 sound system and a 6.6 kW V2L connection to power external appliances or emergency-charge another EV.
The interior is flexible. Both the front and rear seats recline at 135°, and each seat has a leg rest. However, when the front seats are reclined to the max, no one can sit on the rear seats.
Storage is also something that Xioami is very good at.
Chinese brands compete to see who can cram the most storage space in a car. The YU7 does well on this front, with a 0.48 cubic foot glove box, a 0.16 ft³ refrigerator, and a 0.18 ft³ drawer under the rear bench. The trunk measures 24/62 ft³, and it has a 5 ft³ frunk. Think that’s a big frunk? Wait for my next article…
Ok, Let’s Talk About The Tissue Box
Xiaomi announced a fresh extra for the YU7: a $23 factory-official tissue box, which fits neatly behind the touch screen. Tissue boxes in cars are a big thing in China. Every car has one or more, as consumers care a lot about hygiene. Many after-market companies make tissue box accessories, like box-holders and frames. However, factory-supplied tissue accessories are rare. Leapmotor was first, with a built-in tissue box in the rear compartment.
The Specs Are Also More Than Competitive
The YU7 is based on Xiaomi’s Modena EV platform with an 800V architecture. Xiaomi has launched three variants:
YU7: RWD. Power: 315 hp/389 ft-lbs. The top speed is 149 mph, and 0-62 takes 5.88 seconds. The BYD FinDreams Blade LFP battery has a capacity of 96.3 kWh. The consumption is 13.3 kWh/62 miles, and the range is 519 miles. Charging: 10-80% in 21 minutes.
YU7 Pro: dual-motor AWD. The power goes up considerably to 490 hp and 509 ft-lbs. This brings the 0-62 to 4.27 seconds, but the top speed is 149 mph again. The battery is the same, now with a consumption of 14.4 kWh/62 miles and a 478-mile range. Charging: 10-80% in 21 minutes.
YU7 Max: dual-motor AWD. More power! That’s 681 hp and 638 ft-lbs, for a top speed of 147 mph and a 0-62 in 3.23 seconds. The battery is a 101.7 kWh CATL Qilin NMC. Consumption is 14.8 kW/62 miles, and the range is 472 miles. Charging: 10-80% in only 12 minutes.
Xiaomi has developed the ‘Xiaomi HyperEngine’ electric motors in-house. The motor names are great: V8s, V6s Plus, V6s, and V6. The YU7 has one (RWD) or two (AWD) V6s units.
The YU7 and the YU7 Pro have BYD FinDreams Blade LFP batteries. This is a subsidiary of BYD, selling motors and batteries to other car makers.
The ADAS pissing contest continues. Xiaomi’s L2+ system has 25 sensors: 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars, one 4D millimeter wave radar and one lidar. The YU7 has Highway & Urban NOA (Navigate on Autopilot).
The 4D radar is an industry-first. Xiaomi says it improves visibility in bad weather. The computing power comes from a 700 TOPS NVIDIA Drive AGX Thor chipset.
It’s Not Expensive, But You’ll Have To Wait
Chinese consumers can order a YU7 at a Xiaomi dealer, an experience store, or online. The base model costs $35K, the Pro sells for $39K, and the Max for $48K. In China, the YU7 competes with cars like the Avatr 11, the IM LS7, the Luxeed R7, and the Tesla Model Y.
Xiaomi offers four interior color combinations and nine exterior colors: Cambrian Gray, Dawn Pink, Dusk Purple, Emerald Green, Lava Orange, Ocean Blue, Pearl White, Shadow Teal, and Titanium. Popularity has a price: when you order one right now, you will get it in 45 to 62 weeks. Next year, Xiaomi will launch its third model, the YU8, a 3-row SUV with an extended-range powertrain, which will undoubtedly shake up the growing EREV luxury SUV segment in China.
So, there you go. All the basics you need to know about the car and the brand.
World Order’s Xiaomi commercial, which is good for a laugh.
https://youtu.be/z_5gA5tEtm8?si=5qBHIqRq5W8Y1vi-
Reading this sounds like they are fascinating, technologically. Very cool looking; almost like a shooting brake. More tempting to me than anything from Rivian, Lucid or Tesla. Maybe it’s time to move from the States to Mexico where I could actually buy one.
And, wow… the comments on this article got hotly political pretty quickly.
Like beyond how weird it was to see a WW 2 veteran plate on a Japanese built car or knowing a Jewish person driving a German car.
Makes me wish Apple stuck with their plan to make cars. And I hate Apple.
When I saw the pronunciation link, I thought of this article in the NYT in which they say (direct copy/paste, bold mine):
Is that correct?
There are a significant number of JDM and Kei imports here in Tacoma and say Hey is how they all pronounce it, so I’d bet that’s how it’s supposed to be pronounced.
Yeah, I know someone who is Japanese and they told me that’s correct (although I think I’ll always pronounce it like “key” in my head!)
That is indeed correct.
Think it’ll go over well in Missouri? I hear they’re the Xiaomi State.
My vote for COTD!
This could be Apple if they had the vision to partner with a car manufacturing company. Having a seamless integration of software between your phone and car will seal the deal for a lot of people. Kind of how Microsoft is integrating everything between their different tools.
They have the brand, they have the customers, this is just expanding their business. Instead they focused on the carplay next generation that OEMs do not want to use.
When is an SUV a high-riding wagon? I’m not complaining – I think this looks pretty good – it’s just interesting to me that SUVs seem to be slowly morphing back into station wagons and hatchbacks and no one seems to be noticing.
Shh, you’re spoiling it! The plan is to slowly sneak wagons back into the market, like hiding vegitables in a picky kid’s diet. Keep your eyes open for ‘low floor cuvs’, for ‘easy entry’ and ‘increased cargo room’.
It’s something I kinda predicted would happen with the aero requirements of EVs. One of the effects of the EV skateboard platform though is that it nearly always raises the floor by a few inches, so they’re all kinda forced to be a bit bloated vertically.
What I don’t understand is how Chinese Manufacturers can build a car from scratch so quickly and legacy japanese manufacturers seem to really struggle with this. Are they cutting serious corners here or how do they do it?
If I recall, Xaiomi partnered with another older car manufacturer to help them get up to speed, and they are sourcing batteries and other components. This is sort of like Apple following through on their alleged partnership with Hyundai instead of chickening out.
It’s much easier to make these sort of Hail Mary investments when your government has a long term mandate, and is willing to massively subsidize not only you, but your competitors to innovate in a specific direction. It’s both the carrot and the stick. China is basically running their EV industry like a country during wartime, and it seems to be paying off.
Japanese car makers are having a hard time letting go of their hydrogen dreams.
I’m sure these cars aren’t perfect, but they are honest efforts and they will continue to improve.
The main reason is they (Xiaomi) don’t have friction internally – the goal is to make a car, a single car, an EV. There are no people on the floor, in the union, in the management or at C-level who actually in secret prefer an ICE car more. They don’t want their EV cars to fail – they want them to win. So -everyone- is focused on making that happen.
A big contrast with the companies run by ‘petrol heads’ who secretly want EVs to fail and have employees who long back to working on V8s and hate the new ‘vacuum cleaner’ cars. As a result everyone is basically sabotaging the design, production, maintenance etc of US designed EVs.
That makes a lot of sense.
I think another advantage they have beyond even a pure EV company like Tesla, is the wider portfolio of consumer electronics. This not only builds their brand for people who haven’t owned their cars yet, it helps diversify their business and gives them revenue to spend on EV design without exclusively relying on investors and subsidies.
There is absolutely a symbiosis between their product line from phones to air filters. The UI/Interface is very Apple alike without being too minimalistic (you often have to guess with Apple UI how it works like swiping up or diagonally or a long press – fine if you know it – not fine if you have to use it a few times per year – like some functions in a car.
They also listened to the feedback of people who wanted real BUTTONS so they made a simple button addon (for like $100 or so) and it allows you to operate some functions with physical buttons. This kind of ‘listen to your consumers’ is what they’re pretty good at (because they were making appliances as you wrote).
Again I also agree that Apple would probably create a similar type of smart car – looking both good and functional, with -working- UI and without beancounter shortcuts. But it would not be cheap.
The Beijing city government had them use BAIC’s (Beijing city-owned struggling automaker) manufacturing and sales licenses because getting your own is slow and difficult; the national government almost stopped giving them out because there were too many new automakers by 2022. As far as I know, BAIC didn’t actually have much involvement other than maybe getting some of their engineers poached by Xiaomi, as they’re using far more advanced manufacturing techniques than BAIC. Xiaomi got their manufacturing license in July ’24 a few months after production started, after which they broke off the no longer needed ‘partnership’.
Basically every automaker uses suppliers for many components including batteries, and Xiaomi is no different. If anything, Xiaomi is a bit special in that they designed a few more things like motors and electronic architecture in-house.
Xiaomi having a hugely profitable electronics division for financial backing also really helps with the hail mary-ing.
Serious question, is the reason Chinese cars are not sold in the US is tariffs?
I think there might be a little bit of fear from American car companies mixed in with the tariffs, along with this country’s general ambivalence/paranoia towards allowing Chinese tech to become too prevalent.
That and the CCP has it’s filthy hands in EVERY Chinese company, period. If anyone thinks the CCP is not evil and degenerate, please hit yourself on the head with a tack hammer, because you are an idiot.
You mean like Trump and his minions? I’m not a big China fan, but they are leapfrogging us in tech and the future. We, are also g back to the 19th century socially and investing in tax giveaways for oil and gas. It will take us decades to catch up and that is assuming we rid ourselves of the de-evolutionists. I’m not hopeful
HUH? Have you read a book about the 20th century, EVER? The MILLIONS of people killed by the CCP? So mass murder (still going on) and slavery is really ok as long as they make cool tech to be used for your pleasure? Cool degenerate attitude.
The US also bombed Germany and Japan and killed millions. I know this is whataboutism, but it happened. That doesn’t mean the US is bad, now. China has had very black periods in its history, from being fked after the Opium wars to a dozen year of occupation by Japan, in which millions of Chinese were killed, most civilians.
Then there was a civil war, like many countries have experienced, the US, Russia, and many others. Which side was right, which side was wrong? In the end China has tried to improve, perhaps too slow in your opinion but nowadays millions aren’t being killed. So lets stop pretending as this still happens just to paint that country in a bad daylight.
Yep. There’s some pretty strong evidence out there that there was (and likely continues to be) harvesting of organs for transplants from prisoners (including political or religious prisoners) at a very large scale, at least since 2006. There’s no wait for organs and you can schedule a transplant there ahead of time. It’s truly evil. If I’m not saying that clearly enough, they appear to kill prisoners to harvest their organs and often those prisoners are there because they practice a religion that the government doesn’t like, or they spoke out against the government. They say they stopped this in 2015, but many indications seem to point to it continuing, including one religious prisoner that escaped the hospital after having 2/3 of his liver and part of his lungs removed.
I think you have no idea how China operates besides the propaganda you’re being fed by alt-right websites. I wonder if you ever have stepped a foot outside the US, let alone have visited more than 3 states bordering yours. How close am I?
The millions murdered by the CCP is just propaganda? Got it. Ask the Uyghurs how really chill they are treated. Have YOU read a history book? Get that tack hammer out…..you need a wake up call if you think the CCP is a force for good in the world. YOU are the one spewing propaganda.
The millions killed by Hitler. The millions killed by Idi Amin. The millions killed here so we could steal their land. The millions of Russians who died fighting the German invasion in WW2. Seems like a pattern to me. No one here is suggesting China is some sort of force for good. On the contrary, they are, however, laser focused on the future of tech, which might mean world domination. But hey, feel free to focus on that one chunk of genocide occurring there without considering all the others. Past or present. WRT organ harvesting check out the movie: Dirty Pretty Things.
The Chinese are laser focused on world domination and always look to the long game. And nice try in a quick course of “whataboutism”. The CCP is a force for evil, no propaganda, no BS. Prove me wrong.
Oh, I have considered all of the others, that is why I point out that Hitler looks like a piker compared to the murdering Communists of the 20th century.
The main reason the Uygurs weren’t treated very well in the early 2000s is that there were plenty of terrorist attacks. After a decade of violence the gov’d in China got tired of it and cracked down on it using Big Data and Big Brother – there are tons of cameras, you need to use ID everywhere and everyone and their family is tracked. If you fk things up by settings police stations on fire, bomb things, knife attacks and what not then you got what you paid for. And as a result there isn’t much domestic terrorism anymore.
Feel free to read more of the attacks on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China ; scroll down to “Chronology of major events”
Now imagine there would be structural domestic terrorism in the US, frequent gun and knife attacks and bombings.
For those that don’t want to click and scroll here are some examples. These aren’t even the worst attacks. Now imagine ever year structural attacks in the US by THE SAME GROUP of people…
——
27 February 1997Urumqi, XinjiangUrumqi bus bombsBombs detonated on three buses in Urumqi, leaving nine dead and 68 seriously wounded.[23] The Uyghur Liberation Party claims responsibility for the bombings.[23]
19 August 1997Urumqi, XinjiangTwo gunmen shot into a crowd after attempting to rob shopkeepers in Urumqi, killing 7 people and hospitalizing 11.[67]
1 October 1997Kuytun, XinjiangUyghur separatists detonate a bomb in Kutyun, killing 22 people.[67]
February – April 1998Qaghiliq, XinjiangA series of six explosions occurred in February and March aimed at economic and industrial targets. The following month, authorities reported that bombs exploded at homes and offices of local communist party and public security agents.[23]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_China
check out WHY Chinese gov’d cracked down on Uyghurs.
Imagine this would happen in the US on a regular basis by the SAME GROUP. Nobody would object?
27 February 1997 Urumqi, Xinjiang Urumqi bus bombs Bombs detonated on three buses in Urumqi, leaving nine dead and 68 seriously wounded.[23] The Uyghur Liberation Party claims responsibility for the bombings.[23]
19 August 1997 Urumqi, Xinjiang Two gunmen shot into a crowd after attempting to rob shopkeepers in Urumqi, killing 7 people and hospitalizing 11.[67]
1 October 1997 Kuytun, Xinjiang Uyghur separatists detonate a bomb in Kutyun, killing 22 people.[67]
February – April 1998 Qaghiliq, Xinjiang A series of six explosions occurred in February and March aimed at economic and industrial targets. The following month, authorities reported that bombs exploded at homes and offices of local communist party and public security agents.[23]
*snort* “a little bit of fear…”
They’re terrified.
But there’s also no sales or support operations, which would be essential, and the cars probably haven’t been federalized. There’s probably changes needed to meet FMVSS/SAE/NCAP
They are more terrified of tech developed in the Western world being stolen…..and they have good reason to be.
Oh NOW we’re terrified of that?
A: Exactly how do you think the Industrial Revolution began in the U.S.? (yeah, so that’s a bit of whataboutism, I suppose)
B: The hunger to sell cars to the billion-person potential market in China drove a lot of moves over the last 30 years, including permanent most favored nation trade status. Couple that with the rapid de-industrialization from here to there, participating willingly in their project to become factory to the world and this “problem” is something they created in the first place, and you can’t knock Chinese industry for setting up domestic companies, or their consumers for wanting to buy from those companies.
Obviously, I’m leaving a lot of criticism of the political situation aside, and I am not gleeful about the self-harm the US has inflicted upon itself by hollowing out our manufacturing and skilled crafts trades for the last 50 years to fund stock splits and dividends.
The tariffs aren’t helping anything, but even before Trump, the Chinese automakers haven’t really made a significant push to sell cars here, largely because they know it’d be futile. The Big 3 would bribe every politician in sight to keep them out, and it would be a massive uphill battle. I think they’re just focusing on selling cars in regions that are less hostile to them.
Also ; the price of cars in the US are pretty low. The margins are low or just plain bad. It is a volume market. So why sell the same car in the US with a 1% margin, at best, when you can sell it local with 30% margin and perhaps to other South East Asian countries and Europe with say 10-15% margins.
Sure the US is a great market for the (Chinese) brands to gain more imago, status, and the volume can help to reduce costs even more eventually, but it is a long term plan.
Note that the tariffs ON Chinese EVs, right now, are already 100% !
100%
Prior to this year we already had a 100% tariff on Chinese cars. Main reason given was that the Chinese government provided a lot of subsidies and support to their car industry as they were getting started so they were able to sell them at below what their manufacturing cost was and not need to worry about pesky things like making a profit. Depending on how accurate that is, you literally can not compete with that and stay a viable company.
BINGO!
Unless you have a government equally invested in progress….
Imagine there was a government which would see the finite supply of (cheap) oil and would support a transition to more ‘green’ energy e.g. electricity using hydro, solar, tidal, geothermal, nuclear and wind.
China and to lesser extend the European car manufacturers are laughing their asses off because they’ll be energy independent in a couple of decades while the US then still has to deal with the mess in the middle east.
Meanwhile the US gov’d provides plenty of subsidies for Big Oil so not sure why that is suddenly different.
No, the real reason is xenophobia.
Wow, do you REALLY believe that or are you that uninformed about the world????
When the US wanted to beat the USSR, we invested in scientific research and education. We formed strong alliances with like minded countries. We invested in new technologies knowing they would be key to a dominant economy and military. We promoted our worldview with cultural programs and outlets like Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. We gave aid to third world countries to align them with us.
MAGA has taken an axe to all of that. They may claim to hate the CCP, but they are surrendering the future to them.
Maybe not in the fairly recent past, but by late 2024 Chinese EVs companies had enough of a product advantage to justify overcoming the long and arduous process of setting up a sales and service network, had there not been tariffs. Another factor would’ve been the poor charging network in the US.
Chinese regulations are pretty close to the EU’s, so any changes needed to pass FMVSS/NHTSA/IIHS standards would only require fairly minor changes.
There are 100% tariffs in place on Chinese EVs. It is just not viable to offer cars in the US, unless it’s as a token/showcase.
As someone who has worked in manufacturing their whole life, the speed that they have constructed factory from scratch, having no experience in car manufacturing (though vast experience in electronics manufacturing) is astounding.
I’ve said it to many people around the world, continuous investment and innovation is why China is winning the war on global manufacturing. Even though they have low labour costs, they are still always investing and working on automation for manufacturing.
Whereas in Australia or the US, people seem content to bleed every drop of blood out facilities and then vaguely update it or close due to the cost of the single stage large upgrade that is needed to be competitive.
I believe Xiaomi factories are designed and managed by BAIC, who have plenty of experience in car manufacturing. @Tycho?
Hi! No, that was just Xiaomi piggybacking on BAIC’s car-production license. This is common for new automakers in China. BAIC had no involvement in building/operating Xiaomi’s factory. BAIC can only dream of a factory like that (: Xiaomi has its own license now, so there is no connection with BAIC anymore. Greetings.
Thank you and @Needles Balloon for clearing that up. In that case, as @Rod Millington said, astounding.
Like Tycho said, the relations with BAIC was for paperwork only, but Xiaomi would’ve poached many production engineers from several places including the fairly local and unsuccessful BAIC factories.
I’m not a fan of the fully integrated OS stuff. But, I am a fan of the fully integrated OS stuff.
It’s funny, my immediate reaction is “this is bad, I don’t like”, then I remember I am buried in the google ecosystem pretty deep.
All of our data is being snatched, and they always know where we are at this point. It’s pointless to fight or argue anymore. I love old cars, but I love this new world we life in, perhaps, even more.
I suppose I will hold this point-of-view until they start using these features against us, which they basically already are, but it’s currently fairly painless.
I think there are some cultural differences between the west and China, where Chinese consumers are more willing to trust a single entity in multiple areas. I see this in the “everything apps” that include shopping, banking, messaging, etc.
Personally, I don’t trust any single company that much.
But if the government is surveilling you already, what’s the big deal with sharing your location with your car company?
And at least with Xiaomi’s ecosystem, being highly integrated actually gets you a lot of worthwhile features while I feel like Google doesn’t give you as much as it could.
That OEM-mount tissue box is an immediate sell for me. The only reason I buy the more expensive small half-size tissue boxes are because they fit in my Volvo’s center console armrest.
That looks REALLY good, especially in the orange and green colors. For your next-next article can you describe what ownership and maintenance are like in China in general and how they’ve evolved over the last 10 or 20 years? Do people expect a car to last 50K miles, 100K, 250K, 500K? Do dealership service centers exist and are they out to scam you out of $1500 just to replace 2 brake pads? Because the cars are so tech heavy do they go out of style and obsolete in a couple years like a smartphone would?…
Hi! The service centers are all owned by Xiaomi Auto, so there is no obvious scamming there. I haven’t heard any complaints about high maintenance costs, but let’s see how that goes in a few years. The cars all get OTA updates, like a Tesla, so everything software-related won’t go obsolete. Screen tech will get old soon, I think. The screens are getting better every year, bigger, sharper. Design is hard to say, we’ll see. Young folks in urban China rarely keep a car for more than 4 years. Greetings!
I’ve got family in China that started driving not long after private vehicle ownership became legal (and practical) in the 90s. I feel like there was a major shift in car ownership perspectives between 2015 and the pandemic; before cars were seen as tools, and people tended to buy the cheapest car they could afford and run them into the ground, squeezing out every last bit of life from their car. One of my aunts had a Geely King Kong and that car never saw a day of rest, it was either doing long trips to the countryside on crap roads or it was crammed full of cousins heading to the mall for summer treats. That car ended up doing almost 100K miles in 5 or 6 years, repairs got more and more frequent (think some rust issues popped up too) and eventually it got scrapped.
Then people got a bit richer, EVs started popping up, price wars emerged and suddenly cars became pretty much disposable. I know a lot of people who would buy new cars, hold on to them for a few years, then trade them in for something new. Cars in China don’t have to do inspections until the sixth year of ownership, so that’s a big incentive to ditch your old ride too. In the richer coastal cities it would be a bit unusual to find a pre-owned car on sale with more than 60k miles. (Odometer fraud is also incredibly rampant in China too lol)
I have to admit, the tailights are wonderfully designed.
Me: Can we get a Taycan Cross Turismo?
Mom: we have a Taycan Cross Turismo at home
The Taycan Cross Turismo at home:
They have a much better version of that with the Nio ET5 Touring which is actually a wagon. Somehow China has way more EV wagons than the West does (at least 5 or 6, with more on the way). I’m miffed that Volvo won’t just rebody one to sell here, especially considering Geely’s Zeekr already makes one.
I wish Nio would sell the ET5 Touring here in Australia.
I watch a lot of European YT car review videos. Many are going gaga over Nio EVs over there.
Yes! Many Chinese brands make EV/PHEV wagons. It’s a new trend. More here: https://www.theautopian.com/from-truck-based-wagons-built-by-the-army-to-sleek-modern-evs-heres-a-history-of-chinese-station-wagons/
No wonder Tesla is taking a beating in China. They come out with a mild refresh on the Model Y, and then Xiaomi comes out with this. Complete with seamless integration with their phones and other devices, and a whole host of accessories ranging from practical to amusing. It looks great inside and out too. That interior looks far more welcoming (and colorful) than the spartan Tesla, even though they’re both pretty minimal interiors.
I wonder what the Chinese people think of Elon turning n azi…
Since he’s not on Chinese social media and Tesla’s China branch manages communications, stuff that e lawn does mostly only appears in some news or tech sites.
The hatchback’s shape is pretty similar to my eyes to a car-like Aston Martin DBX – and far less blobby than the Tesla Model Y/X
All this sounds very nice and I like the fact that they have some interesting colour options.
But if this ever makes it to North America, I look forward to seeing how well these hold up after a few winters in the rust belt.
THAT is an acid test that gives a better indication of the quality standards it was built to.
Regarding the driving range, I look forward to see what kind of range it gets under the more conservative US EPA test.
Also in my view, the really high powered versions have a downside… insurance rates that are likely to be higher.
Insurance rates are the reason why I bought a Ford C-Max over Tesla Model S last year (and this was earlier in the year before Elon Musk got seriously into Republican Politics which changed my mind about him and Tesla).
Insurance was quoted at $4000-$4500/year for a 2014 Tesla Model S while a 2017 C-Max Energi was quoted a bit under $1500/year.
While the C-Max is less efficient, the insurance cost difference would mean I’d still be ahead financially at least $1500/year with the C-Max.
I’d rather give that money to my daughter to help her with her tuition than give it to the insurance industry.
So if/when the Xiaomi comes to Canada, I’m gonna hold off for at least a couple of years to see how they hold up in the climate we have here as well as how the insurance rates shake out and the cost/availability of parts/service.
I mean, they do have seasons in China.
Don’t honestly know, but do they commonly use road salt over there or have they advanced to beet juice and other less idiotic ways to keep the roads driveable?
“I mean, they do have seasons in China.”
Yeah they have seasons in Japan and Korea too.
But that didn’t stop early Hondas, Mazdas from the 2000s and early Hyundai products in the 1980s from being total rust buckets when subjected to rust belt winters.
Yes, but that was also 20-40 years ago. The Chinese are currently building cars on par with the best from any country, so I doubt they turn into rustbuckets after only a few years.
“so I doubt they turn into rustbuckets after only a few years.”
You have lots of faith… I don’t.
The majority of China’s major automakers are trying to establish themselves as global brands. They’re not stupid, and understand there is an increased skepticism towards Chinese cars. They’re not going to release a half-baked product on the world stage. I don’t think you quite realize how far Chinese automakers have come in just a few short years – these cars are absurdly good.
“– these cars are absurdly good.”
Yes I know exactly how far they have come over the past 20 years.
I will still reserve my judgement because from my perspective, there is far more to car ownership than just the initial bang for the buck.
Hi. The north of China is pretty cold in winter too, -20 Celsius with lots of snow, icy wind, and some sweet pollution. Chinese car makers test their new cars there, and they sell them there too, so I guess the YU7 should be able to deal with some cold. But how it would hold up in the US, I don’t know for sure.
Would hate to see the repair costs for an accident with all the sensors. Insurance rates will probably be high like the Model S for you up there.
I’ve heard of Chinese automakers applying extra rustproofing for cars to export markets like Russia. A lot of China doesn’t experience that much snow, and the cold areas north of Beijing tend to buy EVs far less than hot Shanghai and Guangzhou/Shenzhen, in part due to the common LFP batteries in China suffering a lot in the cold. I feel like it’s less an indicator of quality and more about making the right changes for different markets, which Chinese automakers in general are breaking into for the first time ever.
I expect the base version to get 330mi/530km on the EPA cycle, while the AWD models get about 290mi/460km. However, the base and Pro models use an LFP battery which will suffer a lot below -10°C which will affect most of Canada except for Vancouver; they’d be smart to reconfigure all models to use the slightly bigger NMC pack in the Max for a Canadian market version.
I assume those 450+ mile ranges are measured starting at the top of a mountain?
Especially since these numbers don’t add up
96.3/13.3 * 62 = 448 miles, not 519.
519 miles on CLTC is 364 miles EPA which is still pretty decent even if nowhere near the claimed. Even at 450 CLTC it’s 319 EPA, about inline with Tesla these days.
Until this past year, Xiaomi was nothing more than the brand that knowledgeable US consumers would choose if they wanted something close to an Apple watch at half price.
It’s too bad about that whole “free trade” thing being proven wrong in recent months. For centuries I thought it was going to pan out, but I guess not! 🙂
Seriously, though, imagine if we went back to 2003 and we’re all trying to text on our Nokia 3390 phones and some dude walks in with an iPhone. And then the government says “Nope, that’s TOO much connectivity, the iPhone has to go!” but it only applied to our country and almost nobody else. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this must be some small piece of how North Koreans must feel when they get exposure to the broader world.
And now they’re even sponsoring part of the Nurburgring.
I wish Google had connectivity in China… at least maps… ????